Countdown to Zero

Countdown to Zero

By Lucy Walker

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release Date: 2010-01-25
  • Advisory Rating: PG
  • Runtime: 1h 28min
  • Director: Lucy Walker
  • Production Company: Lawrence Bender Productions
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • iTunes Price: USD 9.99
  • iTunes Rent Price: USD 3.99
6.3/10
6.3
From 32 Ratings

Description

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, leaving the world held in a delicate balance that could be shattered by an act of terrorism, failed diplomacy, or a simple accident. The film makes a compelling case for worldwide nuclear disarmament, an issue more topical than ever.

Trailer

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Reviews

  • Count to max number

    1
    By Movie inspector
    This is a joke , this will never happen and you know all the problem in the world is happening because of the same species human . We will terminate our self .
  • Wow

    5
    By Holtly
    This is an eye opener to the reality of what developing (and unstable) nations are able to get their hands on, and to the degree of which it has to be looked after. The interviews are great. One sees from an unbiased point of view how delicately some situations were necessarily handled. It gives insight to how our lives were saved, not only by our leaders, but the leaders of the The Soviet Union as well. No one should not know what this documentary explains so well.
  • Waste

    1
    By Loadyc130
    It will not download correctly, checked my internet connection and that shouldn't be the problem. Other movies dowload good with itunes but this one doesn't. Wasteof my money!
  • Enjoyed it!

    4
    By Orion3903
    Well done doc that points out some very disturbing issues with nuclear weapons and proliferation. Gives some historical background and then a good overview of our current global situation. Production values are very well done, though I wish they would have used more interview footage (they have some very notable people that they use the 3-5 second soundbite on) and instead spend minutes and minutes on pics of people walking down streets and google maps of cities with epicenters on them. It was able to get the point across after the first minute (if the bomb goes off here lots of people will die!), but then they go on, and on, and on with it. And Jimmy Carter comes on and talks for 3 seconds about what it was like to be President in the cold war... and then back to google map images. Would have given it 5 stars if they would have added 10 minutes of interviews and taken out 10 minutes of traffic cams.
  • Extremely well written, produced, and filmed

    5
    By Bird50
    I consider myself well educated on the cold war, but still learned something from this film. The interviews conducted with key historical participants were very helpful in making this film a credible historical document. I especially appreciated the interviews with Mikhail Gorbachev, Zbigniew Brzezinski, and Jimmy Carter. By themselves, they presented a very compelling reason for total nuclear disarmament. The ease of smugglers to obtain, move, and work with HEU is truly frightening. We should be far less concerned with frisking 85 year-old women in airports and concentrate on the security issues documented in this film. If we don't, we're going to find ourselves in real trouble.
  • Improbable, but important

    5
    By Gangstabeck
    While the idea that this would actually happen is low, that doesn't mean impossible. And even one disaster could shake the world. I recommend this to all people.
  • Nice but flawwed

    4
    By Edison pet poodle
    I liked this movie. It was informative and well rounded. They hint extremely towards nuclear disarment and things as such. But they leave the viewer (you) to decide. BUt I feel as though we have crossed the point of no return. Still I terrific movie as far as documentaries go. Definaty worth the movie.
  • Should be required viewing for all of us

    5
    By jbj7
    Excellent documentary. Extremely informative, interesting, eye-opening, and concerning. Along with vivid explanations of facts and figures, this movie uses historical footage and interviews of many former world leaders and national security experts to give a stark warning about why our current state of nuclear weapons and their proliferation is so precarious. This isn't a topic most of us normally think about (at least I didn't), but this movie makes a convincing case of why it has to be one of our top priorities to solve. It's easy to see why this is so concerning: We (mankind), with all our fallibilities, are in charge of tens of thousands of warheads, each capable of instantly killing tens of millions of people. Just one mistake, one miscommunication, one glitch, one misjudgment can set off an unimaginable nuclear holocaust. As bleak as this sounds, this movie gives us reasons to hope, empowering us to work towards a nuclear-free world.
  • Hopeful Yet Improbable

    5
    By BartImpulse
    Unlike other documentaries, the running time flies by. The editing is well done and I learned quite a bit about near disasters that I hadn't heard before. The documentary explores the actual mechanics of nuclear weapons, specifically what was once complex is now within the reach of many nations. Ideally, the number should be zero but each viewer can decide for themselves if that is actually possible.

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