The War Game (1965)

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  March 30, 2007

  dhetteix

  A disturbing fictional account of a nuclear attack on Britain. The level of detail this "documentary" goes into would be called "enlightening" if it wasn't for the positive connotations that word implies.
  
  The grim newsreel style documenting the horror of a post-nuclear emergency... read more is firmly based in factual extrapolations based on the Dresden Bombings as well as Hiroshima. The film moves fluidly and effectively from the blast all the way to food riots, disposal of bodies and corpse identification.
  
  Amazingly effective for a low-budget TV movie, with amazing acting for a cast of total unknowns.
  
  Graphic and socially unnerving. One of the few films that transcends the age of Atomic Paranoia in which it was made and focuses upon.

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  May 17, 2012

  gator681

  "The War Game" is an intense demonstration of what a nuclear attack on England would look like, extrapolating from the bombings of Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden to name a few. While this is decades ahead of similar movies like "Threads" and "The Day After," "The War Game" also... read more feels dated, partially due to its predicting nuclear war by 1980 because of out of control nuclear proliferation which does remain a very real threat in this day and age.
  
  And unlike Peter Watkins' other docufictions, this does not really have a story, leading it to sound like little more than a polemic at times. On the one hand, the movie is concerned with preparations for nuclear war while it also ably demonstrates that there is really no way to conceivably prepare for one. In this confused way, Watkins points out how little the people of England at the time knew about nuclear weapons. But if I remember correctly from a biography of Bertrand Russell, there was already an anti-nuclear movement well under way by then.

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  December 16, 2011

  fb1142797643

  "The War Game" is a grim, fearless imagining of a nuclear attack's devastating effect on England. This 48-minute film was originally made for the BBC, yet rated so shocking that it wasn't shown on British television until 20 years later (despite winning the 1966 Oscar for Best Do... read morecumentary Feature).
  
  As a detached narrator matter-of-factly recounts the action, director Peter Watkins dramatizes a contemporary bombing of England and the subsequent death, destruction, filth, disease, injuries, hunger, looting and depression. The dour images are still shocking today -- especially an unflinching scene where the jaded police executes some rioters just because it's the quickest solution.
  
  There are no recurring characters beyond a few "man on the street" subjects who naively respond to interview questions. The people are ill-informed about the situation, and it's emphasized that any missile strike would arrive so fast that preparations are useless. Here are five minutes -- grab your children and wrap up your life as best you can.
  
  The film is obviously low-budget but, due to its brief length and emphasis on the human toll (mostly captured in tight, intimate shots), the need for expensive sets and props is minimal.
  
  Note: If released today, "The War Game"'s classification as a "documentary" presumably would be rejected. There is seemingly no real-life footage at all and, rather than aim for an Orson Welles-style illusion of an actual disaster, the narration repeatedly reminds us that these events are mere possibilities. Really, this is no more a documentary than other prominent Watkins works such as "The Battle of Culloden," "Privilege" and "Punishment Park" -- all fictions presented in a similar newsreel style.

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  January 10, 2011

  philliprenke

  A British safety film shot documentery style with reenacments warning people of the dangers and possible outcomes of nuclear war. I think this film does a little better job than a lot of the older American films showing school kids escaping nuclear explosions hiding under their d... read moreesks. This movie probably did a lot to open the eyes of the average person to the horrors of nuclear weapons. It must have since they gave it the Academy Award for best documentary.

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  March 26, 2010

  HuskersNC949597

  What it would look like if they had dropped a nuclear bomb on England in 1965. The pseudo-documentary mixes facts with dramatic depictions of women and children painted black to make it look like they've been burned by a nuke, it works OK, but nothing came of the whole nuclear p... read moreissing match of the mid-to-late 20th century, and I'm not really sure anyone's interested in blowing up England anymore.

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  February 9, 2008

  columbiatch

  A faux documentary on the aftermath of a nuclear attack on a city in Britain. Watkins's use of montage editing with his multi-perspective narrative is extremely effective and powerful. The film is very well researched and enacted, and become even more horrifying because everyth... read moreing depicted in the film has happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki and is within the realm of possibility, even for today. The film is very powerful even today, and it seems no surprise that it was banned from TV for 20 years during the Cold War. (so much for BBC's independence from the government)

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• Michael Aspel as Narrator
• Dick Graham as Narrator
• Peter Graham

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