Public enemy number one

This film by David Bradbury follows the life of controversial Australian journalist Wilfred Burchett, the first western correspondent into Hiroshima after the bomb was dropped. The documentary shows how Burchett was vilified by the mainstream press and conservative public in Australia for his coverage of 'the other side' in the Korean and Vietnam wars. Burchett was a close friend of Ho Chi Min and covered the war in Vietnam until the American defeat. This film won the Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary at the San Francisco Film Festival in 1981, the Christopher Statuette at the Columbus Film Festival, Best Documentary at the Sydney Film Festival, an AFI award and was screened in Berlin, London, Edinburgh. American and Cork Film Festivals to critical acclaim. It was never shown on Australian TV because it was too controversial. Wilfred Burchett's career began when he helped smuggle Jews out of Germany from 1936. He started drawing Australia's attention to the true state of politics in Germany. He covered the allied campaign against the Japanese in the Pacific as an accredited correspondent for the London Daily Express. It was the first and last war on which he would report from the 'popular' side. He spent the rest of his career reporting on events from the 'other side' beginning when he took an unsanctioned trip to the city of Hiroshima instead of covering the surrender of Japan on the USS Missouri.