Quand souffle le vent

Jim and Hilda are two English retirees, living in a cottage in the country. War with Russia seems imminent and Jim starts taking precautions against a nuclear attack. Remembering World War 2, Jim and Hilda staunchly believe that everything will be okay, even if nuclear weapons are involved. But will it?

Powerful, poignant anti-war movie. Mixes nonchalance and English laugh-in-the-face of danger humour with some incredibly shocking reminders of the effects of nuclear war. Funny and terrifying, all at the same time.

Quite emotional too. We see flashes of Jim and Hilda's history, the life they had, the simplicity and innocence of their existence and how this is shattered.

Subjects don't come much bigger than total species extinction and in the mid-80s, the imposing shadows thrown by the superpowers' volatile arsenal of nuclear warheads pretty much blackened the entire planet. With last-grip, nerve-stretched lunacies like Mutually Assured Destruction dominating US and Soviet policies, the standoff also had the vinegary whiff of desperate farce about it. War is hell but at least there are winners. In a nuclear conflict, everybody - and everything - loses. One big bang and we all fall down. Or, in the case of When The Wind Blows, fall-out.

While Mick Jackson's telemovie Threads remains the screen's most potent account of mass panic on apocalypse day, this British to-the-frame adaptation of Raymond Briggs' graphic novella is unquestionably the most humane. Say hello and wave goodbye then, to Jim and Hilda, our naive retired home counties couple who, on hearing of an imminent World War III, set about merrily obeying the ridiculous instructions from government protect and survive pamphlets. They whitewash the windows (to shield the radiation), stock up on supplies (a tin of Christmas pudding) and cheerfully anticipate a Blitz-style cosy-up sipping Olvaltine under Anderson shelters.

At first, it plays out like a black comedy - just as the bomb hits, dim Hilda goes to get the washing in - but as the insidious crackle of fall-out settles and the sickness sets in, the movie reveals its true nature: an unbearably intimate, gently accentuated tragedy with a tenacious pacifist streak. Blending 2D cells with 3D modelling, director Jimmy Murakami is technically adventurous but crucially, his connection to Briggs' material is total. In fact, with its working class nuances, droll dialogue and mundane aura , you sense that if Mike Leigh made cartoons, the results wouldn't be too far from this.

This movie is not fun. It's an amazing movie and a seriously important message but it's not a fun ride. The animation is really cutesy and simple which fits the simplicity of the couple. The couple is really charming due to their normality and naïveté. The live action stuff and animations is also just really nice to look at. This movie can feel a little slow throughout but for the plot it's telling it works really well. With all this being said, it's hard to say I recommend this film as impactful and important as the message is the movie is just so dreary, bleak and kind of horrifying. The way this couple is so unaware of the danger they're in is actually scary to watch. And just the way this story is told is in a very cheery manner but with such horrifying undertones. The biggest issue is it's depressing to a point that it's not fun to watch.

I remember when this was released in the cinemas in 1986 in the UK. It had a fairly small release, yet attracted a lot of publicity. I didn't see it till it was on TV one Christmas - not the right time to show such a film. I was still only eleven or twelve and found it far more disturbing than any Nightmare On Elm Street, Poltergeist or American Werewolf that I'd seen. The fact that the couple are so naive and innocent along with the sweet, old-fashioned comic-book style animation really manipulates the viewer so cleverly, that when the bomb hits and the true tone of the film reveals itself, the viewer is caught off guard just like the innocent couple are. You are plunged into the dark, deathly tone of the storyline and compelled to watch in the hope that this sweet couple will survive, whilst at the back of your mind, always knowing that they have little time left. It still has the same effect now on a third or fourth watching. It's so disturbing to see, yet something so compelling that you cannot turn away or turn off. As an historical piece of eighties cold war/anti-nuclear protest filmmaking, this is a timeless film that should be studied as part of history education when it comes to the 2080's and the world looks back a hundred years on a part of the 1980's that weren't so optimistic. This is a unique film that stands alone in terms of animation and stands out from all the typically optimistic, big and bright blockbusters of the eighties.

This is a film you will never forget. I watched it as a teenager expecting something soppy and sentimental (it was made by some of the same people who made the Snowman, a Christmas tale featuring the chorister Aled Jones).

John Mills is superb as the male character, his voice carries the echoes of his former glories as hero, officer type and all round good guy. With lavish casting, animation and soundtrack the plot is given a painful intensity.

Instead my family were treated to horror of the worst kind. A horror that deals with ordinary comfortable society. The two lovely elderly characters are my grandparents, my neighbours. We see them crumble and disintegrate in the nuclear aftermath. They prepare cheerfully for a nuclear war and wait helplessly in the fallout for a rescue which will never come.

Don't watch it with your parents, you will cry and be reminded about it for years afterwards.