1966 Directed by Peter Watkins
A docudrama depicting a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain. After backing the film's development, the BBC refused to air it, publicly stating "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting." It debuted in theaters in 1966 and went on to great acclaim, but remained unseen on British television until 1985.
Kriegsspiel, Военная игра, El juego de la guerra, O Jogo da Guerra-1965, La Bombe, 워 게임, Karo žaidimas, O Jogo da Guerra, Krigsspel, 战争游戏
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I know that the majority of this film is "fictional," but the fact that it's a government funded film which essentially demonstrates the horrific course of action that the government would take in the event of nuclear warfare makes it incredibly haunting. Some of the scenes and imagery in this film are unforgettably bleak; at only 48 minutes, it's much, much heavier than most films three times its length and makes perfectly good use of every second of its runtime. Imagine what people must have thought seeing this film back in 1965... it depicts anything and everything from firestorms to executions, martial law to the disintegration of an entire civilization - The War Game should be watched by all. It's possibly the best short film that I've seen since Night and Fog, and I can only hope that it isn't prophetic.
BBC: Mr. Watkins, good chap, can you make us a wee faux documentary on the effects of the Nuclear War on Merry Ole' England?
PETER WATKINS: Okay.
***Watkins finishes the project and shows it to BBC***
BBC: WHAT THE FUCK! WHAT! NO! WHY DID YOU FUCKING MAKE IT SO FUCKING REAL, YOU FUCK! FUCK! NOOOOOOO! WE CAN'T SHOW A DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE EFFECTS OF NUCLEAR WAR ON FUCKING ENGLAND! FUCCCCCCCCKKKKKK!
PETER WATKINS: Welp, I hope this doesn't happen with every other future film I make!
*slide whistle sound*
Carved out in the style of a documentary, Peter Watkins portrayal of a hypothetical nuclear war on Britain and its effects is profoundly horrifying.
Financed by the BBC who decided against broadcasting it, even after it started to get prestigious international recognition, for almost twenty years as they didn't want to offend the government as it entirely dismantles their official mid-sixties civil defence guidelines. It's based primarily on situations and circumstances witnessed in Dresden and the bombings on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and of the subsequent social repercussions seen in those areas.
It highlights the incompetency of the British government to inform it's citizens correctly, and deliberately mislead them into thinking that a few wooden boards on their windows and spacious…
46-minutes long, just right. The War Game is a faux-documentary on what happens to Great Britain before, during and after a nuclear warhead attack. The war is between Red China and The United States, building on some Vietnam fracas which is stewing tensions between rivals, i.e., the Soviet Union is backing China; resulting with imperialist countries going at each other. England is neutral, however, it is full of military station targets. Citizens are harangued to read booklet information on how to survive any hypothesized attack, and they are told by authorities to spend their money on domestic defense – hardware boards, sandbags, soil. Nobody wants to spend money on these things. There are other things to buy. I wish to…
I will do ok if this happens. I've seen the cartoon. I know to "duck and cover."
On 6 August 1945, the US dropped an atomic bomb called “Little Boy” on Hiroshima in Japan. Three days later a second atomic bomb called “Fat Man” was dropped on the city of Nagasaki.
The firestorm in Hiroshima destroyed five square miles of the city. Almost 63% of the buildings in Hiroshima were destroyed after the bombing and nearly 92% of the structures in the city were destroyed or damaged by blast and fire. Estimates of deaths in Hiroshima range from 100,000 to 180,000, out of a population of 350,000. Casualties from Nagasaki are thought to be between 50,000 and 100,000. By 1950, over 340,000 people had died and generations were poisoned by radiation.
Next Monday is the 73rd anniversary…
The apple was not forbidden for its sweetness, but for the worm which wriggled through and left behind only the rotten remnants of reality. A pervasive, iniquitous core, once encased in the most sapid juices, is now riddled with the indignities of a slow decay.
We were never the delectable saccharinity, nor were we even the ill-fated sinners indulging in those debarred Edenic pleasures. We, unholy molder-makers, are the infernal threshers.
We are the worm that defiled the apple.
im obsessed with nuclear fallout films and this did not disappoint. can you imagine them showing this in the 60s?!
Alarmist docudrama about a hypothetical nuclear attack on Britain that couldn’t be presented on TV until 1985, in order not to terrify people, but it was released on theaters in 1966.
I guess that it was a good decision not to present it on TV until 1985 since it was a warning of a possible casuistry of misfortunes that could take place before the year 1980, as it states.
It’s a great documentary made by the BBC, it’s also entertaining but well it’s like a warning alarm for the population, in the economic and social sphere.
Desperate and frightened people, babys and kids crying, infrastructures being destroyed, fires… it’s a bit raw.
All in all, if you like documentaries, check this out, it looks like a narrated movie, it manages to entertain the viewer and it’s well made.
Fiction and reality comes together on BBC take to the nuclear war.
I love how the director and the entire team took this really cool concept and with rather limiting sources and budget come up with a very interesting film that blurs the line of whats real and whats fake. The fact many of what's depicted actually happened, made the horror much disheartening and scarier.
Another good thing about this is how it often feels very real. I started questioning myself and wondering if actually Kent got bombed or something, if it wasn't because of the often funnily bad acting or the narrator telling you this is a dramatization, I would have thought this did happen.
All in all, at only 45 minutes there's no reason to skip this brilliant docfiction. Totally recommend it.
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Blu Ray (BFI)
Astonishing, harrowing, impassioned, uncompromising cinema. In just 46 minutes, Peter Watkins (Punishment Park) eviserates the case in favour of nuclear warfare by zeroing in on the most basic (and obvious) human consequence: the appalling loss of civilian life that would occur in the immediate aftermath of a nuclear strike, followed by the inevitable total societal breakdown afterwards. Watkins presents his case in the form of a hypothetical docudrama, merging inverted Public Service Announcement-style narration with talking head interviews with experts and staged "on the ground" documentary footage. Chillingly, all of the scenarios presented during the course of the film- the forced, unprepared evacuations of civilians, the post-attack triaging of casualties into "save" and "do not save",…
