Movie Review: The War Game

At a time when hawkish neo-cons sit atop of the governmental hierarchy of the United States and relentless jihadis lurk in the creases of the world, Peter Watkins’ The War Game proves itself to be just as relevant today as it was during the height of the Cold War.

A faux documentary made in 1965, The War Game details the potential event of a nuclear attack on a major English city. It illustrates the build-up of preventative ground activities, such as citizens being moved out of their own homes and into the houses of other - usually uninviting - people, and the regular sandbagging procedures that we always see in these circumstances. Then we witness the actual event of the nuclear blast and the consequences to follow. It also outlines numerous discrepancies in the British government’s preparatory measures.

Set-up in many ways as a simple information film, the sort that would have been widely seen during the Second World War, the film’s grainy black and white images, matter-of-fact narration, and ‘expert’ testimonies have a powerfully profound effect in terms of replicating both the medium it aims to duplicate and reality itself. The film won the Best Documentary Oscar at the 1967 Academy Awards, although it is essentially a piece of fiction.

The film’s central point is to highlight the insanity evident in nuclear warfare, and does so expertly. Every powerful leader on the globe, whether it’s a nuclear or non-nuclear state, should watch this film; it’s a message that isn’t simply conferred by language, the images in the film of the nuclear detonation and fallout are very thought provoking. From the old ladies suffering from deep psychological trauma, to the man verging on a breakdown at the thought of his children growing up with potential radiation-induced cancers, or the young causalities with burns to their eyes and arms.

Article Author: Aaron Fleming

Aaron Fleming is a waster and an idler - prone to pomposity - forever enchanted by the filmic, the sonic, words and the aesthetic - given to the most ludicrous appraisal of Culture's finest icons and compositions. He resides in London.

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