On Wednesday night at 10 p.m. New Mexico PBS will air the documentary “In Search of Resolution.” It’s the third in a series by filmmaker Robert Frye on the threat posed by nuclear weapons. This latest work explores global efforts around nuclear disarmament. He spoke with KUNM about how the Russian invasion of Ukraine has reawakened fears of nuclear war --- something many may have thought was no longer a risk.
ROBERT FRYE: Well, I think what's happened is that the changes, people are beginning to realize it's real. As opposed to something -- I remember, I just had a screening a few years ago, at a college. And I presented the film, it wasn't this film it was the second one. And after it was done, and I had the conversation, one of the students piped up and said, “Well, that's all well and good, but we don't have to worry about this stuff.” And so, you know, that's the challenge. How do you tell a story that people don't understand the realities? What I've tried to do with this what is now the trilogy, is to explain it, not to have everybody started digging bunkers in their backyard. But more to inform, than to scare, because the reality is shelters with the weapons that now exist, won't do any good. Unless you're really far, far underground. There are too powerful, the bombs today. So what I try to do is tell that story in a way that will inform people. And also, what I've decided with this film there that there's a level of understanding and discovery with those younger folks that are in the film, because no one will escape this, if anything ever happens with the use of nuclear weapons.
KUNM: Did you see hope when you interviewed the young people?
FRYE: Well, I feel the reason that they're involved is that they, as Einstein's quote that I have in the film, different levels of consciousness. I think that they may give it another shot, and look at it a different way. And I believe it’s Sergio Duarte saying, you know, for the younger generation, maybe they'll find a way to move this along in a way that is much more different, if you will, than what we have done so far. And so you have many different stories, it's not one big story. When it comes to climate change, it's over a long period of time. But when it comes to nuclear weapons, if they are ever used by two states, pick your own combination, the world will change overnight. In many ways that is true. So how do you find a way to change that underlying dynamic? Where do you go with that, in terms of allowing people to realize they should get involved? My goal is not to campaign for people to get involved. But my goal is for people to understand why this continues to be important.
KUNM: The Archbishop of Santa Fe issued a pastoral letter last year calling for the elimination of nuclear weapons. But I'm curious if you think actions like this can have an effect if we're talking about something outside of state actors.
FRYE: My answer is, it's better to hear their voices than have silence. And it doesn't take many I don't believe, to change the underlying dynamic. But the reason for these treaties and these conferences, is to at least try to help defray and engage in some kind of dialogue on one level or another. The new TPNW, the Treaty to Prevent Nuclear Weapons, now exists, it's another attempt to create an environment for people to become involved. None of the nuclear weapons states have signed on but they're now trying to sign as many states up as possible, to at least create a new underlying dynamic to engage in conversations to help people realize what the damage can be. And as you recall, in the film, there is the sequence using the footage of what the damage was in Hiroshima, Nagasaki. That alone, I think, would at least help people understand what we're dealing with. As one other individuals in one of my earlier films said, “We have these, why do we have them if we're not going to use them?”-- which is a rather sobering thought. That's what's so powerful about what's happened with Russia invading Ukraine, they've managed to threaten the use of them. Just the mere threat is enough to sober one. I only hope and pray along with your bishop that no one will ever use them.
