Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39883 in VHS
• Released on: 1990-01-25
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Formats: Color, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 109 minutes

Customer Reviews

Get's better each time you watch it
I first caught this movie on cable on a Saturday afternoon about halfway through and thought "I have to see this, again." I was not disappinted. Amateurishly filmed and with one or two somewhat weak subplot this is, nonetheless, a fairly tight mystery where the viewer is given all the clues (in fact, I had to rewatch it a few times to catch what I had missed).

Loosely based upon true events (the Australian atomic bomb tests at Maralinga in 1956-5 which left thousands of native aborigines dead or dying of cancer), the story surrounds the modern day story of a cinematographer whose father, it is discovered, did not drown while on vacation, as first believed. Instead, it appears from a recent excavation at the test site, that he was murdered after possibly filming evidence of the effects of the bomb tests on the native population.

Because of a government investigation into the claims of the aborigines, the existence of the film and the reason for his father's death become central to the mystery.

The hero is an unlikely one, at best. A childish adult with a broken marriage, he has almost no interest in the events surrounding the tests or the mystery until agents of the goverment arouse his suspicions (along with a mysterious voice which prompts him to watch the TV news). In essence, he becomes an unwilling champion (or is he a dupe?) for the advocates of natives of Maralinga. Who are the good guys and who are the bad never quite becomes clear.

There have been many more suspenseful films and many stories better acted and better told. Perhaps because there are so many questions at the end of this film, and because of its low production quality, it seems more like the story of a real person than of an actor playing a character.

In short, because we expect so little, it seems that we get a lot, including (perhaps) one of the greatest film endings of any thriller, ever.

This is a darned good film for a rainy Saturday afternoon or a cold Saturday night. And it is a better told story than the likes of what Hollywood has put out for the past few decades.

Underrated and hard to find but a must see.
Ground Zero is one of a tiny handful of Australian movies that made its way to cable t.v. in the late 80's. Quite a few people watched it and loved it when it left them with their mouths hanging open.

Colin Friels stars as a t.v. cameraman who's father's murdered body is discovered in the body of a radio active plane in the Australian dessert. What was he doing during the British A-bomb tests and what did he film leads his son on a wild chase to find his fathers film which may be evidence for the large amount of Aborigines who died during the tests.

This movie will ultimately bring you to a shocker of an ending which may get under your skin for quite some time.

This is a decent little thriller of a movie and well worth your time to watch.