a SIFF 2010 review
Timely Zero Delivers an Obvious Message
Lucy Walker’s Countdown to Zero chronicles the life and times of the Atomic Bomb while also using current world events to make the case that nuclear disarmament is as important now as it has ever been. It features interviews with a who’s-who of global leaders and thinkers including Jimmy Carter, Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pervez Musharraf, James Baker III and Robert McNamara. Heck, even former CIA covert operations chief Valerie Plame Wilson (remember her?) makes an appearance, all the talking heads intent on spelling out the threat in the clearest and most direct terms possible.
No cheese in this delivery, Countdown to Zero © Magnolia Pictures
In short, this is a documentary that makes the case that nuclear weapons are bad. That a world, especially one this religiously divisive and intolerant, cannot survive as long as they exist; that their invention has stuck a permanent black cloud on the horizon that spells doom for both the Earth and her inhabitants.
It’s hard not to agree on all fronts, especially with whack-a-do crazies like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il running full-bore to obtain nuclear power. No, my issue with Countdown to Zero isn’t its premise, my issue is how didactic and obvious much of what it is saying comes off as. This is a doc where I sat in the theatre thinking to myself that I was agreeing with all of Walker’s points while at the same time wondering why I had to watch an entire 90-plus minute feature to do so. I get it, nuclear weapons are bad, and if I were a High School social studies teacher I’d show this film to my class without reservation, I just wouldn’t want to buy a ticket to see it in a movie theatre.
I’m not trying to sound dismissive. Walker is an extremely talented documetnarian (her fellow 2010 doc Wasteland is extraordinary, while her 2002 effort Devil’s Playground is a must-see) and her ability to put together a cohesive and compelling motion picture is without par. Her mixing of political leaders, scientists, intelligence operatives and others working in the nuclear field is exemplary, and as much as I found her ultimate points to be blandly forgone I can’t say I was ever bored watching the movie itself.
I just don’t think Countdown to Zero is worth spending ten or more bucks at the multiplex is all. Where it on PBS, Cable or even On Demand I’d probably recommend the watching of it rather easily. And, like I’ve already said, as a learning tool for young people it should probably be required viewing. I just don’t think the final film is as revealing or as necessary as Walker and her producers believe it to be, and while I wholeheartedly agree with what it is saying that doesn’t mean I can give it an unqualified recommendation.
Film Rating: êê1/2 (out of 4)
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