The War Game (1965)

 Second viewing; previously viewed on October 31, 2005

In 1966, the U.S. drops an atom bomb on Vietnam; the U.S.S.R. and China declare war on the U.S. and Western Europe. This film describes what happens in England when it suffers a nuclear attack.

Anti-armamentist propaganda with a fictional plot told in a documentary form. It's well made and effective, though at one or two occasions it overplays the sarcasm note in the intertitles. Films like this are generally held in very high esteem and acquire a somewhat sacred aura. I myself was quite moved when I first saw it. But now I wonder whether it has actually prevented any war. I suppose everyone but the very uninformed knew pretty much what nuclear war entails. Politicians, who are the only ones with the power of deciding wars, certainly know it beter than most. And I suspect that the premise is a bit silly (a nuclear attack on Vietnam), and in retrospect nothing of the sort happened in the real Vietnam war. An interesting sequence of the movie shows some common English folks being interviewed about whether they favored retaliation in case of a nuclear attack. They all answer affirmatively. This may look shocking, and possibly that was the filmmaker's intention, but he is being dishonest here. This interview is shown after the point in the narrative where England retaliates, but it is somehow disconnected from the line of events narrated. So, from a game theory angle, it makes sense to answer 'yes', because of the principle of mutual deterrence. But *after* an attack the situation would be completely different, and mutual deterrence would no longer make sense.

Rating: 59 (down from 68)

P.S.: I chose to date it as a 1965 movie, instead of 1966. Although it was first widely exhibited in 1966, some BBC people saw it in 1965 (and banned it from TV because it was deemed too shocking).