The War Game: A Shocking Exposé on Nuclear Warfare and Its Consequences

1. The War Game BBC 1965 Stephanie Potter and Andrew Wood

2. Background • Watkins a controversial filmmaker using innovative techniques • Based on events at Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Hamburg, Dresden, and, Darmstadt • Watkins based initial feelings on photographs

3. Background (Cont.) • Prepared through interviews (scientists, civil service, etc.) and scientific fact • Combined fact and fiction • British government refused to provide help, only help was through Kent fire services for firestorm scenes

4. Background (Cont.) • Completed in 1965 • Meant to be aired on television during anniversary week of Hiroshima bombings • Banned from British television—contradicted official British position on nuclear survivability • Aired on TV for first time in 1985 • Shown in cinemas from 1966 onward through ban loophole • Awarded “Best Documentary Feature” at 1967 Academy Awards

5. Watkins’ Goals • Expose inadequacy of Civil Defense program • Lack of education for general British population (Effects of bomb; handing out safety pamphlets at the last minute) • Portrayal of effects of nuclear attack • Evoke pathos and sentiment against nuclear weapons • Set in an idyllic part of Britain

6. Purported Attack Chronology • Less than three minutes warning time • Problems with evacuation to countryside • Inability of population to afford and adequately build bomb shelters • Immediate intense heat (“melt the upturned eyeball”) • Firestorms • Mass chaos

7. Effects • Massive casualties • Destroyed economy • Simple threat: Four years to fully recover • Actual attack: All of attack area/20% of “safe” areas rendered uninhabitable

8. Social Effects • General apathy toward life • Disregard for law • Hunger riots • Killing of security forces • Anarchy • Euthanasia • So traumatic no amount of therapy would help • Health effects • Radiation poisoning • Leukemia • Scurvy from lack of nutrition • Children • Extreme apathy

9. End • Discusses problems of using nuclear weapons • Threat of growing stockpiles and proliferation

10. Questions • Which parts do you think were real statistics and accurate interpretation vs. exaggeration meant to evoke strong emotions? • If an attack did occur, there would be a strong public outcry for retaliation: how would the government respond? Would they be locked into a series of mutual retaliations? • Watkins used both statistics, civilian interviews and potentially “real life” footage to make his points. Which depictions were the most effective and why?

11. Sources • The War Game • “The War Game Revisited” http://picpal.com/peterwatkins.html • IMDB Information on The War Game—http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059894/ • Others