Time Bomb Y2K Review | HBO Documentary Gives a New Year’s Warning

Sam Esmail’s recently released dramatic thriller from Netflix, Leave the World Behind, offers a disquieting and almost dystopian glimpse of the art of modern warfare, and the vulnerability that has come with technological dependency. Thematically, the film explores the idea of the United States falling victim to a catastrophic blackout that teeters America on the edge of a civil war. The film speaks to this human-manufactured, deep-rooted reliance on digital technology, which arguably first became a truly collective anxiety in the lead-up to the 21st century with the Y2K scare.

It may seem quaint and even silly now, but the very real issue plagued computer scientists, politicians, and the public back in 1998 and 1999. As we rapidly approach the quarter of a century mark of the early 2000s, HBO takes a deep dive into this mechanical loophole that was wildly speculated to not just jeopardize technological advancements and computer-controlled infrastructure, but humanity itself. Time Bomb Y2K airs tonight, Dec. 30, at 10 PM. It’s a perfect choice for the weekend.

What a Difference a Glitch Makes

Time Bomb Y2K, which is set to debut on HBO tonight, Dec. 30th, draws on an eclectic mix of grainy archival footage from the mid-’90s to the early 2000s, traversing this extremely specific period of technological angst at the dawn of the 21st-century. Documentarians Brian Becker and Marley McDonald take it upon themselves to cross-examine this explosion of hysteria perpetuated by so-called industry experts, politicians, and news anchors around the ‘Millennium Bug.’ They do so through an Adam Curtis-like pastiche of found footage, drawing from contemporaneous interviews and news broadcasts in order to tap into the moment itself rather than merely reflect on it.

Most of us know about Y2K. A potential computerized glitch flagged by eagle-eyed computer geeks 20 years prior to the turn of the century was blissfully ignored by the head honchos at the big-hitters of world tech — IBM, Microsoft, Apple, and the like. This pre-diagnosed malfunction essentially concerned the fact that computer companies hadn’t incorporated a four digit date system and, as such, didn’t have the capacity to make the simple transition into a new time period.

Computer-coders were then given the complicated task of creating entirely new code in order to circumvent the possibility of encountering issues along the line, purportedly ranging from faltering sewage systems to nuclear disasters. As one news reporter puts it, the effort was akin to replacing the bolts in every bridge around the world. We may look back with the luxury of hindsight and mock the collective panic of 1999, but this was a genuine issue that cost $320 billion to fix worldwide and $134 billion to fix in the U.S. alone, between federal and corporate spending, according to The Library of Congress. As such, the documentary takes the situation seriously, offering a poignant blast from the past that resonates with prominent present-day issues.

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Why Too Chaotic?

In a world where doom-mongering is everywhere we look, from mainstream news to the far reaches of the internet, Time Bomb Y2K speaks to this persistent peddling of catastrophism and this fascination with the end of the world. Through fast-paced editing and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it montage, Becker and McDonald manage to capture the madness and hysteria that ensued as a result of the prospect of this digital doomsday. The crafty directorial pair intercut a dramatic account of the proceedings, recognizing the way people exploit and profit off disaster, and how some conspiracy theorists are just itching to be proven right.

Through found footage alone and without any retrospective narration, the film convinces you how certain parties may have overestimated and benefitted from a nonetheless real problem. There’s Peter de Jäger, an important figure in proliferating information about the crisis, but one who certainly used it to his advantage. He sold a lot of books in the two years ahead of Y2K, along with videos and merchandise off his website. In an interview on CNN’s Crossfire, one host says to his face, “You’re a one-man doom and gloom industry. You don’t want the problem to go away or you’ll be out of a job.” To de Jäger’s credit, he eventually went on television to tell people that the problem is being fixed and not to panic. Unfortunately, pandora’s box had already been opened.

Related Leave the World Behind Review: A Pointless Apocalypse Wastes Great Actors Sam Esmail’s apocalyptic thriller consists of one banal dead end after another. Julia Roberts is great though.

Time Bomb Y2K also locates another panic profiteer — extremist evangelicals and cultists. With a Newsweek poll claiming that 40% of Americans believed that the world was ending with Y2K, it’s no wonder that the lunatics came out of the woodwork to sell their goods and manipulate people. “God says my job is to warn you,” says one evangelical on videotape, reflecting the vile intentions of others like him. “Satan could take advantage of such a situation,” another evangelical adds. “It’s so near. Are you ready?” And it wasn’t just the wackos. NBC aired Y2K: The Movie, advertising that, “It’s not just a movie.” The made-for-TV film featured planes falling from the sky, nuclear reactors malfunctioning, and chaotic crowds running through the streets.

Y2K: 2023

HBO

Becker and McDonald brilliantly encapsulate this insidious mood that began to permeate from within tech companies in the late ‘80s before transcending this computerized bubble, filtering into political debate and the public domain. What happened between 1995 and 2000 shares real parallels with the current state of international issues, which amounts to one word — procrastination.

We got ourselves into an awful situation with Y2K due to the fact that we waited until we only had two years to do anything about it. That’s how today’s global situation feels. We look at climate change, dwindling natural resources, growing numbers of refugees, and more catastrophic issues and shrug, thinking we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. At the same time, we are letting technology grow exponentially and unchecked, with things like artifical intelligence and total reliance on computers threatening our future. Time Bomb Y2K is excellent at positioning our continuous shunning of life-endangering matters in parallel to the Y2K issue. It’s a warning of sorts, and one we should all heed.

Time Bomb Y2K airs tonight, Dec. 30, at 10 PM on HBO. You can learn more here, and stream the film on Max through the link below after its premiere.

Watch on Max

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