Graeme Robertson with another four great war films (that still aren’t Saving Private Ryan)…
Given that I’ve written two features previously on the genre (read them here and here) I think you can probably guess dear readers that I’m a fan of the war film.
And as many will probably point out, I still haven’t even scratched the surface of the mountain that represents the various great examples of this genre.
Much like my last feature I’ve decided to mix things up a bit to allow for as much variety as possible. This time around we have a truly nightmarish look at what a nuclear war might look like, a star-studded depiction of one of the most famous military blunders of the Second World War, the journey of a unit of American soldiers as they fight from the beaches of Africa to the beaches of Europe, and finally we return to boot camp to be screamed at by an abusive drill sergeant.
So join me won’t you as we take a third trip into the trenches to take a look at another 4 examples of the best that this bullet-strewn, foxhole littered genre has to offer. And for the final time, I think we’ll agree, the main linking theme is that they still aren’t Saving Private Ryan.
The War Game (1965)
The Cold War was a terrifying period, to say the least, as people lived under the looming threat that the rivalry between the superpowers could escalate beyond an ideological struggle and turn into a nuclear one.
While I looked at what a hypothetical Third World War would look like with Red Dawn in my last war films feature, I think we can all agree that that film is essentially glorified pro-Western propaganda and doesn’t really offer too much in the way of serious examination of the effects that such a war could have.
British director Peter Watkins’ 1965 film The War Game acts as a perfect alternative to such an approach, presenting a hypothetical Third World War in a stark and gritty fashion, giving us a realistic idea of how such a war would start and how it would escalate into nuclear Armageddon.
Told in a documentary style, the film looks at the impact and aftermath of a sustained Soviet nuclear strike on Britain at the outbreak of a Third World War, with the film capturing the horror and desolation that such an event would inflict upon the civilian population and the ensuing collapse of society and law and order.
Peter Watkins is the master of the docu-drama, having made his name with his acclaimed 1964 BBC drama Culloden, which depicted the 1746 Battle of Culloden as if covered by a modern TV news crew.
With The War Game, Watkins expands his approach, shooting all the action with handheld cameras, “man on the street” interview segments in which the public are questioned about issues raised in the film. The addition of a detached almost stereotypical BBC style narration, some of which is provided by veteran BBC newsreader Michael Aspel, only adds to the film’s feelings of authenticity.
The manner in which the film depicts its fictional conflict starts off somewhat slow, with a voice-over informing us as to the state of world affairs, with a Communist invasion of Vietnam starting off a chain reaction that ultimately leads to a battle erupting between NATO and Soviet forces in the divided city of Berlin.
These battles are depicted very much as you would expect from a TV news crew, with the soldiers often yelling over the gunfire to the camera as to what’s happening. Or we have a street protest at the dividing line of Berlin erupting into violent protest, intercut with British people in the street being asked if they think a war could break out, with some rather casually dismissing it as unlikely, even when events suggest otherwise.
This very well might be the bleakest film I’ve ever watched, with the nuclear attack sequences being pretty damn terrifying, with the rather cold and detached voice-over adding an extra layer of misery to the already bleak atmosphere, especially in its apocalyptic description of a nuclear shock wave as being like “an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell”.
The bleakness carries on even after the bombs stop falling, looking at the chaos as firemen attempt to put out the flaming cities while also contending with a firestorm that tosses them around like rag dolls and the after effects of the nuclear weapons such as radiation, heat and the various toxic gases killing them en masse before they can even get close to saving survivors, with the camera barely able to keep itself steady while capturing the chaos that surrounds it.
All the while the film interrupts the mayhem to give us quotes from the likes of the Civil Defense Authority, the Vatican, an interview with an Anglican clergyman or an American nuclear strategist, whose words often only serve to contrast their rather naive hypothesising with the horrific reality of the situation.
The film while being a fascinating watch also has something of a fascinating back story. This film like Watkins’ previous works was originally meant to be broadcast on the BBC as a part of its long-running Wednesday Play series, however, the film was deemed too horrifying for TV audiences and following political pressure, the film was banned from TV broadcast.
The film, however, was allowed to enjoy a theatrical release and despite technically being a work of fiction, would go on to win the 1966 Oscar for Best Documentary. Eventually, BBC would see the error in their ways and broadcast the film, albeit 20 years after the fact in 1985, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.
If ever there was a perfect anti-nuclear film then this is probably it. Watkins masterfully creates the ultimate nightmare scenario as to what a nuclear war could look like, captured in a truly terrifying and bleak style that will definitely make you think long after it ends.
While very different the more traditional war films that I’ve spotlighted, I still think that The War Game is very much one of the finest examples of the genre and it certainly ranks one of the bleakest and most terrifying war films that I’ve ever seen.
