(1965, b/w) In his Oscar-winning (Best Documentary for 1966) film for BBC-TV, director/writer/producer Peter Watkins graphically shows what nuclear war would be like in England.

During the Cold War following an international incident, such as a flashpoint in Germany or Vietnam, the Soviets launch missiles against the British Isles. Practical considerations are addressed. Even if days of advance warning were possible, as the national government turned over administration to regional committees, requiring the evacuation of 20% of the population from critical areas certain to be targeted, would women and children willingly leave their able-bodied men; and would those forced by compulsory-sheltering regulations to house and fed these strangers in their homes cooperate with having two persons per room?

Commentators Michael Aspel and Peter Graham in their interviews with ordinary citizens demonstrate the populace's general ignorance about nuclear war; the clergy especially offer false assurances against doom. The population would have at most three minutes warning (pamphlets instructing them how to prepare for an attack being worthless) before the heat flashes followed by blast waves of thermonuclear detonations, even 40 miles away, tear through cities and towns like "an enormous door slamming in the depths of hell."

In the aftermath, surviving medical personnel would have to employ triage of the casualties, leaving a third to suffer without relief of the excruciating pain from their burns and wounds, though mercy killing might be permitted; with too many corpses to bury, the bodies would have to be incinerated. Many others, even if they managed to escape the harrowing effects of radiation poisoning, would be psychologically damaged, victims of complex fears and shock.

In the months following, disease, hunger riots, lawlessness as a result of primitive, instinctive behavior would become pervasive. The realistic scenes were created from knowledge of the effects of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and atomic-weapons testing in Nevada, as well as from the firestorms that devastated Dresden, Tokyo, and elsewhere during World War II.

The good news is that the film predicted that before 1980 a nuclear war would be likely.

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Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

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