The War Game

Aggressively didactic depiction of a hypothetical cold war outcome and all the more effective for it.

Despite my miserable experience with Punishment Park, I gave Watkins another chance. This one's another pseudo-documentary, but this time far more convincing, even though the viewer is periodically reminded that the scenario is hypothetical. It's quite disturbing and bold for its time. It's been superceded by better films like Threads and Where the Wind Blows, but it deserves credit for pre-dating those works by some 20 years. The acting is uneven and the script is sometimes a bit off.

This would indeed have been shocking for many people in 1965, as it still really is today, that is, 53 years later. It is remarkable that many people seem to feel that the threat depicted here no longer exists: I believe the correct psychological term for this is denial.

Extraordinarily intense recreation of an anticipated nuclear attack circa 1965. Originally shot for TV and later understandably rejected on grounds of adult material, film packs a mighty impressive punch. Still scarier than any modern disaster film, the convincingly naturalistic performances by the cast (a mix of amateur and professional) and documentary feel make this one of the greats, not to be missed.

To me films like this are more interesting in terms of being an illustration of their times than for their actual persuasiveness or informativeness. The serious tone, the continual use of terms like "inevitability," the palpable fear and confusion, all these things are quite evocative of the perception of a threat in a way that doesn't exist now.

The most terrifying film I know.

A must-see, still unsettling 54 years after it was made. I think that despite it's age people could still learn something from this.

Watkins's argumentation style is in-your-face, as it should be. Even more disturbing than the enacted scenarios of a nuclear aftermath are the facts about what the horrifying consequences of one would be. A must-see near-masterpiece.

Disturbingly powerful especially when considered within the context of the era in which in was made.

You can say that the time of this harrowing warning has past, that nuclear war is now an impossibility or that people truly understand the dangers (I disagree with all three points) but this documentary/horror sci-fi remains compelling and disturbing. The situation concocted by the film-makers to bring the world to nuclear war is a little too far fetched (compared with real examples of Cold War brinkmanship) but it is the effects of the scenario that matter.

Pretty impressive...

Okay, so this is how it may or may not go down. There's something about that which is not very useful, but criticisms that Watkins raises are often directed at something a little more tangible, namely, the lack of preparation and education about the nuclear threat. Otherwise, the depictions of effects of nuclear war are powerful and deeply unsettling, quite extraordinary for a tightly budgeted television film. I should really finish Threads.

Extremely well made and effective film. Whether it's a documentary or not is open for discussion--it won the Oscar for Best Documentary, but that caused the Academy to change the rules, because it's largely fictional. I don't think it's a documentary, personally, but this must have been even more effective at the time, when the possibility of this kind of conflict felt a lot more ever-present.

A Bleak and grim reinforcement. The depressing fact that this film is more important than ever(and probably will continue to be as the years pass). With exacerbated destructive capabilities and repercussions exponentially increased, it is us the people that are left to suffer, suffer at the expense of power hungry men and women and their frivolous acts of wanton destruction. 

Quite comparable to Threads 20 years later, and even though it appears this era of nuclear warfare paranoia was your typical fear-mongering, it's now fun to watch in hindsight, particular as both these films have a thoroughly British kind of complete misery. A little limited for what it is, but a compelling piece of horror faux-doco making.

"This is nuclear war." What Watkins achieves here should not be underestimated; this is not an impression of nuclear war but rather a depiction of nuclear war. And more than that, a realistic depiction of nuclear war, indeed 'too real' as it was not broadcast on television (as originally intended) until 1985. It is arguably the most potent of all filmic public service announcements, owing to Watkins' meticulous attention to detail and thorough research. Even watching it now, it is terrifying.

Almost unwatchable

This idea of a documentary showing of events that could happen in a nuclear attack works remarkable well. What's was most eyeopening still to me now were not the (in)direct physical effects of a nuclear attack, but those larger to an immediate post nuclear-war society; the social unrest that would occur. The movie does feel dated in its thinking this doomscenario is inevitable in hindsight.

