Tv/Netflix Series: HEAVY WATER WAR (2015) A+

Danish with subtitles

First a little background:  A pressurized heavy-water reactor (PHWR) is a nuclear reactor, commonly using unenriched natural uranium as its fuel, that uses heavy water (deuterium oxide D2O) as its coolant and neutron moderator. The Germans planned to use this technology to help develop an atomic bomb during WW2

This very well done TV series too briefly dramatizes the story behind Hitler's plan for creating an atomic bomb during WW2. It does, however, get into more of the details (in human terms) of the Allies attempts to sabotage the only existing heavy water factory that was located in Rjukan, Norway. The series shows the German activity, the allied effort, the saboteurs extraordinary effort and the activities of the Norwegian personnel that ran the factory. It also depicts the fear the Allied forces had towards the Adolf Hitler and his extreme dictatorship getting hold of the bomb.

There have been other, shorter movies that have dealt with this subject. One in 1965, "Heroes of Telemark", with Kirk Douglas and Richard Harris in main roles, However, this film series goes into more detail and includes the personal experiences of the people involved in the effort.

An aspect of the film that was not clear, nor complete, was the story about Werner Heisenberg's role in the Nazi effort. In 1933 Heisenberg was awarded the Noble Prize in physics in Stockholm, chose not to leave Germany during the rise of Hitler, and may have led the German effort to produce a bomb.  He was arrested after the war but never accused of a war crime. (Consistent with another ugly part of our policy of using Werner Von Braun, and his associates, who built the V2 missile for the Germans with slave labor, and was rewarded by the United States for his work on US missile technology).