Revisiting his own 1948 post-war science-fiction-thriller film, "Krakatit", itself an adaptation of the prophetic 1922 Karel Capek novel by the same name, Czech director Otakar Vávra offers us a more modern view of this classic through this 1981 remake. The story centers around Prokop, a scrupulous scientist responsible for the invention of a highly-efficient explosive who, foreseeing the consequences of his invention once in the hands of those in power, spins into delirium as he faces the moral dilemma presented by his secret, then the crushing guilt and regret for his role in releasing such a potent tool of mass destruction unto the world, and the inevitable catastrophe that follows. The novel presaged the atomic age by two decades and even anticipated, three decades prior, the same deep ethical remorse that J.R. Oppenheimer, a "father of the atomic bomb", would later bring to public attention (ending in the revocation of all his security clearances). The themes presented in this 1981 remake are still very relevant, then and now, and its urgency is still fresh.
—pdlussier1