On January 22, 2020, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists moved the hands of the Doomsday Clock to 100 seconds to midnight. The scientists warned that the world was at the highest level of risk since 1945 that nuclear weapons would be used. This grave assessment was the response to the scientists’ observation that there was worldwide governmental dysfunction in dealing with global threats. And that was before the global pandemic of COVID-19, the health-care crisis in every country on Earth, and the economic chaos that ensued. The Doomsday Clock gives a chilling, macro view of the possibility and peril of nuclear weapons today.
This and the historic significance of the 75th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan in 1945 compelled me to re-issue the documentary, Original Child Bomb. Produced in 2004, prior to contemporary streaming norms, Original Child Bomb has been recently digitized and technologically renewed. It became available for viewing on YouTube on August 3, 2020.
Original Child Bomb reveals the human scale of the use of nuclear weapons. The film shows what actually happened to people when nuclear weapons targeted and bombed their cities. Using seldom seen 16mm archive film from Hiroshima and Nagasaki before and after the bombings, the viewer comes face to face with the complete destruction caused by these weapons of mass destruction. The film challenges the viewer’s naiveté about the "history" of the bombings. The film asks questions about present-day nuclear arsenals. What time is it? What is going to happen? The film asks the viewer: How will you decide how to respond at this time to the gravest threat ever that nuclear weapons could be used to destroy human life on Earth?