[Anthropgrad] BOMB HARVEST - 8:30 PM ABC TV THURSDAY, 29 NOV

[Warren Paul Mayes]

http://www.bombharvest.com/

ABC Television: 8:35pm Thursday, 29 Nov 2007

Bomb Harvest explores how three generations of people, in a largely 
forgotten country, have been left to deal with the mess of an air war 
long after it is over.

There are bombs scattered all over the landscape in Laos, left from the 
US's Secret War over 35 years ago, which was conducted during the war in 
neighbouring Vietnam without the knowledge of most of the outside world.

Farming in Laos has been hampered by the presence of unexploded bombs - 
people blow themselves up whilst trying to cultivate the land - and bomb 
scrap has become the new cash crop. Local kids are quick to learn there 
is money to be made in bomb scrap metal, and as result the death rate of 
those killed by bombs - almost half of whom are children - is on the 
rise. This is a terrifying reality of the new generation.

In *Bomb Harvest*, the discovery of yet another child victim brings 
Australian bomb disposal specialist Laith Stevens to a small village in 
Laos in South East Asia to diffuse the bomb responsible, only to 
discover that another live aircraft bomb is lodged spectacularly in a 
rice paddy behind the children's school.

But Laith is forced to leave the live bomb unattended so he can train up 
young Lao technicians to become "Big Bomb" qualified. Without their 
manpower, the bombs can't be taken care of. Time is short, as Laith is 
fearful that the bombs will automatically detonate or the foraging 
children will trigger it before he gets back, and he has to quickly take 
the fledgling bomb disposal technicians through a course where any 
mistakes can prove fatal.

The film shifts between the high tension of dealing with live bombs - 
which could turn them all into 'pink mist' in an instant - and the 
camaraderie between the team members who do such a dangerous job. We 
also meet some of the elders and surviving victims of war - people who 
experienced an illegal air war which delivered tonnes of bombs to their 
country.

**




-- 
Warren Mayes
Research Officer
State, Society and Governance in Melanesia
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies
Australian National University
0431867352