Personally witnessing an atomic explosion is up there with seeing the death of a fellow human being and Donald Trump climbing out of a bath as sights we would all hope to never see in our lifetime.

Fortunately thanks to Australian artist Lynette Wallworth’s stunning new film Collisions, viewers all over the world have been able to experience such an apocalyptic vision without any of the side effects.

The 20-minute film tells in ground-breakingly immersive virtual reality how Martu tribesman Nyarri Morgan came across a UK atomic bomb test in the remote Australian outback in the 1950s. VR is still an emerging technology but Wallworth is already close to mastering it, using VR as an aid to storytelling, taking us to the desert region and putting us face-to-face with Nyarri, rather than just showing off.

The film has been shown to leading politicians and diplomats worldwide and is credited as leading to significant progress towards the UN nuclear weapon ban treaty. Its powerful global impact is understandable, the film subtly contrasts the ancient Aboriginal wisdom to preserve the earth for hundreds of generations with the scorched earth mentality of modern science.

Beautiful overhead shots of the tribe lighting fires in the bush to prevent out-of-control wild fires follow an impressive VR re-enactment of the devastating mushroom cloud which levels bouncing Kangaroos in its indiscriminate and obliterating wake. Wallworth’s film says it is not what you know but what you do with that knowledge, modern society has the ability to destroy the world but should also have the insight to know its folly to spend billions on weapons with the capacity to do so.

My only criticism is that the film left me wanting more. This truly is a unique story, how many people walking this earth have seen an atomic explosion without any context. I would have liked to hear more from Nyarri and how the incident led him to question his gods who brought ash raining down upon the lands and tainted the meat of the many kangaroos it killed.