You know those radiation-detection devices that are supposed to keep our homeland secure by scanning cargo for nuclear weapons at shipping ports?
Turns out they're about as smart as that Transportation Security Administration rule that makes you throw out your 5-ounce shampoo while the mommy behind you brings baby formula onboard without notice. They give false-positive readings to kitty litter and old televisions and could easily miss a grapefruit-sized chunk of highly enriched uranium.
That factoid is one of scores of insomnia-inspiring gems in "Countdown to Zero," a doomsday doc insisting that nuclear weapons deserve a larger slice of our Worry About This pie-chart than they currently get.
The argument is pretty effective, too, as filmmaker Lucy Walker runs down the various ways, from the nefarious to the innocent, that nuclear devices might claim millions of lives.
Experts in the whereabouts of old warheads — there are around 23,000 operational ones out there — tell chilling tales of lethal materials guarded by couldn't-care-less Russians, while others recount little-known historical episodes in which actual professionals nearly initiated nuclear war.
"Accident, miscalculation or madness" are the three foes John F. Kennedy named in a famous speech about the nuclear threat, and Walker gives each its due, making a forceful case for the total elimination of nuclear weapons from the planet — the "zero" of the film's title.
She might cop out at times, employing lazy or sentimental imagery and urging viewers to take trivial steps toward protest, but she's effective in reminding us that this — much more than the suddenly renewed interest in Russian spies — is a threat that mustn't be forgotten behind more fashionable causes.
'Countdown to Zero'
Our grade:
Genre: Documentary
Running Time: 90 min
MPAA rating: PG
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