Review: COUNTDOWN TO ZERO

“There are three ways to acquire a nuclear weapon:

you can steal a bomb,

you can buy a bomb,

and you can build a bomb.”

COUNTDOWN TO ZERO traces the history of the atomic bomb from its origins to the present state of global affairs: nine nations possessing nuclear weapons capabilities with others racing to join them, with the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident.

Written and directed by acclaimed documentarian Lucy Walker (The Devil’s Playground, Blindsight), the film features an array of important international statesmen, including President Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf and Tony Blair. It makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever with the Obama administration working to revive this goal today.

On the surface, this appears to be just another documentary about nuclear weapons. But it was actually much better than I expected. Produced by Lawrence Bender (Inglourious Basterds, An Inconvenient Truth), Countdown To Zero is extremely well put together. From the interviews to the man-on-the-street opinions to the all the facts and figures, the film lays out very clearly how catastrophic these weapons are if placed in the wrong hands. What is most fascinating is the fact that the components used to build these weapons are so easily moved around (bought, stolen, smuggled-you name it).

…The common wisdom is that they’re very complicated technologies that take countries decades to build…But the fact is that centrifuges are 1950’s technology. And this is 2010. Highly enriched uranium is now within the grasp of really any country. And once you have HEU, it’s so simple, even a terrorist can make a bomb.” – R. Scott Kemp, Physicist, Princeton

Fact after fact is presented and after about an hour, it starts to feel like this film is meant to just scare the crap out of you. And it does. But the good news is that as the film nears its conclusion, you really get a clear picture of just how many nations, leaders and citizens agree that the world would be a much better place without nuclear weapons.

Overall Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

For more on COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, visit the film’s official website here or on Facebook.