Editing The War Game

{{Short description|1966 pseudo-documentary TV film by Peter Watkins}}
{{About|the 1966 BBC television film|other uses, including several similarly named films|War game (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}}
{{Infobox film
| name = The War Game
| image = The War Game FilmPoster.jpeg
| director = [[Peter Watkins]]
| producer = Peter Watkins
| writer = Peter Watkins
| narrator = [[Michael Aspel]]<br />Peter Graham
| cinematography = Peter Bartlett<br />[[Peter Suschitzky]] {{small|(uncredited)}}
| editing = Michael Bradsell
| studio = [[BBC]]
| distributor = [[British Film Institute]]
| released = {{film date|1966|04|13|df=y}}
| runtime = 47 minutes<!-- BBFC -->
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
}}
'''''The War Game''''' is a 1966 British [[pseudo-documentary]] film that depicts a [[Nuclear warfare|nuclear war]] and its aftermath.<ref>[https://mubi.com/films/the-war-game MUBI]</ref> Written, directed and produced by [[Peter Watkins]] for the [[BBC]],<ref name="BFIsearch">{{Cite web |title=The War Game |url=https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/Details/ChoiceFilmWorks/150050691 |access-date=19 August 2024 |website=British Film Institute Collections Search}}</ref> it caused dismay within the BBC and within government, and was withdrawn before the provisional screening date of 6 October 1965.<ref name="Chapman">{{cite journal | title=The BBC and the Censorship of ''The War Game'' | author=Chapman, James | author-link=James Chapman (media historian) | journal=[[Journal of Contemporary History]] | year=2006 | volume=41 | issue=1 | pages=84 | doi=10.1177/0022009406058675| s2cid=159498499 }}</ref> The corporation said that "the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting. It will, however, be shown to invited audiences..."<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/resources/sixties-britain/bbc-film-censored/ |title=BBC film censored? (Parliamentary question asked in the House of Commons by William Hamilton MP about the TV film 'The War Game') |date=2 December 1965 |publisher=[[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] (CAB 21/5808)}}</ref>

The film premiered at the [[National Film Theatre]] in London, on 13 April 1966, where it ran until 3 May.<ref>''The Guardian'', 1–3 April 1966</ref> It was then shown abroad at several film festivals, including [[Venice Film Festival|Venice]] where it won the Special Prize. It won the [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]] in 1967.<ref>[https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1967 1967|Oscars.org]</ref><ref>Sean O'Sullivan, "No Such Thing as Society: Television and the Apocalypse" in Lester D. Friedman [https://books.google.com/books?id=qUhg-dDTnGkC&pg=PA224 ''Fires Were Started: British Cinema and Thatcherism''], p,224</ref>

The film was eventually televised in Great Britain on 31 July 1985, during the week before the fortieth anniversary of the [[Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki|Hiroshima bombing]], the day before a repeat screening of ''[[Threads (1984 film)|Threads]]''.<ref>''Heroes'' By [[John Pilger]] pg 532, 1986, {{ISBN|9781407086293}}</ref>

==Synopsis==
<!-- Per MOS:FILMPLOT, "Plot summaries for feature films ''should'' be between 400 and 700 words. The summary should not exceed the range unless the film's structure is unconventional, such as with non-linear storylines, or ''unless the plot is too complicated to summarize in this range''." -->
The film begins by describing Britain's nuclear deterrence policy of threatening would-be aggressors with devastation from the [[Royal Air Force]]'s nuclear-armed [[V bomber]]s. Due to the number of [[counterforce|V bomber bases]] (particularly in a crisis situation that would see them dispersed throughout Britain), as well as [[Countervalue|major civilian targets]] in cities, Britain is described as having more potential nuclear weapon targets per acre than any other country.

On 15 September, [[United States|American]] forces in [[South Vietnam]] are authorised to use [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s in response to an ongoing [[China|Chinese]] invasion. The [[Soviet Union]] and [[East Germany]] threaten to invade [[West Berlin]] if America does not change course. The next day, the British government declares a state of emergency and transfers responsibility for Britain's day-to-day running to a body of [[Regional seat of government|regional commissioners]]. The first task of newly established emergency committees is the mass evacuation of children, mothers, and the infirm to various safe areas including [[Kent]]. Under threat of imprisonment, homeowners accommodate the evacuees, while unoccupied properties are requisitioned by the government. Rationing is implemented, booklets on how to prepare for nuclear attack are distributed, and [[Four-minute warning|emergency sirens]] are tested, with these being estimated to provide around three minutes' warning until impact, or under thirty seconds in the case of [[Submarine-launched ballistic missile|submarine attack]]. There are no government-built shelters, while efforts to build private ones are soon frustrated by a shortage of construction supplies.

