At the Santa Fe New Mexico Opening of Countdown to Zero Wilson explains how she got involved with the film, how nuclear proliferation is an issue of national security, how nuclear weapons are not a deterrent against current threats and in fact contributes to that threat. She suggests that global nuclear disarmament may be difficult but is necessary as an eventual goal. The video was shot by John Witham for Nuclear Watch New Mexico, part of the CTZ Campaign Alliance.
An interview of Lawrence Bender by Rachel Maddow about the movie Countdown to Zero.
Moderated by Peter Galison, an authority on the history of nuclear weapons, this panel examines the need for action to prevent proliferation. The filmmakers also describe their strategy for ensuring that COUNTDOWN TO ZERO has as great an impact as their last joint production: AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. Panelists include: PETER GALISON (moderator), filmmaker & University Professor, Harvard University; GRAHAM ALLISON, Professor of Government, Harvard Kennedy School; LAWRENCE BENDER, Producer; DIANE WEYERMANN, Executive Producer; VALERIE PLAME WILSON, former Covert Operations Officer, CIA.
Former CIA Covert Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson speaks about her involvement with the documentary film "Countdown to Zero," which was honored at the Gleitsman Social Change FIlm Forum at Harvard Kennedy School in 2010.
Lucy Walker, the director of COUNTDOWN TO ZERO, talks to Sharon Swart about fulfilling her dream of premiering a movie at the Cannes Film Festival. She made the film with Participant, and it'll be released through Magnolia. Lucy discusses about the extraordinary timing of the film, as the issues around nuclear weapons are currenly in the news, particularly around Iran, Pakistan, and North Korea. Be sure to text ZERO to 77177 to get campaign updates.
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A world without nuclear weapons, what a thought. 'Countdown to Zero' Producer Lawrence Bender explains the START Treaty will keep our country safer. This documentary calls for absolutely no nuclear weapons. He describes President Obama's leadership and effort. But the question still remains, how long it will take before all nuclear weapons will be eliminated.
Deepak Chopra hosts "The Road to Global Nuclear Disarmament: The Origin, the Evolution and the Future," a special edition of his weekly SIRIUS XM show on which Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, former CIA Covert Operations Officer Valerie Plame Wilson, Academy Award-winning producer Lawrence Bender and Jonathan Granoff, President of the Global Security Institute. On the special, panelists offer extraordinary personal and professional insight and perspective on nuclear warfare, weapons, threats disarmament and related issues explored in the new documentary, "Countdown to Zero."
On July 16, 1945, the U.S. government tested their first nuclear bomb, led by J. Robert Oppenheimer. As the blast went off, Oppenheimer became aware not only the terrifying power of the nuclear bomb but also our inability to entirely comprehend the implications of this invention. His attempts to warn the public were silenced and ridiculed, though today, over 65 years later, his voice is a haunting reminder of our very real nuclear threat.
Featuring interviews from the documentary film "Countdown to Zero," this short is a look into the man who created the bomb...and a frightening new world. Find out more about the movie, and how you can demand a world without nuclear weapons, at TakePart.com/zero.
Produced by TakePart with Participant Media
Directed by Mariana Blanco at Hoodablah
Score by Austin Wintory
Featuring Grizelda by Yeasayer
Special Thanks to Lisa Remington, Susan Ricketts
Footage provided by:
Arnold Newman Collection/Getty Images, AP Image Source, BBC Motion Gallery, Corbis, Fish Films, Harvard University Archives, J. Robert Oppenheimer Memorial Committee, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, Library of Congress, National Archives Records Administration, NBC News Archives , Paul Popper/Popperfoto/Getty Images, Streamline Films, Trinity and Beyond, VCE, Inc., World Security Institute
As the documentary "Countdown to Zero" on non-proliferation is screened at the Cannes Film Festival, RT talked to the consultant behind the movie on the global will to stop the spread of nuclear arms. Valerie Plame was a CIA agent whose mission was to fight the spread of nuclear arms. After her identity was exposed in a White House Scandal, she turned to film-making, yet retained the same ideals.
Title: Countdown to Zero
Release Date: May 2010
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Graham Allison, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Tony Blair, Mikhail Gorbachev, Ahmed Rashid
Director: Lucy Walker
Studio: Magnolia Pictures
Plot: A documentary about the escalating nuclear arms race.
"The AMERICAN DREAM is a 30 minute animated film that shows you how you've been scammed by the most basic elements of our government system." That's how this movie is billed on YouTube (linked below). The movie intends to wake up the viewer to truths about the Federal Reserve that supposedly are secret, and that it's part of an evil global banking elite that's sucking the money out of countries around the world. The movie has some good points to it, but misses one aspect to it. We're not automatically the victim of the banks, we can make choices so that we are free of the banks. Further, the system could work if regulations were in place to keep greedy tendencies in check, but those regulations were dismantled over the last few decades.
The movie seems to come from the Tea Party movement. Clue? It has a long section focused on one of the U.S. Founding Fathers, Thomas Jefferson, and especially gives a rendition of his statement that occasionally the tree of liberty must be watered with the blood of patriots and tyrants. That phrase has recently come back to the surface in a way that's advocating for a new civil war or revolution. As if fighting in the streets will result in anything useful.
The movie shows the life of a financially ignorant everyman who wakes up one morning to undergo foreclosure. As his house is being taken away he's whining about being behind in his payments, but next month he'll have more money just have mercy. The movie goes from there through a tour of the history of money and banking, slanting the presentation towards bankers being evil villains and us normal folk being victimized every time money stops being "real money"
"Real money" appears to be defined as being backed by gold held in a vault.
The story does have a lot of good information in it, and is probably factually correct. But it's highly slanted towards keeping the viewer thinking they're a victim of the system.
One crucial piece it misses is the depression of the 1870-1880's. The movie shows Pres. Andrew Jackson "killing the banks" and fast forwards to 1913, claiming that everything in-between was hunky-dory. It wasn't, that depression in the late 1800's was supposedly extremely severe, and occurred while the U.S. was not under the influence of any form of false money.
The main thing ignored by the movie however is our power of personal choice.
Individual people have two choices about their financial health. They can live above their means, spending willy nilly, maxing out the credit cards, etc. Or they can live beneath their means, keeping borrowing to a minimum, instead saving and investing their money in a way that creates personal financial resiliency.
The movie shows the ignorant everyman as having lived above his means. Unable to keep up with his personal greed, the banks simply exercised their rights in the contract he signed when he couldn't keep up payments on the loans that fueled his greedy lifestyle. Living above ones means is just as greedy as the bankers depicted in the movie as evil demons, what's different is the scale.
The fact is that any time you take out a loan you're putting yourself under the control of someone else. Somewhere inside that loan will be provisions of taking back stuff in case loan payments are not made. Any lender who doesn't put those provisions into loan agreements is stupid and will go out of business. The banking business has thousands of years of history behind it, so every bank will understand that principle.
The way to not being controlled by others? Don't take out loans. Instead of living a life based on borrowed money, be frugal and create personal financial resilience.
It's that simple.
We don't have to see ourselves as victims of the great evil banking conglomerates. We can live beneath our means and be free of debt.
