Educational Media Reviews Online

The Germ Genie is a BBC documentary that explores the threat of germ or biological warfare. Used since the Middle Ages, when diseased corpses were catapulted into besieged fortresses, biological weapons can be manufactured by any country with a pharmaceutical or fermentation (beer brewing) industry.

During World War II, the Japanese military used plague and cholera epidemics against Chinese civilians, as well as performing gruesome biological warfare experiments on captured Allied prisoners and Chinese civilians in their infamous Camp 731. Today, the problem continues despite international treaties, and UN inspections-- Saddam Hussein is again worrying his neighbors with the renewed threat of biological warfare.

The Biological Weapons Convention has made inspections of possible biological weapons factories extremely difficult, and large pharmaceutical companies, concerned about industrial espionage, have lobbied Congress against expanding the treaty.

Even with a strengthened Biological Weapon's Convention, new forms of genetic engineering (using DNA manipulation) intensify the danger. Lack of reliable detection methods for biological weapons have made these weapons extremely difficult to counteract. Even small quantities of biological weapons (in the kilograms) are capable of killing millions of people. Dispersion of these weapons can be achieved by air, sea, land or even aerosol spray.

Using old United States Defense Department documentaries, interviews with military and biological warfare experts, and even scenes from Jurassic Park, this video presents a well edited, entertaining, and fast-paced depiction of the threat posed by biological weapons. The only fault I find with the film is that the expert commentators were not identified. Surely, Films for the Humanities and Sciences could have added subtitles to identify the experts? Were the creepy lighting effects also necessary for the commentators? Did we need to exaggerate the melodrama?

Sound quality in The Germ Genie was excellent with minimal music. This video started with a most unusual stop action beginning where odd looking creatures came out of a trunk. Did this trunk once belong to Czech animator Jan Svankmajer? Although a few gruesome pictures of disease victims are shown, this video is appropriate at either the high school or college level. The Germ Genie could be used in contemporary history, or political science classes. Recommended