On 18 September, the Soviets and East Germans invade West Berlin as previously threatened. NATO launches a counterattack, that is quickly overrun, resulting in the use of American [[tactical nuclear weapon]]s. The Soviets immediately launch their own nuclear weapons at strategic targets, as their above-ground [[Liquid-propellant rocket|liquid-fuelled]] missiles are highly vulnerable to a NATO first strike.

In Kent, a one-[[TNT equivalent|megaton]] warhead [[air burst]] six miles from [[Canterbury]] devastates the city and its surrounding areas. At one house, a defence worker and a boy in the yard are struck by the heat wave, causing their eyeballs to melt. Furniture inside the house is ignited, and the building is then demolished by the [[Effects_of_nuclear_explosions#Blast_damage|shockwave]]. At another house, another boy suffers [[flash blindness]] as a consequence of looking directly at an explosion 27 miles away; his father carries him inside, and hides with the rest of his family under a table as the house is shaken by the distant shockwaves of successive explosions. In [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]], an airburst causes a [[firestorm]] which sets the town ablaze. Meanwhile, British V bombers enter Soviet airspace to [[Mutual assured destruction|inflict similar devastation]].

The attack overwhelms Kent's emergency services, with each surviving doctor being faced with at least 350 casualties. The worst-affected victims are left to die alone or shot by police as a form of [[mercy killing]]. Cases of [[Post-traumatic stress disorder|PTSD]] occur among the survivors of the attacks. Dead bodies are disposed of by being burned; to prevent relatives from interfering, destroyed areas are sealed off, and police are [[Police use of firearms in the United Kingdom|routinely armed]]. [[Radiation sickness]] is rampant, while essential supplies and utilities are non-existent or severely limited.

The majority of Britain's remaining food supplies are reserved for those maintaining law and order, causing riots to break out over access to food and other resources. The riots soon turn into armed skirmishes between the authorities and desperate civilians; the latter are shown seizing a truck carrying a shipment of weapons and a food [[warehouse]]. Elsewhere, individuals convicted of causing civil disturbance or obstructing government officers are executed by police [[firing squad]]s, with the father of the blinded boy from earlier in the film being among those shot. Due to food shortages, [[scurvy]] re-emerges as a consequence of a lack of easily-available [[vitamin C]].

On [[Christmas Day]] in a [[Dover]] refugee facility, children orphaned in the attack are asked what they want to be when they grow up; they either "don't want to be nothing" or simply remain silent. Another child is described as only having seven bedridden years to live before dying from a chronic illness resembling [[leukemia]], while an expectant mother who was exposed to radiation is unsure if she will suffer [[stillbirth]]. In closing, the real-world press is described as saying nothing about the dangers of nuclear weaponry.

==Style==
The story is told in the style of a [[news magazine]] programme. It wavers between a [[pseudo-documentary]] and a drama film, with characters acknowledging the presence of the camera crew in some segments and others (in particular the nuclear attack) filmed as if the camera was not present. The combination of elements also qualifies it as a [[mondo film]]. It features several different strands that alternate throughout, including a documentary-style chronology of the main events,<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/1966/09/14/archives/film-festival-two-tours-de-forcethe-war-game-lists-catalogue-of.html Film Festival: Two Tours de Force: 'The War Game' Catalogues Lists of Horrors – The New York Times]</ref> featuring [[news|reportage]]-like images of the war, the nuclear strikes, and their effects on civilians; brief contemporary interviews, in which passers-by are interviewed about what turns out to be their general lack of knowledge of nuclear war issues; optimistic commentary from public figures that clashes with the other images in the film; and fictional interviews with key figures as the war unfolds.

The film features a [[voice-over]] narration<ref>[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/503036/the-war-game/#articles-reviews?articleId=138431 The War Game (1967) – Turner Classic Movies]</ref> that describes the events depicted as plausible occurrences during and after a nuclear war. The narrator seeks to convince the viewing audience that the [[civil defence]] policies of 1965 have not realistically prepared the public for such events, particularly suggesting that the policies neglected the possibility of [[panic buying]] that would occur for building materials to construct improvised [[fallout shelter]]s.

