Countdown To Zero

[Philbert]

I just saw a documentary about nuclear weapons that merits our attention. It's called...

Countdown To Zero

http://countdowntozerofilm.com/

You can watch the film on YouTube here:



The film is also available on Netflix, should you have that service.

In coming days I'll be highlighting specific sections of the film for discussion here, please feel free to do the same yourself.

The topic of nuclear weapons can be a fascinating study of human behavior when we focus on these simple facts....

1) The civilization we've spent the last 10,000 years building can be erased in a single afternoon, thus rendering all topics on all forums irrelevant.

2) Not many of us are interested in discussing this except in an occasional casual manner.

More soon....

[Philbert]

About the movie, from Wikipedia...

Countdown to Zero is a documentary film released in 2010 which argues that the likelihood of the use of nuclear weapons has increased since the end of the Cold War due to terrorism, nuclear proliferation, theft of nuclear materials and weapons, and other factors.[1][3]

The documentary film was set for a July 9, 2010 theatrical release in the United States[4][5][6] but was changed to July 23.[7]

The film features interviews with leading statesmen and experts, including Tony Blair, Jimmy Carter, Mikhail Gorbachev, Robert McNamara, Pervez Musharraf, and Valerie Plame Wilson.[1][2] The film prologue was narrated by Gary Oldman.[2] The musical score was composed by Peter Golub, and the rock band Pearl Jam contributed the song "The Fixer."[2]

It was developed, financed and executive produced by Participant Media[1][2] together with World Security Institute.[8] The idea for the film first occurred to the producers when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Al Gore after the success of his documentary about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth.[5] Diane Weyermann of Participant Media asked Walker if she was interested in directing a film about nuclear weapons, and Walker said yes.[9] More than 84 people were interviewed for the film.[9] Global Zero, an international organization promoting the elimination of nuclear weapons, provided production assistance for the film.[10]

The film's closing credits contain a phone number to which a text message may be sent to protest the maintenance of high levels of nuclear arsenals and lax security regarding nuclear weapons and materials.[11]

The film debuted at the Sundance Film Festival in 2010, where it screened at the Palais des Festivals out of competition.[1][12] At that time, Magnolia Pictures secured the North American theatrical distribution rights.[1] The film was screened privately for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and a portion of the film shown for the press at the National Press Club.[6][13]

The film was accepted at the Cannes Film Festival, where it screened out of competition.[14][15]

On July 19th, 2010, REACT to FILM screened the film at the SoHo House in Manhattan, NY and moderated a Q&A with director Lucy Walker, former CIA agent Valerie Plame and producer Lawrence Bender.[16]

Tad Daley, writer of the book Apocalypse Never was invited to speak at the film's debut in Washington, DC about the dangers of nuclear weapons. In an interview he said that it was a coincidence that the book and the movie came out virtually exactly at the same time and that Countdown To Zero and Apocalypse Never had the same ambition and that ambition is twofold: 1) to talk to ordinary folks about the nuclear peril and 2) that abolition should be the solution".[17] A video promoting the movie was created with the assistance of Ploughshares, an award-winning literary magazine at Emerson College. The premiere screening took place at the E Street Cinema in Washington, DC and the shows have been sold out. These screenings brought in large crowds.[18] Critical reception

A review in Daily Variety called the film "highly creative documentary-making" and concluded that the film makes "a convincing argument that the human race is on borrowed time: Given the number of nuclear weapons in existence, the ease with which they can be made, the eagerness of terrorists to possess them and a worldwide cluelessness about nuclear security, it's only a matter of time before something terribly ugly happens. A politically urgent picture, it will also literally scare the breath out of what will certainly be a worldwide audience."[2] The trade journal also highly praised the special effects and cinematography for creating "immaculate images".[2] A review for Reuters said the film was "Convincingly argued and extremely polished" and said portions were "absolutely chilling."[11]

The Wall Street Journal called the film "hair-raising" and noted that it was one of the rare documentaries to screen at Cannes.[19] Jason Solomons, writing for The Observer in the United Kingdom, said the film was one of "five films to watch" at Cannes.[15] The Guardian described the documentary as "unmissable" and "the best horror film of all time".[20]

The Washington Times was highly critical of the film. Its reviewer said the documentary appeared to be produced by "the peacenik movement" and concluded, "The pacifist message of the former is loud and clear: 'Our only option is to eradicate every last nuclear missile'..."[6]

[Philbert]

Here's a PDF discussion guide that examines the movie from a Christian perspective.

http://www.takepart.com/sites/default/f ... de_v02.pdf

Here's a blurb from the PDF....

