ee

TUTE

NFB ‘propaganda’ films
informative, provocative

ff You Love This Planet, di-
rected by Terri Nash, Pro-
duced by the National Film
Board of Canada.

This short, 26 minute film, is a
lecture by Dr. Helen Caldicott on
the lunacy of nuclear war. Dr.
Caldicott begins with Einsteins
equation, E=MC?:' and con-
cludes with actions that can be
taken to stop nuclear madness.

Caldicott talks of the effects of
the bombing of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki by the U.S. Inter-
spersed with this is a Pentagon

film featuring a young Ronald,

Reagan eager for a bombing run.

Films

Caldicott knows of what she
speaks. She is a pediatrician and
formerly was at the Harvard
University medical school. She
is currently president of Physi-
cians for Social Responsibility.
““We have four and a half
thousand doctors ...
member that all politicians are
our patients. Even the President.
Now I don’t know if the people

E=mc

_ Stop the arms race!

VAS-.S-Fene

“The Army had been told to
spare two cities in Japan, so that
they could scientifically test the
results of these bombs on human
beings and cities. How’s that for
thinking?’ Caldicott asks.

She talks about the absurdity
of Pentagon thinking, and its use
of the word ‘‘overkill’’ a Penta-
gon, word, and ‘“‘not a medical
term ... how many times can you
kill a human being?

“‘The mentality is about a“level
of a nine-year-old boy.”

Caldicott goes on to discuss
the absurdity of nuclear survival.
For those not already convinced
of this it is a compelling argu-
ment. For those who understand
(or think they understand), it is a
reminder of the craziness of

Reagan and his limited nuclear
war.

that treat him are members of
Physicians for Social Responsi-
bility, but they will be soon.”’

On actions people should take,
Caldicott offers the advice:
**You’ve got to work it out your-
self.” She offers two sugges-
tions, one being creating Babies
Against the Pentagon and ‘‘when
the Senate is debating the arms
race, we will release hundreds of
naked toddlers into the Senate
Chamber.”’

“Lots of things you can do.
You’re next to the S.A.C.
(Strategic Air Command) Air-
base here, close it down.”’

She deals briefly with the
Soviet Union. ‘‘Remember that
right through Vietnam and Cam-
bodia, Russia and America nego-
tiated SALT I. Quite a good trea-
ty. The superpowers have signed

And re-

CREDIT — NATIONAL FILM BOARD

17 treaties on nuclear weapons,
neither side have ever violated
them.

“Russia signed SALT II,
America hasn’t. Why not? Why
not? Because, say the Senators,
America wants to maintain its
superiority. What does that
mean?”’

Caldicott in the film already
answered that one.

Acid Rain: Requiem or Recov-
ery; and Acid From Heaven,
Produced by Environment
Canada, Distributed by The
National Film Board..

Both films deal with acid rain,
what it is, where it comes from,
what it does to lakes and forests..

Acid Rain: Requiem or Recov- -

ery begins with examples of
decaying buildings including
Parliament in Ottawa and the
Lincoln Memorial in Washing-
ton, D.C. The film then inter-
views scientists and researchers
on acid rain.

Dr. HELEN CALDICOTT

Children of Che tell own story
in delightful book on Cuba ~

Children of Che, Childcare and
Education in Cuba, by Karen
Wald, Ramparts Press, Palo
Alto, Califomia, 400 pp.

Based on her three extensive
and intensive visits in Cuba,
1970-73, Karen Wald, a
journalist and former teacher, has
thoroughly documented what she
discovered then, and provides an
enthusiastic guide for what we see
today, 1983. Karen seeks out
children to tell it like it is them-
selves.

A shy little boy, Luis, tells her:
**A lot of Cubans died at the Mon-
cada, so we could be free, so we
could have the things we have
_ now. My papa and mama tell me
they didn’t have any of the things
we enjoy today — schools or
clinics or even enough food or
clothes. That’s why we study
hard, we work hard today. We
have to be ready all the time. We
can’t ever let anyone take this
away from us.”’

Wald brings us from the mater-
nity clinic she attended, through

every aspect of life touching chil- _

dren — their families, day care
centres, schools from the primary
level to the residential schools in
the countryside with students in
agriculture, to the re-education of
juvenile delinquents, and particu-
larly to the work of the Young
Pioneers.

The spirit of collectivity and
pride in good work runs through
what the children say at all levels:
from the corner gardens grown by
the four-year-olds, to the com-
munity responsibility taken by the
Sanitarios, the health care
detachments, and the cultural
work and high calibre’ of the
young journalists who may help
organize their own Pioneers’
broadcasts.

The actual political develop-
ment of children is remarkable for
foreigners to see, who learn never
to underestimate children. In the
Pioneers, they develop their own

PACIFIC TRIBUNE— MARCH 18, 1983—Page 10

leadership, with election of six
leaders inevery detachment, (that
may be one or more in each class-
room.) They must have good
work in school themselves, but
also show how their own groups
have helped each other and the
class or school and brought
along children with academic or
social difficulties.

As one of the Pionero magazine
editors puts it: ‘‘A child isn’t an
isolated phenomenon within this
Revolution; we don’t see the child
as a receptor, an empty vessel to
receive information. We think of
the formation of the child as
something in which the children
participate. History isn’t some-
thing (to) memorize, (but) ... to
live.

Children of Che — a delight,
and a must to understand Cuba
today.

— H.W.

Acid From Heaven reminds
one of an old western. It is about
a lodge manager who discovers
the fish have all died and he
wants to find out why. The film is
really a collection of stills with
narration and the occasional ti-
tle. It deals with the same mate-
rial as Acid Rain, but in a ‘‘folk-
sy” style, similar to Wintario
commercials.

Both films only mention the
source of acid rain for a couple of
minutes; but end with the point
that acid rain can be controlled,
and it isn’t expensive. Neither
film really gets into the profit mo-
tive behind ' the pollution, al-
though they both point out that
acid rain will have to be dealt
with sooner or later.

The films are a good intro-
duction to the topic of acid rain.
But they are not strong films; by
themselves they aren’t motivat-
ing. They can be effective as part

of a discussion on the topi¢
acid rain.
(A warning: those
remember their high sc®
chemistry and what pH 15 °

find both these films very ©
ous. But bear with them. The
have their high points too, ©
they are short.)
* *

*

These are the three films the
U.S. Justice Department bes
found to be foreign propagandt
and they require a list of
people who see them.

The National Film Board ®
holding discussions with the J05
tice Department. MeanwW
thousands of Americans are ©
rently seeing the films, p
because of the publicity.

In Canada the films opened
commerical theatres March !
Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, B ;
lington (Ont.), Winnipeg i
Edmonton. — José Ka 4

(Classified Advertising )

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The Salute

to Labor

April 10,1983
in the QE Playhouse |
has been postponed |

until fall, 1983.

Tickets willbe |
refunded by phoning |

Ash St. Production$ |
987-1691

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