The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1995)

The War Game was directed in 1965 by Peter Watkins. It depicts how the British Government would operate in the event of a nuclear explosion in England. The documentary is in participatory mode since it simply shows the events occurring with out any interference from the filmmaker, who does interview people involved in the events to show how they are reacting to it. The filmmaker exists to guide the audience through the events, remaining outside of the film except to document the events via footage or interviewing people.

The film follows the events leading from the initial explosion, switching between different groups of people, such as children and police officers, to show how government officials would handle the situation and how that would affect ordinary citizens. The purpose of the film is not just to scare people and show what the government had planned, but to show the full extent of how nuclear war would impact and change British society and ordinary people who had no part to play in the explosion. The film also tells, through narration, what the initial and long-term impacts of a nuclear explosion would be, and how the explosion itself works to cause chaos and affect people.

The film is significant since it uses the real examples of nuclear explosions to predict what it would look like to show the British people. It represents a height in the tension of The Cold War, and just how prepared the government was for nuclear disaster. Perhaps that is partly why the film is so violent and intense, to evoke the experience3 of being affected by such an explosion.

I personally enjoyed the film. I felt it told an accurate and unrelenting prediction of what a nuclear explosion would be like, and some of the methods of showing it, such as interviewing people and showing how individual groups would be affected, was an interesting and effective way of telling the story. My only problem with it was that at times the performances were not very believable, but I suppose the film can’t be faulted for that as it was made in the 1960’s. I rate The War Game 4 stars!