O Jogo da Guerra

The War Game is one of the most amazing films I have ever seen. It's a pseudo-documentary made in 1965, about the possible effects of a nuclear attack on Great Britain. The director's premise is that Britain (and indeed the world) is hopelessly unprepared for such a thing. Some classic scenes: befuddled Brits receiving civil defence booklets. Blank stares greeting the interviewer when he asks Brits on the street about radioactive fallout. The footage is all made to look horribly real. Some of it looks a little hokey - the use of a shaky camera to simulate a desperate ground battle stands out - but there are also very convincing scenes of firestorms raging out of control, sucking the oxygen out of the air for blocks around. Also, incredible scenes of radiation burn victims, food riots, police polishing off the near dead, etc... The killer part is at the end - an interview with some young blast victims will haunt you for a long time.

"Do you know what Strontium-90 is, and what it does to the human body???"

Although this film clocks in at a mere 48 minutes, not a scene, second or frame is put to waste. A level-headed and all too analytical examination of civil preparedness versus the yield of nuclear weapons. What this film presents is the absolute horror of nuclear war in simulated newsreel footage so realistic, you may feel the pain of those on screen. Fire-storms, asphyxiation, flash-burns, over-burdened hospitals leaving victims to die in pain, street executions under martial law, total social collapse, all filmed in a typical English suburb. Originally planned to be a simple documentary on nuclear warfare made for BBC-TV, the film was banned from television (officially because of it's graphic depictions of suffering, but most likely for it's anti-authoritarian stance and defiance of the official line). Later released to theaters, it went on to win major film awards. Two scenes in particular, one of men being executed for violating water rationing and an interview with children at a medical camp, haunted me for days. This is the great-grandfather of such films as "Threads" and "The Day After", but the matter-of-fact narration in BBC English to the devastation on screen adds an element of sheer horror that no other film comes close to. If anyone you know talks about the survivability of nuclear attack, show them this film, and watch their reaction. This film is too important to ignore, and too powerful to dismiss.

Just watched this for the first time, having heard and read much about it. It's still powerful stuff, and for 1966 this must have been particularly strong. The British Film Institute have just released this on DVD including an interesting documentary about the BBC's banning of the film, and a copy of Watkins' earlier film 'Diary of an unknown soldier'. Good stuff.

'The War Game' is a fascinating and deeply disturbing documentary which dramatizes what might happen in the event of a nuclear strike. Of course in many ways it is dated but I still think its central message is as powerful and as frightening as ever. It was banned (either officially or non-officially, there is some debate) by the BBC for many years, and it's no wonder. The film is political dynamite. This is not a film you would choose to watch for entertainment, but I highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to look at something confrontational and REAL. The Cold War is long over but the threat of nuclear annihilation remains, and therefore 'The War Game' still deserves to be seen by a mass audience before it's too late.

I saw The War Game thanks to my local branch of CND in 1979 when they showed it in a hall in our town. My mum was vehemently anti-communist so I had to sneak out to see it. The local paper kicked up at 14-year olds being encouraged to see an 'X' film. Was it worth the fuss? Yes, without a doubt. I had already seen Watkin's definitive 'Culloden' earlier that year and was bowled over by the documentary style applied to a drama, but The War Game surpassed even that. I will never forget the scenes of the helmeted English bobbies shooting people in the head to put them out of their misery, or the bucket full of wedding rings or most of all, the line of kids being asked what they wanted to be when they grew up and the replies of 'nuffink.'

For me, that summed up the futility of war, nuclear or otherwise.

'Threads' is good, but 'The War Game' is still the best portrayal of a nuclear attack on Britain ever made. It should be shown more often.