Countdown to Zero

In what must be the feel-bad documentary of the year up until this point, documentary filmmaker Lucy Walker (Blindsight; Devil's Playgound) explores nuclear weapons in Countdown to Zero.  In the vein of An Inconvenient Truth (also produced by Lawrence Bender, the same man responsible for Quentin Tarantino's flicks), we are treated to another way planet Earth might come to a screeching end.  In suppositions of nations firing bombs at each, the film carries a heavy load and a great sense of panic to any human with a pulse, and properly shines a light that the first step should probably lie in education (the trailer for Davis Guggenheim's bad education documentary Waiting for Superman is hindsight was a great marketing decision.)  And as a mid-twenty year, I must confess the subject, as terrifying and feared upon as it is, hardly ever crosses my mind merely because of my generation, and a lack of attention of George W. Bush's rhetoric.  Being a child in the 1990s, the threat of nuclear detonation become a sort of Cold-War hysteria; passe if you will.  Of course, that's as stupid a thought as ever, since the technology itself could easily wipe away a part of the Earth in a manner of minutes.

I had wished as a movie Countdown to Zero was a bit more illuminating on the history.  We see glimpses of the past, including particularly eerie archival footage of Robert Oppenheimer.  He of course was the scientific director of the Manhattan Project, and thusly known as the creator of the atomic bomb-- the birth of nuclear weapons.  We see grainy footage of a man honestly frightened by this new found power.  We also see a glimpse of the Reykjavik Summit where Ronald Reagon and Mikhail Gorbachev met for a dissolution of said devices, an attempt that failed.  Personally, I was hoping for more on this end; this being a subject that is greatly feared and discussed, but not particularly researched.  The glimpses were reminders of things I want to know more about, but not exactly intellectually engrossing.  Countdown to Zero also I fear could have used a bit more of showman quality in it's production, of which I only note because it's basically just a talking heads picture, and the subject is so gripping and admirable, that I fear it will wile away from most moviegoers, even the liberal-minded political sorts that the film is definitely gunning for.  A bit of cleverness goes a long way-- perhaps even a bit of Al Gore.

What the film does succeed in, aside from general paranoia, is defining the insides of nuclear weapons in a clear, mostly cut and dry fashion.  We get the expected data of what countries have them (some might be surprising), and how many, but also a picture of allegedly how easy it may be for the technology to get, as well as the insides and outs of the weapons make-up.  It's noted that it's "not rocket science," by one expert.  The disorienting first act of the film-- basically a how-to guide on finding and smuggling weapons-- evolves into the bigger subject of the absurd power and ridiculous consequence that these weapons bring about, as well as the need for a solution to do away them altogether-- one of the few literal meanings of the title.

Countdown to Zero makes in pointedly clear the potential doomsday in the criteria it illustrates often-- "accident, miscalculation, madness," the same of which that John F. Kennedy famously remarked.  Given the fragility of the elements, as well as the inevitability of human error, or even an unstable government in times of mania, all three phenomena has occurred, and how could that be stopped?

What's admirable, if a bit dull, on the films part is that Walker achieves in making a film fairly non-partisan.  Even if it only really appeals to the more liberal groups on the coasts, there's nothing in the film that's taking a side.  Like An Inconvenient Truth, the point of the picture is that this is a global problem, not a democrat\republican one, nor a US\Iraq one, nor a Christian\Islamic one.  True there's great mention of the nuclear programs in Pakistan, North Korea, and Iran, but it's serving the greater worldwide problem, not an anti-agenda on any one's part.

A great subject goes a long way in recommending this film, despite a fairly non-artful presentation.  For that, I suggest Errol Morris' The Fog of War.  However, the film certainly deserves credit for mixing a fine selection of talking heads, including Robert McNamara, mere months before he died, Mikhail Gorbachev, and out ex-CIA agent Valerie Plame, soon the be the subject of her own film starring Naomi Watts.  I'm hopeful that Countdown to Zero is seen widely enough to develop a certain need for action.  I'm also hopeful of the trend that 50% of all nuclear weapons were dismantled in the last two decades.  I'm more hopeful that I'll be able to sleep tonight.  B