The Strength of Peace (Ages 15-17)

This is a documentary on the life of Jo Rotblat, who mobilized the world’s leading scientists to save the world from nuclear annihilation and won the Nobel Peace Prize for his life-long dedication. Rotblat and the Pugwash movement have inspired thoughtful people everywhere.

“It’s appropriate to be passionate” about ridding the world of nuclear weapons. That’s what world-renowned nuclear disarmament activist Helen Caldicott says in this film. It’s interesting that U.S. President Ronald Reagan said the same thing. But Helen means it.

Award-winning filmmaker Velcrow Ripper searches in a multitude of ground zeros around the world for hope in the darkest places. Whether in Kabul, Palestine, Hiroshima or New York, he finds hope for peace when a decision has been made to choose “the other way” from violence. An appropriate title for a beautiful film.

The carpet bombing of Dresden, Germany in 1945 was a prelude to the massive destruction wrought by the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Forty years later, the city celebrated its renaissance with the opening of a new opera house. One of the guests was a Canadian navigator of one of the bomber planes. Now an ardent peace activist, he discovers the humanity that rose from the rubble.

Buffy Sainte-Marie and Rosalie Bertell in the same film? The Native American singer and the scientist nun expose the risks of mining uranium in the Canadian heartland. The nuclear power defenders get their say, but it’s clear that the cost of mining uranium is too high: it’s the same material that is used to produce nuclear weapons. And the nuclear waste is immensely dangerous.