Weekly Think Piece ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You're Community Has been Hit With a WMD Attack - Now What?
I had dinner the other night with friends and their friends. At the dinner was a
hospital administrator that just came back from a seminar that taught medical
first responders how to handle a terrorist WMD attack.
I sat nicely and listened how medical personnel would handle the triage process
of separating those that were infected or radiated from those that were not. I
listened to how obedient citizens would stand in line in the area waiting to be
cleared or brought to a segmented holding hospital away from non-infected
citizens. The process described was orderly.
I said bull cookies!
The first thing I would do is vacate the area before the authorities came in. I
said I was not about to wait around an infected or radiated area or downwind of
one while I turn my life over to the authorities. My wife, a medical
professional, said that was very selfish of me to willfully leave the area and
expose other people. I said how do you know I would be infected or radiated?
She said how do you know you weren't? I said I'll make that decision myself and
when I leave you're coming with me.
Selfish of me.
The reality of the situation is that my reaction and many others like me would be
normal and a movie entitled Right
At Your Door explores that scenario. According to the film'sofficial
website the synopsis is thus:
After multiple dirty bombs are detonated, spreading
deadly toxic ash across Los Angeles,
Brad (Rory Cochrane) inadvertently quarantines his wife, Lexi (Mary McCormack)
outside their new home by safely sealing himself inside. With the city under
siege and Martial Law in affect, Brad and Lexi struggle to survive with little
supply, limited time and no information-all the while separated by thin doors
and thinner sheets of plastic. When "help" finally does arrive, it
appears to be anything but.
"The "help" referred to consists of squads of toxic suit wearing
troops and cops that cuff and take away contaminated survivors in unmarked
black vans. Cochrane's character even suggests that he has seen cops on the
streets exterminating survivors by shooting them in the head."
Right At Your Door relays a personalized account from two isolated characters with
only confusion and dread propelling the plot.
Living in Los Angeles,
Brad begins his daily routine of worship for his wife Lexi. While most men
deeply in love with their wives may not wake up extra early just to prepare a
nice steaming latte for their wives, Brad is an out-of-work musician, happily
supporting his wife's 9 to 5 work routine while he languishes about strumming a
guitar at home.
Having seen Lexi off to work, Brad is just settling into his deadbeat shuffle when he
hears over the radio that dirty bombs are exploding all over Los Angles. Brad
makes a mad dash to find his wife, but is turned back towards home by police
barricades.
Scenes of people fleeing a disaster plagued downtown, only to be gunned down by police officers, are unsettling.
As the film depicts, would you trust the authorities? And would you still trust
them after they have left a red mark on your front door without explanation?
Would martial
law replace the US Constitution? And think about this. In 2003, UK police revealed that they may have to shoot any victims of a chemical, biological, nuclear or
radiological strike.
What cinematic value the film has, I don't know. But the story
posited by the film is a lot closer to reality than the orderly process
described by the hospital administrator. | 
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