The War Game

The War Game

It's hard to believe that while the world has lived with the threat of nuclear war for over 70 years, yet the actual results of a nuclear exchange are rarely shown on film. Perhaps it's not so surprising when you consider that the powers-that-be do not like the citizenry to be reminded of either how complicit they are in risking such a situation, or how woefully inadequate they are at dealing with the aftermath of such a situation. 

Case in point, The War Game, a documentary directed by Peter Watkins for the BBC in 1965. Despite being produced by the BBC, it never aired as it was immediately banned by the BBC. The ban has been so long-lasting that even at the time of this writing, more than a half century later, it is still a hard film to track down - despite having won an Academy Award!

The made for American TV film The Day After, itself incredibly controversial and highly censored by the government and the network, made two decades later in the 1980s, is the only other really notable film of its kind that stands along side it, and it too is very difficult to find.

The War Game packs a punch without ever becoming ponderous, thanks to a 45 minute run time. It is one of the first documentary films to use the now commonplace dramatic re-enactment technique to visually illustrate its what-if scenario about a nuclear strike in the south of England.

Although we now know even a limited nuclear exchange would certainly be far worse than even this film depicts, it's still a very relevant document.