Heavy Water

Synopsis

At the Savannah River Site, a biologist presents a lecture on wild dogs, linking their mythic status to the three-hundred square-mile nuclear facility. This narrative serves to justify the displacement of local residents while obscuring the violence associated with the site’s operations. The film interweaves two timelines: the ancient lineage of Carolina dogs, believed to be descendants of the nation’s first canines, and the looming threats posed by nuclear weapons programs and radioactive waste production.