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The War Game - 45 or so years later

by jackv | June 15, 2007 at 08:56 pm

659 views | 15 Recommendations | 3 comments

This is not news per se but I did find it a horrifying reminder of the scary nightmares of my youth. I can remember how my friends and I would argue back and forth about how big a blast Vancouver airport would get, how many megatons and would it be a ground strike or an air burst. Would the city of Vancouver get hit or just the the airport. I remember arguing amongst my friends as to when we could expect the air raid sirens would go off during the Cuban Missile Crisis in October 1962 and how long it would be after that, that the missiles would strike. I remember that that was the moment when I started to realize that I could and maybe would die.

We were pretty scared but we didn't feel able to show it so we got real technical, I would have loved this film then. Today I just feel like weeping; for myself back then, for what may still come to pass, for what we have endured and what we may yet have to endure.

In 1965, Peter Watkins produced a fictional documentary called The War Game in which the aftermath of thermo-nuclear attacks in Britain was depicted. The BBC declared that it was "too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting" and was not aired until 1985. Watch it here (warning: graphic depictions of effects of radiation). Related, When the Wind Blows (parts 1 , 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8), a sober animated tale of a British couple who try and survive nuclear holocaust based on the civil defense manual "Protect and Survive." (Previously).

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Jordan Yerman

flagged this story as Good Stuff

at 10:19 on June 16th, 2007

jackv, This is a fantastic post. I remember reading about When the Wind Blows before (as I'm a Bowie fan); I'll check out those videos for sure. Also, we have an "opinions" category which is really useful for stuff such as this, though you were pretty clear about stating that the article is "not news per se". Actually, it kinda is, albeit tangentially, what with the new Russia/USA flap over the missile bases in Eastern Europe.