“Dirty War” is a universal wake-up call......
Tools:
Recommend review to a friend »
Despite reassurances by various governments from time to time to the contrary, the climate of fear and insecurity wrought on by the very real threat of terrorism has left one nagging but important public safety question still unanswered, How prepared are we to deal with or prevent the next 9/11 (NYC) or 3/11 (Madrid)? Well, according to this new British made-for-TV film, "Dirty War", not very. "Dirty War", a collaborative effort between the BBC and HBO Films, is a fictional account of what might happen if terrorists were to set off a "dirty bomb" (a conventional bomb packed with radioactive material) in the middle of a crowded metropolitan city, which in this case is the City of London. Now, before anyone jumps up and accuse "Dirty War" of fear mongering, consider the reams of investigative work that went into the making of this film. Extensively researched by BBC Current Affairs and developed in consultation with various experts in the fields of emergency planning and counter-terrorism, "Dirty War" was conceived as providing valuable information to the public in the event of such an attack on a city with millions of inhabitants.
"Dirty War" follows in the same fine tradition as another notable disaster movie, namely 1983´s defining nuclear holocaust TV event, "The Day After". Both films appear amid building concerns about the major security threat of its time. While the danger of a nuclear attack was probably partly exaggerated in the 80´s, the use of a radiological "dirty bomb" as an effective mass killing tool by terrorists in this day and age is unfortunately more fact than fiction. This is due in large part to the crudeness in the method of delivery and also the relatively easy availability of radioactive waste material from around the world. Are governments more prepared now to deal with or prevent the next major terrorist attack or are we again lulling ourselves into a false sense of security and complacency? Unfortunately, we may never know until it actually happens and "Dirty War" presents to us a frightening scenario that is not only highly realistic but could possibly already be in certain stages of planning at this precise moment.
"Dirty War" explores the pre- and post-attack results as seen through the perspectives of politicians, anti-terrorist security squads, first responders, the terrorists and also the victims. As the film opens with a search and rescue and decontamination drill at an office building in London, the blunt and hard facts are brought to light right from the start. First, the firemen find that their cumbersome decontamination suits are unwieldy, claustrophobic and do not stand up to the rigors of a rough and tumble search and rescue operation. It also took too much time for them to maneuver through just a single building in search of victims. The drill scenario itself is not realistic, where only sixty "victims" are used to simulate such an attack. Scale that figure up ten times and maybe it will approach a more sensible disaster scenario in which hundreds and even thousands of victims could be trapped and contaminated inside a five to ten mile radius. None of what they do during this drill even comes close to dealing with a real-life situation.
The new Minister of London, Nicola Painswick (Helen Schlesinger), watching the drill from an observation area, also finds it unrealistic but during a press conference, chose instead to highlight only the advantages of running the drill and to pacify the general public about the state of preparedness of the government in dealing with an attack. Everyone else connected with the drill know what a load of crock the minister´s speech was and lead firefighter Murray Corrigan (Alastair Glabraith), one of the first responders who will be right smack in the front lines if ever an attack were to happen, is not afraid to let loose his frustrations about the obvious bureaucratic foot-dragging on the hapless politician.
Meanwhile, the countdown clock is already ticking as an Islamic terrorist sleeper cell is already putting their nefarious plans in motion, easily smuggling radioactive material through Britain´s porous borders, assembling the bomb in a rented flat and casing the location where the attack is to take place. Unlike most terrorist-related movies that usually portray the bad guys as somewhat dumb and lacking any common sense, "Dirty War" smashes that stereotype to smithereens, depicting in wrenching detail the meticulous and painstaking ways the terrorists go about their normal business and flying under the radar, all while planning perhaps the largest and deadliest terrorist attack yet on London.
Average user rating (1-5):
Not yet rated.
Not yet rated.
[release]15553[/release]