By Le Anne Lindsay (Tinsel & Tine)
Talk about a horror film! Not in tone, writer/director Lucy Walker (Devil’s Playground and Blindsight) handles the subject of nuclear proliferation with incredible depth and journalistic integrity. But I believe most would agree, re-examining our thoughts on the mass destruction possible through nuclear war, evokes an overall reaction of horror.
On the other hand, according to the film, most of the general population around the world is not examining it too closely. The film interviews people on the street, asking questions like how many countries have nuclear weapons? Of those countries, how many nuclear bombs would that be? How often do you think about nuclear attack? The interviews revealed most people are clueless and don’t really think about it very often at all. Had I been polled, 
I would have been among this majority. I’ve seen Iranian Leader, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the news. He definitely gives you a maniacal, world domination, sci-fi villain vibe; yet all the talk of Iran having nuclear capability pretty much goes in one of my ears and out the other.
The extraordinary thing this film reveals is the fact that terrorist threat or unstable dictators may be a secondary danger when it comes to nuclear destruction. The real threat is an oops!
In the last 20 years “the button” was almost pushed because of careless message taking; the US informed Russia we’d be sending up a missile that had to do with studying something about the atmosphere or some such innocuous matter and the message never got through to Boris Yeltsin, who was advised that Russia was under nuclear attack from the US and an immediate response in kind must be activated. Yeltsin, fortunately, decided not to act too quickly.
The next close call came because of a defective computer chip; the malfunction of the chip sent a signal for launch ready alert. Codes were entered, keys inserted, before finding out it was all a false alarm.
The one that is really laughable, were it not such a serious subject, is when a training tape was unknowingly inserted and everyone thought it was the real thing being seen on their monitors- creating a The War of the Worlds scenario.
Of course Countdown to Zero is being compared to An Inconvenient Truth, rightly so as the films share the same producer, Laurence Bender. Once again there is no shortage of interviews with credible experts, scientists and world leaders.
I was moved by a clip of the father of the atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, having become Zen after witnessing Hiroshima, tearfully quoting the Bhagavad Gita. The film also covers how easy it is to get the highly enriched uranium or plutonium needed to make a nuclear bomb, the process of enrichment, the easy access black market for “yellow cake”… A lot is covered in 90min!
For details on Lucy Walker’s challenging journey to create this documentary, read her interview with Damon Smith of Filmmaker Magazine .
In the end my re-examination of nuclear destruction was less horrific than previously thought. It turns out to be very simple. Not that I’m one who looks for adversity or challenge. I don’t think anyone loves creature comforts more than I do. But you have to admit, throughout the history of time, we as human-beings are at our best in times of shared crisis and tragedy. Amazing feats defying nature can come from a need for survival. Beyond that, personally, I don’t believe God will allow human folly, greed, or ego to destroy the earth. But if I’m wrong, two good things will come from it; 1) my soul travels on its journey with the Source to a different plane. 2) my student loans and credit card debt will be wiped clean.
On a different note entirely, as they say on “The Today Show”, PFS had its first outdoor screening at the Clay Studio in Olde City, Thursday night. Young Frankenstein. A stack of pizza boxes accompanied a group of 18-20 demographic at the screening, always desirable (when tame). The rest of the crowd was a good mix of about 30 or so attendees, pretty good for a first time event.
The film was preceded by 3 shorts by The Clay Studio’s Resident Artist, Ryan Wilson Kelly. The skits consisted of humorous play acting using props of clay and paper mache made from clay casts.
Next Clay Studio screening will be on Aug 26th – WALLACE & GROMIT: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.
Also visit Tinsel & Tine for my commentary on Inception.
