Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Glucedee It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Teddie Blake The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

TheExpatriate700 The War Game, although it follows a hypothetical scenario, is one of the best documentary films ever made. Based on British government documents detailing the probable aftermath of a nuclear war, it is one of the most chilling indictments of nuclear warfare ever made.Unlike later films such as The Day After and Threads, the film does not rely on special effects to get its point across. Made on a minimal budget, it features little to no explosions or spectacle. Rather, we are given the stark vision of human suffering after a thermonuclear exchange.Although the film goes into disturbing detail about the physical toll of nuclear war, the most unnerving parts revolve around the psychological toll, particularly the breakdown of authority and the emergence of mass post-traumatic shock syndrome.Although the film has a definite stance, it benefits from a largely clinical delivery, with most of the polemic elements being used as bumpers between segments. Although the Cold War is over, this film will remain a classic both as a historical document and a warning to future generations.

verbusen I was most surprised at how political this film was. It did not try to hide it's agenda like you sense from listening to BBC radio news, where only the facts that are relevant to their opinion are broadcast in a nice professional soothing manner. No, this film bashes you over the head with an agenda. What has the Catholic and Anglican Church got to do with World War 3? Well if you watch this movie, it seems they are the ones blessing a war! So is it a good re-enactment of nuclear war on England? I guess so, who can say, I would think it would be much worst. But it's political agenda minimizes any serious debate that it is a great film. The film demonizes NATO using tactical nukes if Berlin was overrun by the Eastern Bloc, well guess what, that's a flawed scenario to use because that's what prevented that from happening in the first place! Still I applaud that this film was made as nuclear war is horrific and needs to be dramatized, now maybe more then ever. I would like to see the impartial BBC do a remake of this film relevant to today's world. They could quote Imam's and Iranian Mullahs and Leaders, and then show what Tehran would look like after a nuclear attack. That would do the world a great service, and hopefully wake up more Iranians from what their leaders are driving them into.6 of 10 for the message that nuclear war is a no win situation, not a 10 of 10 because it's politically biased to a side that would have lost us the cold war if we had not stood tall.

Michael_Elliott War Game, The (1965) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Peter Watkins documentary has a rather interesting history behind it. It was produced for BBC TV but the company deemed it too graphic and intense so the film was banned. Some sort of loophole allowed the film to be released into theaters (with an X rating) where it eventually won the Academy Award for Best Documentary. The film talks about what would happen if a Nuclear weapon hit Britian. Even with current events, this documentary remains quite powerful and unsettling. The violence and views of the attack and aftermath are fairly hard to watch and they are shown in such brutal force that it's no wonder this film was originally banned. It's also interesting that this would win the Best Documentary award since the film documents something that hadn't happened yet.

st-shot It's the end of the world as we know it in this pseudo-documentary about nuclear nightmare coming to fruition in the sixties in a once typically quaint town in Great Britain. Peter Watkins, The War Game is a depressingly grim look at the aftermath of a nuclear attack that clearly favors the dead as the survivors rummage across a bleak lawless landscape starving and suffering. Watkins camera excellently mimics a cinema verite kind of documentary flare that effectively conveys a realistic scenario of chaos and destruction giving the film much of it's immediacy and power. With the exception of Pontecervo's The Battle of Algiers, it is probably the best staged and convincing documentary of the past fifty years.Living in a world of nuclear threat and mutually assured destruction is something we must live with every day. We can either choose to ignore it or take action through petition and protest to prevent it. Dr. Strangelove did a dance of death with it and Fail Safe more soberly destroyed NY City and Moscow. Both avoided detailing the aftermath of the slow death in favor of instant demise. We are not spared that in The War Game which details the after effects and the consequence of such action taken by the world powers that be. Its grim pacifistic message will make any hawk pause. No wonder the BBC didn't air it for twenty years.