Dotsthavesp
I wanted to but couldn't!
CommentsXp
Best movie ever!
Kaydan Christian
A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
sjhvii
As drama it was first rate but as a serious look at the problem it was banal. Outside the handful of fruitcakes in the Pentagon and the Kremlin no one ever thought nuclear war would be a breeze.An entire film saying look here these nuclear bombs thingies are really rather unpleasant was crass. As children of the Cold War my generation assumed that if it kicked off nuclear style it would be goodnight Vienna for all of us and this would have told us nothing we could not already have guessedThe utter inescapable horror of nuclear war was after all its whole point and the strategy underpinning the MAD.doctrineThe film gloried in its own misery and failed to notice that rather than hastening Armageddon the Bomb has helped keep the peace in Europe for a record period of time. Furthermore the three central predictions of the film were all wrong. Perhaps 4 new nations acquired the bomb in 50 years not the 12 nations in 15 years it foretold. Nuclear stockpiles generally have been slashed not increased and most importantly there was no massive nuclear War by 1980.. None of this was due to the Jeremy Corbyn like shroud waving. of this film
secondtake
The War Game (1965)The ongoing horrific black and white "footage" of nuclear war preparations and aftermath in Britain is gripping and terrifying. I was a kid in this era, the 1960s, and remember only the official side of it--the government warnings, the bomb shelter information--but I've retained enough of the scariness to really get this inside. You don't need to be fifty to feel the genuine pain of these people. Yet you have to remind yourself, over and over, that this is all fiction, that it's a movie, that it's just a projection of likely effects. The more amazing aspect is that the movie concentrates on areas on the far fringes of the bomb's explosion (6 to 20 miles away), and leaves the closer damages, the total annihilation, to your imagination.It's a short movie, and an amazing one. There's nothing like this, for sure, and I think it's should be required viewing for anyone wondering about the current threats of atomic warfare in a dozen different places. It's too real, and it's avoidable, I believe, if everyone does the right thing. Amazing.
verbusen
I was most surprised at how political this film was. It did not try to hide it's agenda like you sense from listening to BBC radio news, where only the facts that are relevant to their opinion are broadcast in a nice professional soothing manner. No, this film bashes you over the head with an agenda. What has the Catholic and Anglican Church got to do with World War 3? Well if you watch this movie, it seems they are the ones blessing a war! So is it a good re-enactment of nuclear war on England? I guess so, who can say, I would think it would be much worst. But it's political agenda minimizes any serious debate that it is a great film. The film demonizes NATO using tactical nukes if Berlin was overrun by the Eastern Bloc, well guess what, that's a flawed scenario to use because that's what prevented that from happening in the first place! Still I applaud that this film was made as nuclear war is horrific and needs to be dramatized, now maybe more then ever. I would like to see the impartial BBC do a remake of this film relevant to today's world. They could quote Imam's and Iranian Mullahs and Leaders, and then show what Tehran would look like after a nuclear attack. That would do the world a great service, and hopefully wake up more Iranians from what their leaders are driving them into.6 of 10 for the message that nuclear war is a no win situation, not a 10 of 10 because it's politically biased to a side that would have lost us the cold war if we had not stood tall.
Michael_Elliott
War Game, The (1965) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Peter Watkins documentary has a rather interesting history behind it. It was produced for BBC TV but the company deemed it too graphic and intense so the film was banned. Some sort of loophole allowed the film to be released into theaters (with an X rating) where it eventually won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The film talks about what would happen if a Nuclear weapon hit Britian. Even with current events, this documentary remains quite powerful and unsettling. The violence and views of the attack and aftermath are fairly hard to watch and they are shown in such brutal force that it's no wonder this film was originally banned. It's also interesting that this would win the Best Documentary award since the film documents something that hadn't happened yet.
