GROUND ZERO

Australia, 1987, 108 minutes, Colour.

Colin Friel's, Jack Thompson, Donald Pleasance, Natalie Bale, Burnham Burnham, Simon Childers, Neal Fitzpatrick, Bob Maza, Alan Hopgood, Peter Cummins, Mark Mitchell.

Directed by Bruce Myles, Michael Pattinson.

The Ground Zero of this film is the side of the atomic tests in Marnga, South Australia, in the 1950s.

Information is given at the beginning of the film about the tests, British secrecy, alleged guarantees of safety by the British, the choice of the site, the repercussions for indigenous people, radiation, deaths.

There is a personal story running through the film, focusing on Colin Friels as a filmmaker, and making commercials, but involved then in the investigation of the nuclear tests, discovering that his father was involved in filming at the time, personal difficulties at home, but becoming more and more involved in the exposure.

There is a very strong supporting cast led by Jack Thompson, aboriginal actor Burnham Burnham, aboriginal actor Bob Maza as a liaison officer, and a number of Australian character actors. Direction by Bruce Myles and Michael Pattinson who was emerging as a feature film director at the time, Moving Out, Street Hero.

In retrospect, the interest in the film is the continued exploration of the nuclear tests, their effects, the questioning of nuclear testing in the 1950s.

1. An Australian thriller, based on experiences, nuclear tests, the effect, radiation, aboriginal people? Secrecy, exposure, cover-ups?
2. The film from the 1980s, 30 years after the tests? Australian consciousness?
3. The background of the Royal commission, the 1980s, the nuclear era, the tests, aboriginal people, exposure and radiation, themes?
4. The Panavision photography, the city of Melbourne, intimate sequences, the desert, the sites, the special effects? Old films and news items?
5. The title, sites for the explosions, the reality of the tests, the information at the beginning? Facts, interpretation, the list of the dead?
6. Introduction, the plane, the radioactivity and suggestions, the news, suppression?
7. The personal story, the introduction to Harvey, work as a cameraman, filming the commercial? Melbourne, the snooty neighbours, the flat, the film, the phone, the video, the rat? Harvey at home, relationship with his wife, tensions? With his son? The happy-go-lucky attitude? His relationship with his father?
8. The news, his interest, the growing involvement? The effect on him, the further investigations, his father as cameraman?
9. The lawyers, the conduct of the Royal Commission, the aboriginal liaison person and his influence? The group in the court, the moment, the home? The issue of traditions, silence about the deaths, the aborigines not counted in the census but only in the wildlife? The witness, the old woman, the description of the fallout cloud? The range of testimonies and the witness of talk about the fallout?
10. The British, the pledges that all safety would be provided for? The reality?
11. Prosper Gaffney, British, the choosing of the sites, Harvey’s father, the paintings, the aboriginal themes, the bomb of the apocalypse? Charlie, “old Black Bastard”, his blindness, meditation, death and burial?
12. Carl Denton, his work with the aborigines, with Gaffney, the mystery death? The aboriginal liaison officer, the talk with Harvey, the film, the court, failure and disbelief, the Harvey’s reaction?
13. The film, the deserted base, the open door, the corpses, labelled and backed?
14. The personality Prosper Gaffney, the biblical overtones, vengeance is mine, God’s will be done?
15. The film as a drama, personal, as exposure of the past, court drama?