ONE OF THE MOST SERIOUS FILMS EVER MADE ON THE SUBJECT OF ATOMIC WAR,THE "WAR GAME" I HAVE DECIDED TO ADD THIS FILM TO MY BLOG. THE MOVIE IS PERHAPS THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN ON ATOMIC WAR AND LEFT FEELING DRAINED AFTER WATCHING THIS, ITS NOT THREADS OR THE DAY AFTER NOR IS IT A 1950s CIVIL DEFENSE SURVIVAL MOVIE IT IS AN ACCURATE FILM THAT WAS SO REALISTIC AND DEPRESSED ENOUGH FILM CRITICS IT WAS BANNED. I HAD SEARCHED FOR YEARS FOR A COPY BEFORE STUMBLING UPON A VHS COPY AND THEN IT TOOK A COUPLE YEARS TO FIND A VHS PLAYER (just kidding) AFTER WATCHING IT I NEVER FOUND A FILM OF THE SAME CALIBER THIS FILM STANDS ALONE AND TO ME IS A MASTERPIECE SO PLEASE WATCH THIS FILM IN ITS ENTIRETY, NEVER MIND THE RADICAL HIPSTERS WHO AT THE BEGINNING INTRODUCE THE FILM THROUGH THEIR CABLE ACCESS SHOW
Peter Watkins' film "The
Peter Watkins' film "The
War Game," a graphic portrayal of what would happen in the event
of a nuclear attack on Great Britain. The movie was so powerful
and realistic that the BBC banned it from TV despite the fact
that the film had been commissioned by the BBC and had won an
Academy Award in l966 for best documentary. Although it has been
shown in a few movie theatres in the US, it has not been
presented on TV. "The War Game" is shocking, but is not
sensationalized. It was carefully researched and based on actual
events which occurred in World War II during and after the mass
Allied raids on Germany and the atomic bombings of Japan.
SYNOPSIS
Made in black-and-white with a running time of just under 50 minutes, The War Game depicts the prelude to and the immediate weeks of the aftermath to a Soviet nuclear attack against Britain. A Chinese invasion of South Vietnam starts the war; tensions escalate when the United States authorises tactical nuclear warfare against the Chinese. Although the Soviet and East German forces threaten to invade West Berlin if the US does not withdraw that decision, the US does not acquiesce to Communist demands and occupies West Berlin; two US Army divisions attempt to fight their way into Berlin, but the Russian and East German forces defeat them in battle. The US President launches a pre-emptive, NATO tactical nuclear attack. A limited nuclear war erupts between the West and the East; missiles strike Britain.
The chaos of the prelude to the attack, as city residents are forcibly evacuated to the country, leads to the story's centre in Rochester, which is struck by an off-target missile aimed at Gatwick Airport. Key targets in Kent are RAF Manston and the Maidstone barracks, which are mentioned in scenes showing immediate effects of the attack. The results of that missile's explosion are the instant flash blindness of those who see the explosion, the resultant firestorm caused by the heat wave, and the blast front; later, the collapse of society occurs because of radiation sickness and exhaustion of medical supplies, psychological damage and consequent escalating suicides, and destroyed infrastructure; the British Army burns corpses, while police shoot looters during food riots. The film ends bleakly on the first Christmas Day after the nuclear war, held in a ruined church with a disheveled vicar who futilely attempts to provide hope to his traumatised and injured congregation and concludes with an instrumental version of the hymn Silent Night playing over the closing credits.
