War Book (2014)

Eight UK government officials act out their potential response and decisions in a simulated war game scenario in which escalation of nuclear threat between India and Pakistan leads to nuclear war and quite likely the end of the world.

Director:

Tom Harper

Writer:

Jack Thorne

Stars:

Shaun Evans, Sophie Okonedo, Ben Chaplin

1 nomination.

Cast

Credited cast:
Shaun Evans	...	Tom
Sophie Okonedo	...	Philippa
Ben Chaplin	...	Gary
Phoebe Fox	...	Kate
Adeel Akhtar	...	Mo
Kerry Fox	...	Maria
Nathan Stewart-Jarrett	...	Austin
Nicholas Burns	...	James
Antony Sher	...	David
Morgan Walters	...	Frank

Storyline

Eight UK government officials act out their potential response and decisions in a simulated war game scenario in which escalation of nuclear threat between India and Pakistan leads to nuclear war and quite likely the end of the world.

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Plot Keywords:

war game | worst case scenario | role playing | indo pakistani war | india pakistan relationship | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Official Sites:

Official Twitter Site

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 August 2015 (UK)

Also Known As:

Vészforgatókönyv

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Archer's Mark, Popcorn Storm, Sixteen Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

It was the opening film at the International Filmfestival Rotterdam (IFFR), the Netherlands.

User Reviews

Chilling Story

I caught this by accident on the BBC's iPlayer and thought it was interesting enough to occupy a spare hour or so on a Sunday afternoon.

Although this sort of contingency planning must have been of major importance back in the dark days of the Cold War, this tale is set in the (more-or-less) present where the tensions between Pakistan and India spill over into open warfare and a nuclear device is deemed to have been used on Dehli. A group of Civil Servants have to come up with the response of the British government as they are presented with the effects of this unfolding catastrophe on the world order. To start with, the Civil Servants act fairly calmly and reasonably rationally but as the scenario's threat vectors multiply the group's internal cohesiveness is put under strain and while the outside world doesn't really intrude into the closed world of the War Room, it becomes clear that there are external pressures on the members of the team that are affecting their decisions within the scenario. Overall, I felt that the situation was reasonably realistic and certainly chilling especially as the group made their final decision to release the British nuclear missiles to NATO control.