By Robert Frye
Now more than 70 years after the first and only nuclear bombs were used in war, North Korea's nuclear tests and the potential for a new global arms race provide stark reminders of the enormous threat posed by the most lethal weapon ever invented.
The Nuclear Requiem presents an updated, in-depth reflection on the continuing danger nuclear weapons pose, an honest assessment of the current obstacles to disarmament, and a frank, yet hopeful, discussion of what it will take to overcome the roadblocks to a safer world.
Featured are more than three dozen top security experts and citizen activists in countries from around the world. An original piano composition by Alain Kremski provides a meditative background score to the informed commentary.
The film begins with a brief overview of the major milestones in the nuclear age to provide essential historical background.
It then highlights the status of nuclear weapons worldwide and the major areas of concern, not just North Korea, but also a new cold war with Russia, with both countries spending billions of dollars on new weapons. Inside a UN session on nuclear nonproliferation, we witness first hand the complex political and strategic concerns that make steps towards disarmament a major challenge.
The Nuclear Requiem reviews some of the recent more hopeful developments, including the Iranian nuclear agreement and greatly improved verification capabilities, as well as voices from a new generation of younger experts and activists who are working globally to change the dialogue around what is possible.
The film includes President Obama's historic 2016 visit to Hiroshima, the first by a U.S. President. In his speech he suggests we must "look directly into the eye of history and ask what we must do differently to curb such suffering again." Hiroshima should be a memory that "allows us to fight complacency" and "fuels our moral imagination."
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