Would maybe have rated this higher if I hadn't seen Threads beforehand. It's more explicit in juxtaposing the 'logical' arguments for nuclear war with the human cost, and in highlighting the absurdity of it. I think Threads manages this in a less manipulative way through presenting it as a realist drama that just spirals into darker and darker layers of devastation.

"Can you call this a documentary?" "No." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2014/05/episode-12.html

[YT] That some odd moments of humour burst through -intentionally or not- is perhaps inevitable when dealing with such an absurd subject. Good, angry film-making.

Unsettling and disturbing at its best, but hokey and amateurish at its worst. I wish Watkins had been given a bigger budget on this, though I admire how brutal he was able to make the firestorm sequence look on a shoestring budget.

We were shown The War Game during a special school assembly in 1967. I was thirteen years old and expected the world to be incinerated at any moment. This docudrama seemed like tomorrow's news to me at the time. Thank heavens it wasn't.

Masterful. On a shoestring budget, Watkins creates some absolutely terrifying images. The threads holding modern society together appear terrifyingly weak.

See "Threads", everyone!

Fantastic idea, poor follow through. The fact of the matter is that while Watkins was fairly enlightened compared to the general population of the UK, when it comes to nuclear war, he still left a lot to be desired.

This movie really goes to show how misinformed, uninformed, and unprepared the average person is for nuclear war, how easily and quickly a city could get bombed, and just how violent and horrifying the effects are. Most of it is hypothetical, sure, but a lot of it also consists of factual information.

Even before I watched The War Game, I was instantly intrigued by its horrific subject matter and unique style. Watkins delivers a devastating showcase of the horrors of thermonuclear war. There is no aura of melodrama or fiction; the film is so terribly powerful because of its realism. I do not desire to ever watch this again, but I will never fail to recommend it. The War Game is a film every human must watch, no matter how he or she feels about nuclear weapons.

It feels like a rough draft for Threads. Although the ironic juxtaposition of the current and future documentaries is occasionally devastatingly effective, it lacks the production value to truly horrify. And like Threads, the brutally realistic depiction of the future is somewhat blunted by the fact that its future did not, in fact, happen.

Automatically, we're watching an artifact of history. It's impossible now to experience the film on an emotional basis if you don't have clear memories of the Cold War. Even through a historical and intellectual lens, I didn't learn anything. Maybe those dummies in the mid-60s didn't know what happened in a nuclear explosion, but I feel like everybody understands it clearly today.

An excellent docu-drama about the horrors of atomic warfare.

Strong!

As what is essentially activist cinema, the film is tied strongly to a specific place and time, and yet the absurdities it points to are not. In its repeated reference to Dresden, Hiroshima, and other similar events, the film argues (convincingly, I think) that the particular policy, government, or weapon matters little; the logic remains the same.

At first I had doubts about the film because of the fact that it was commissioned by British state. However, as the film progressed I was really impressed by its political stand and humanitarian point of view. Also, it bears some of the most haunting images in history of film. I have no idea how it achieves it though.

Pretty harrowing and effective, even today.

Top baddass moment? Under the circumstances, probably anyone that manages to do anything useful is going to be pretty bassass. 0 cats and 0 decapitations; (although I guess amongst the millions of dead there were probably some).

an interesting curiosity.

For its time this is very brave and no doubt had some effect on why we havent suffered the consequences of nuclear war.

I'll never understand how this became a classic. This trite, ultra-didactic what-if-documentary, tries to show the aftermath of a nuclear attack on britain, with the ridiculous archaic voice-over that docs had these days telling us the facts while the images do nothing but illustrate it. That's the whole movie. It wouldn't be so enraging if there wasn't a film made 20 years later (by the same BBC) called Threads, made with roughly the same premise, but infinitely more real and harrowing.

Unsettling, unforgettable pseudodocumentary about what a post-nuclear-war world would be like