Missile (1988) User Reviews

How very real people are prepared to wage unimaginable war

[SMM-3 · 9/10 · 1 June 2003]

In this wonderful and quietly devastating documentary, Wiseman visits with the members of the U.S. Air Force who would be ordered to launch our strategic nuclear missiles in the event of total war.

The story progresses matter-of-factly through classrooms and training exercises to final evaluations. Wiseman's familiar narrative-free style is particularly effective here, because the subject matter is so extreme and yet the participants seem relatively at ease with what they are about. The result is that the tension and amazement that are not apparent on-screen instead build up in the viewer. The final 15 minutes contained a revelation that taught me something about myself I had not previously known.

I recommend this film highly to everyone. My only warning is that you need to hang in through the endless military and technical jargon, which goes almost entirely unexplained to no ill effect. It's not what matters here anyway.

A Greatly Under Rated Documentary

[tandkmoran · 10/10 · 5 December 2006]

Quite obscure, I caught it only once on PBS-TV. Commonly sought out by ICBM buffs, this is the real deal. Missile class. I suspect intentionally the creators captured a huge number of the bizarre things which were going on at ICBM bases at the time, and probably still do - but you have to watch the interlude scenes very, very carefully to catch them. Probably the best documentary I've ever seen. It's kind of like someone delivering a train wreck into your lap very quietly and without comment. Some people find this too disturbing to watch, I loved every second and actually found it very reassuring. I slept a little better during the Cold War after seeing this. Educators should also see this movie as it documents a good chunk of some of the finest quality training towards quality assurance ever created. No matter if you are a Hawk or Dove, we all owe these fine kids a debt of gratitude. And the amazing people who train them. This documentary is also in it's sum, oddly, possibly the most patriotic movie ever made - possibly unintentionally. Excellent. My Hat's off to the USAF for allowing this to be made, an excellent decision. Too bad so few people have seen it.

a balanced and nuanced facet of nuclear warfare

[les_purple · 9/10 · 19 April 2003]

(If this is the film I saw on video about 15 years ago:) this fascinating documentary takes us through the training within the military of people whose job is to "push the button" in the event that the President made the decision to launch a nuclear strike. Particularly memorable are the myriad acronyms that the instructor uses in referring to the various elements of a very complex system. That system is designed to ensure that an accidental launch does not happen. The training is grueling, as well it should be, and the individual whose progress we have been following is tested at the end of the film. Included are philosophical discussions about the ethics of carrying out such an order from the President. I think one can gain insight into the subject of warfare whether one is "for" the use of the horrific weapons developed and deployed during the Cold War or not.

Banality of Evil

[tieman64 · 2 December 2012]

Frederick Wiseman directs "Missle", a documentary shot at Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California. The base is home to the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command. Those who successful complete its training program are essentially given the responsibility of maintaining, deploying and overseeing the United States' nuclear arsenal. Wiseman's documentary was filmed in 1987; he was allowed to follow one class through the base's fourteen week programme.

The film pretends to skirt around big issues. It focuses instead - seemingly - on the banality of life on the base and the ordinariness of both staff and their actions. This banality is itself the point; these personnel lack any and all ideological conflict. They use euphemisms ("turning the key" etc) for missile launches and are far removed from the weapons they oversee and may one day launch. The Soviet Union, American's foe at the time, is mentioned exactly once. The film is symbolically edited such that it ends with mention of the word God, prior to an extended sequence in a military chapel. "We are people who are concerned about our God," a military chief benevolently says, Wiseman teasing out the word "our". Everyone believes they have God on their side.

It's a very, very, very subtle film, passing judgement whilst posing as a fly-on-the-wall documentary. Wiseman's first sequence involves a lengthy discussion in which a high ranking officer oh-so-politely discuss both military chain of command and the dangers of blindly following orders. The military, these characters decide, has a series of checks and balances which allows each individual to make a moral judgement call which in turn prevents "wrong actions" taking place. Wiseman undermines this point by hitting you with an hour of characters, not only blindly obeying, but operating within a system which is so compartmentalised, atomized and well-oiled that no one human being ever seems to face an ethical decision, let alone has time to reflect upon his/her actions. Wiseman then mirrors this to discussions on the Holocaust, another big event in which "everyone was following orders", blame was shifted and disavowal was all-pervasive.

Elsewhere Wiseman ironically teases out various family values – church, devotion, concern about children, procreation – which are espoused by our cast of bland, white collar warrior, in between training sessions, barbecues and baseball games. Other scenes show men and women discussing the legalities and illegalities of orders and coming to the decision that "it doesn't matter anyway" because "no country that was prepared for a war in human history has lost one". Other characters talk about "measured responses", words which reek of hypocrisy considering the sheer firepower involved.

8/10 - Dull in parts, and perhaps too subtle for its own good. Worth one viewing.

A powerful lesson

[andreas-schmidt-pabst · 10/10 · 23 August 2006]

I watched this movie in the age of 19. Since I watched "War Games", when I was a kid, I was very interested in control rooms to launch nuclear missiles. And how that works in reality, you get to see in that excellent made documentary. This movie is about young people joining military lessons to learn how to launch Minutemen missiles. In the end you see, how two of them get it and became Space Commanders or how it is called. Very interesting, indeed, all that buttons and codes and keys, even more than in "War Games". But- and that is what makes that movie such a lesson to me- it also shows something, that you do not see in "War Games":

The trainees are no muscular warriors with sharp shaped faces. They are mostly complete small and weak and have bad eyes, so they wear glasses. And there are many women, including the two who get it in the end. That way look the modern warriors, who are able to kill millions of people in a single strike. And they do not only look not like proud and dangerous soldiers, they don't act that way, neither. They act goofy and clumsy, have problems to insert launch keys and to fasten seat belts and yawn in lessons, when they learn about the seriousity of their job. And the trainers aren't better: They are calm and smiling, they make bad jokes, and in one scene one of them shows a trainee tricks how to succeed in a multiple choice test, if you don't know the answer!

I would compare this movie to the "Atomic Cafe": a real-life satire, that shows: Cold War was not only very dangerous, but also very embarrassing.

A shocking, but very interesting and funny (for people with dark humor) movie.