Change Your Image
jusp
Reviews
Countdown to Looking Glass (1984)
Interesting Study Of Television And Nuclear War
I was 10 when this program aired on HBO in 1984.
Set up like a news broadcast, it covers the rising international tensions between the U.S. and U.S.S.R. It also has a back story of a reporter (Helen Sheaver) trying to get the biggest story of her career...the start of Nuclear War.
Though it moves quickly, I love the fact that they used many real news people in this film. Patrick Watson was a reporter and anchor for the CBC at the time this was filmed. Nancy Dickerson was one of US televisions first female correspondents. All of this adds tremendously to the plot of the film.
I wish HBO would release this on DVD. It's a program for the history books and is a fascinating study of what could happen in television broadcasting if the unthinkable did happen.
The War Game (1966)
One Of The Best Nuclear War Films Made
This was (for its time) one of the most accurate, yet disturbing, accounts of nuclear war ever produced.
Produced in the style of a documentary, it shows an accurately theoretical situation (for the Cold War) for the start of a nuclear war. This film is short (Not even 50 minutes), to the point and loaded with facts about nuclear war, quotes from religious leaders of many faiths about nuclear weapons.
It is one of the more disturbing films I have ever seen.
It's authenticity about the British Government plans for its people concerning survival under nuclear attack, the effects of an attack, the aftermath that follows are portrayed here. It shows just how silly building a shelter can be only to discover that when you come out...there really isn't much of a world left to come out to.
It shows how society falls apart, government fails...how the fabric of life that binds us together is gone. How survival takes the place of morality when war happens.
Excellent film and one that I recommend to everyone to see.