You may never have thought about nuclear weapons and your Christian faith before. After all, the Bomb can seem like an issue far removed from the life of discipleship. But since the beginning of the atomic age, Christian leaders from Karl Barth to Pope John Paul II to Billy Graham and John Stott have recognized the indiscriminate and unmatched destructive power of nuclear weapons as a challenge to the Lord of life. Put simply, if you care about core biblical beliefs like the defense of human life (Gen. 9:6), stewardship of creation (Gen. 1:28), care for the poor (Matthew 25:31-46), and justice (Romans 13:1-7), you need to care about nuclear weapons.

Moreover, Countdown to Zero reminds us that nuclear weapons are not simply yesterday’s problem. In fact, nuclear terrorism threatens everything earthly that we hold dear. Countdown is a terrifying movie. That’s one reason why I think this is fundamentally a film for our time. Our people are afraid: of terrorism from abroad and economic insecurity at home, for the retirement they hope for and the world they want to leave to their children. This fear is a faith problem, because fear and love are biblical opposites. Where one thrives, the other suffers (1 John 4:18). And where loveless fear prevails, we “abide in death� (1 John 3:1

[Philbert]

An interview with the director of the film.

http://www.lucywalkerfilm.com/COUNTDOWN-TO-ZERO

[Philbert]

The Facebook page for the movie....

https://www.facebook.com/CountdowntoZero

[Philbert]

Here's a good review of the movie in Mother Jones magazine.

http://www.motherjones.com/media/2010/0 ... zero-movie

The review highlights one of the scarier real life stories from the movie.

The United States is about to launch a rocket in Norway to study the northern lights. It dutifully informs Moscow.

But somehow, the Russian strategic command doesn't get the memo. When Russian radar spots the four stages of the rocket, the military concludes that four nuclear warheads may be heading toward Moscow—the opening shot of a nuclear war.

The military tells the Russian president that he must fire nuclear missiles at the US before it's too late. But the president simply cannot believe an attack is under way. He violates one of the core principles of nuclear warfare—launch on warning—and orders his generals to keep their nukes in the silos. A nuclear holocaust is averted.

This is not the opening sequence to a big-budget popcorn movie. It actually happened, in 1995—sort of. The Russian military told then-president Boris Yeltsin an unknown missile had been launched. The nuclear-command briefcase (a.k.a. the "football") was brought out in case Yeltsin had to order a counterstrike. Eventually, the rocket fell into the sea.

[Philbert]

Here's one of a number of near miss catastrophe stories, as told on this page, and in the film.

http://www.neatorama.com/2007/02/20/clo ... ge/#!jMq6d

On November 9, 1979, four command centers for the U.S. nuclear arsenal received data on their radar screens indicating that the Soviet Union had launched a full-scale nuclear first strike on the United States. Over the next six minutes, planes were launched and nuclear missiles initialized for an immediate retaliatory strike.

The president’s National Emergency Airborne Command Post – an armored jump jet with radiation shielding and advanced communications capabilities, meant to allow the president to remain in contact with the government and armed forces during a nuclear war – was also launched, although curiously without the president aboard. However, the alarm was canceled because no sensors or satellites detected an actual Soviet missile launch. The alarm had been caused by computer software used for training exercises depicting a nightmare scenario Soviet first strike.

Senator Charles Percy, who happened to be at NORAD headquarters during this event, said the reaction was one of overwhelming panic and terror. Justifiably so.

As explained in the film, somebody at NORAD, the United States nuclear war command center, had loaded a training tape in to the system.

At first nobody at NORAD realized it was a training tape, and not an actual attack, and full scale response procedures were underway before the mistake was discovered.

[Philbert]

This page on Wikipedia lists the countries which have nuclear weapons, and estimates how many nukes each country has.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_st ... ar_weapons

There's also a brief summary of the history of nuclear weapons development in each country.

[McCulloch]

Moderator Action

Moved to Random Ramblings. Please review the Rules and Tips on starting a debate topic.


While this is an interesting presentation of facts and history, there has been no attempt to frame this as a debate. When posting new topics in the debate areas of the site, please frame the OP as a debate question.

[Philbert]

Thank you for moving the most important topic facing humanity to the rubbish bin.

5,000 years of human civilization could be erased by this time tomorrow.

If you want a debate, please explain why we should be discussing anything else.