Gwynne Dyer

The raw material for heroin, opium is a substance with tremendous power to both ease pain and destroy lives as it fuels a vast illegal trade larger than the economies of many nations. Raw Opium travels the world to profile diverse players in the opium game: an opium master in southeast Asia, a UN drug enforcement officer on the Afghan border, a former Indian government Drug Czar, and two people who confront the reality of drug addiction on a daily basis: a Portuguese street worker and a crusading Vancouver doctor. The film reveals how a beautiful flower plays a pivotal role – not just in the lives of those who grow, manufacture and use it – but also in the increasingly tense sphere of international relations. In the process, Raw Opium challenges assumptions about addiction and the War on Drugs.

A penetrating look at how difficult it is for the northern countries--Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark--to remain neutral, caught as they are between the two superpowers. All but Canada were neutral before World War II. Today, only Sweden has not joined a military alliance, but with American and Soviet military forces in the northern seas, even its lone neutrality is at risk. Archival footage from the two world wars, animated maps, and interviews illuminate the historical shaping of each country's stance on neutrality and approach to its own defense, and how these positions work for and against the countries. The film's thesis is that a non-aligned north is the key to separating the superpowers and attaining world peace.

Professional soldiers from six different nations discuss their combat experiences, job demands, and the effects of new technology.

This third part of the series focuses on Canada's participation in NORAD and the events leading up to Canada's becoming a "nuclear no-man's land." In the late 1980s we are confronted with important choices about our role on the international scene, and host Gwynne Dyer offers intriguing predictions and possibilities about how our decisions could have global impact.

Explores the evolution of patriarchy as one effective way of organizing mass societies, from evidence in ancient Egyptian villages along the Nile.

All soldiers belong to the same profession, no matter what country they serve, and it makes them different from everybody else. They have to be different, for their job is ultimately about killing and dying, and those things are not a natural vocation for any human being. Yet all soldiers are born civilians. The method for turning young men into soldiers-people who kill other people and expose themselves to death-is basic training.

With Israel as an example, the reality of how military force is deemed necessary to maintain national sovereignty and the price involved is examined.

Explores the evolution of patriarchy as one effective way of organizing mass societies, from evidence in ancient Egyptian villages along the Nile.