The War Game Totally Explained

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: For the Doctor Who serial, see The War Games. The War Game is a 1965 television film on nuclear war. Written, directed, and produced by Peter Watkins for the BBC's The Wednesday Play strand, its depiction of the impact of Soviet nuclear attack on Britain caused dismay within the BBC and in government. It was scheduled for transmission on August 6, 1966 (the anniversary of the Hiroshima attack) but wasn't transmitted until 1985, the corporation publicly stating that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting". It was widely viewed before its BBC debut on video and in art-house cinemas, often using prints provided by Watkins, and the film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 1966.

Synopsis

Shot in black and white and running for 50 minutes, The War Game covers a period of some four months days leading up to nuclear attack to several weeks after the missiles have struck. In the film, the war is started following a Chinese invasion of South Vietnam; tensions escalate when the U.S. authorizes the use of tactical nuclear warheads against Chinese forces, and the Soviet and East German forces threaten to invade West Berlin if the U.S. doesn't withdraw that decision. The U.S. doesn't acquiesce to these demands, and West Berlin is occupied. Two American divisions try to fight their way to Berlin, but are defeated by Soviet and East German forces. The U.S. president authorizes the pre-emptive use of NATO tactical nuclear weapons by European NATO members. A limited nuclear war erupts and Britain is struck by several nuclear missiles. The film depicts the chaos during the buildup to the attack, as the urban population is forcibly evacuated. Much of the rest of the film is centred on Rochester, Kent, which is struck by an off-target Soviet missile aimed at RAF Manston and Maidstone barracks. It depicts both the immediate effects of the nuclear strike, such as the instant blinding of those who see the bomb explode, and a firestorm that results from the aftermath of the heat wave and blast front, as well as the later collapse of society, both because the population is radiation-sick and psychologically damaged, and because most of the infrastructure is destroyed. Among other things, the army is forced to burn corpses instead of burying them, and the police shoot protesters during food riots.

Style

The story is told in the style of a news magazine programme. It features several different strands that alternate throughout, including a documentary-style chronology of the main events, featuring reportage-like images of the war, the nuclear strikes, and their effects on civilians; brief contemporary interviews, in which passers-by are interviewed about their knowledge of nuclear war issues; optimistic commentary from public figures that clashes with the other images in the film; and fictional interviews with key figures as the war unfolds.
   The film also features an 'out-of-universe' voice-over narration that describes the events depicted as things that would happen during a nuclear war. The narration reminds the viewing audience that the civil defence policies of 1965 have not realistically prepared for such events, and that perhaps no adequate preparation is ever possible; it emphasizes that the government and the public have wrongly thought of nuclear war as a survivable ordeal like the Blitz, when it's more likely to resemble the devastating firebombing of Japanese cities in World War II, but on a much larger scale.
   The film contains this quotation from the Stephen Vincent Benét poem "Song for Three Soldiers":
ť "Oh, where are you coming from, soldier, gaunt soldier,

   With weapons beyond any reach of my mind,
ť With weapons so deadly the world must grow older

   And die in its tracks, if it doesn't turn kind?"

Production and exhibition

Peter Watkins had been recruited to the BBC in 1963 by the head of the documentary department, Huw Wheldon, who had been impressed by Watkins' early nonprofessional work—particularly his 1961 short film The Forgotten Faces, which established his technique of mixing drama and documentary. Offered his choice of projects, Watkins immediately proposed a film about the effects of nuclear war. Wheldon was reluctant, possibly because an earlier BBC project on nuclear weapons had been cancelled due to Winston Churchill's disapproval in 1954. Watkins instead proceeded with his second choice, which became Culloden. After the critical success of Culloden, Watkins threatened to resign if he couldn't direct his nuclear war film. Wheldon approved the project but, still cautious about the subject matter, asked for input from higher officials of the BBC, who in turn contacted the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence.
The finished film included some edits suggested by Wheldon, but still caused controversy within the BBC, especially for its depiction of the police shooting civilians (in one case, to control rioters; in another, to provide mercy to untreatable burn victims). Watkins insisted that these scenes were realistic and refused to cut them. When Wheldon's superiors decided to delay the broadcast in order to consult the government, holding a closed screening for Cabinet representatives, Watkins resigned. After undisclosed communications with the Home Office, the BBC announced in November 1965 that the film wouldn't be shown. The BBC is officially free from government interference, and stated (as it still does) that the decision was an independent one.
Controversy over the unseen film continued to arise in the press, and in February 1966 the BBC arranged several small screenings for politicians and reporters, in an attempt to show why the film's content was too extreme for the public. Many of those invited to the screenings agreed with the BBC's decision and denounced the film in newspapers and in Parliament, but Watkins gained equally strong support from others, notably critic Kenneth Tynan, who said The War Game might be "the most important film ever made." It quickly became a cause célèbre for the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). Watkins led a letter-writing campaign asking the BBC to allow a limited theatrical release, a compromise which was approved in March of 1966. The CND arranged many of the early screenings in the UK, and the film was widely seen on U.S. college campuses in 1966 and 1967. It also represented the UK in the 1966 Venice Film Festival, against the wishes of the government.
The BBC had licensed the film to the British Film Institute for non-broadcast use, and for many years it was only available through the French distributor, Dorlane Films. The BFI released it on DVD in the UK in 2003, and it was also later released in North America by New Yorker Films on July 25, 2006. As the BBC retains all rights, Watkins has never received any income from theatrical or video releases of The War Game.

Influence

In the 1980s The War Game was followed by such similarly-themed films as The Day After (US ABC,TV film, 1983) and Threads (BBC, 1984), the latter of which particularly evoked Peter Watkins' style and delivery. The War Game itself finally saw television transmission in the United Kingdom on BBC2 on July 31 1985, as part of a special season of programming entitled After the Bomb (which was also Watkins' original working title for The War Game). After the Bomb commemorated the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.(External Link

) The transmission was preceded by an introduction from British journalist Ludovic Kennedy .

Awards and recognition

The film won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature.
In a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, The War Game was placed 27th. The War Game was also voted 74th in Channel Four's 100 Greatest Scary Moments

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