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Storyline
The War Game is a fictional, worst-case-scenario docu-drama about nuclear war and its aftermath in and around a typical English city. Although it won an Oscar for Best Documentary, it is fiction. It was intended as an hour-long program to air on BBC 1, but it was deemed too intense and violent to broadcast. It went to theatrical distribution as a feature film instead. Low-budget and shot on location, it strives for and achieves convincing and unflinching realism.
Written by
io <orb@europa.com>
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BBC TV's film about a nuclear attack on Britain directed by Peter Watkins
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Did You Know?
Goofs
The so-called Honest John 'missile' shown during the first half of the film is nothing of the sort. It is, in fact, nothing more than a NATO-type external aviation drop tank, and bears absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to an Honest John.
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Quotes
Bomb survivor:
Another thing the Germans did after the bombing on Dresden was they... took the wedding rings from the bodies. They were trying to identify them from the inscription inside the ring. We also are doing this. We are keeping the rings in this bucket here.
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Alternate Versions
Some prints replace the stills of Lyndon B. Johnson and Alexey Kosygin with stills of the White House and the Red Square
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Soundtracks
Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht (Silent Night, Holy Night)
(uncredited)
Music by
Franz Xaver Gruber
Lyrics by
Joseph Mohr
Played on phonograph at Dover refugee compound
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'The War Game' is a fascinating and deeply disturbing documentary which dramatizes what might happen in the event of a nuclear strike. Of course in many ways it is dated but I still think its central message is as powerful and as frightening as ever. It was banned (either officially or non-officially, there is some debate) by the BBC for many years, and it's no wonder. The film is political dynamite. This is not a film you would choose to watch for entertainment, but I highly recommend it to anyone who is willing to look at something confrontational and REAL. The Cold War is long over but the threat of nuclear annihilation remains, and therefore 'The War Game' still deserves to be seen by a mass audience before it's too late.