The public are generally depicted as lacking all understanding of nuclear matters with the exception of a character with a double-barrelled shotgun who successfully implemented the contemporary civil defence advice, and heavily [[sandbag]]ged his home. The film does not focus on individual experiences, but rather the collective British population, who rely on government preparations and are not fully convinced of the dangers of nuclear war until the final hours before the attack.

The film often invokes historical mass casualty situations in relation to its portrayal of a post-attack situation; for example, the collection of wedding rings from dead bodies to aid their later identification is explicitly linked to a similar practice seen after the 1945 [[bombing of Dresden]], while the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] are regularly cited when discussing the physical and mental decline of survivors.

Of his intent, Watkins said:<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/warGame.htm |title=The War Game |publisher=Peter Watkins |date=24 September 1965 |access-date=6 November 2018}}</ref>

<blockquote> ... Interwoven among scenes of "reality" were stylized interviews with a series of "establishment figures" – an Anglican Bishop, a nuclear strategist, etc. The outrageous statements by some of these people (including the Bishop) – in favour of nuclear weapons, even nuclear war – were actually based on genuine quotations. Other interviews with a doctor, a psychiatrist, etc. were more sober, and gave details of the effects of nuclear weapons on the human body and mind. In this film I was interested in breaking the illusion of media-produced "reality". My question was – "Where is 'reality'? ... in the madness of statements by these artificially-lit establishment figures quoting the official doctrine of the day, or in the madness of the staged and fictional scenes from the rest of my film, which presented the consequences of their utterances?</blockquote>

To this end, the docudrama employs juxtaposition by, for example, quickly cutting from the scenes of horror after an immediate escalation from military to city nuclear attacks to a snippet of a recording of a calm lecture by a person resembling [[Herman Kahn]], a renowned [[RAND]] strategist, hypothesising that a third world war would not necessarily escalate to a stage involving "the ultimate destruction of cities" and, indeed, that stopping the conflict before then would give the belligerents around ten years of post-war recovery in which to prepare for the next five world wars. The effect of this juxtaposition is to make the speaker appear out of touch with the "reality" of rapid escalation and of the likelihood of cities being utterly destroyed as depicted immediately before his contribution. Similarly, the film briefly cuts away from the destruction inflicted on Canterbury to show a textual statement by two bishops from the Vatican's ecumenical council who argue that the faithful "should learn to live with, though need not love, the nuclear bomb, provided that it is 'clean' and of a good family", before then cutting back to Canterbury's fate, while a spoken statement by an Anglican bishop about his continued belief in "a system of necessary law and order [and] in the [[Just war theory|war of the just]]" is immediately followed by a scene of a family burning to death in their car during the Rochester firestorm.

==Production==
The film was shot in the [[Kent]] towns of [[Tonbridge]], [[Gravesend, Kent|Gravesend]], [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]] and [[Dover]]. The cast was almost entirely made up of amateur and non-actors, as was Watkins' preference,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=4r8cRrzOavEC&dq=the+war+game+1966&pg=PA975  The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film – Google Books (pgs.973-75)]</ref> casting having taken place via a series of public meetings several months earlier; over 350 actors would ultimately take part in the production.<ref>{{cite web |title=The War Game's actors reassembled for first time |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-21525108 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=21 July 2024 |date=24 February 2013}}</ref> Much of the filming of the post-strike devastation was shot at the [[Dover Western Heights|Grand Shaft Barracks]], Dover. The narration was provided by Peter Graham with [[Michael Aspel]] reading the quotations from source material.

==Release==
''The War Game'' itself finally saw television broadcast in the United Kingdom on [[BBC Two|BBC2]] on 31 July 1985, as part of a special season of programming entitled ''After the Bomb'' (which had been Watkins's original working title for ''The War Game'').<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02zy7nt|title=BBC – The War Game|publisher=BBC}}</ref> ''After the Bomb'' commemorated the 40th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/PW_Game.htm |title=The War Game Part 2 |publisher=Peter Watkins |date=24 September 1965 |access-date=6 November 2018}}</ref> The broadcast was preceded by an introduction from [[Ludovic Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.startrader.co.uk/wed_play/wed_ep_09.htm |title=wed play season nine |publisher=Startrader.co.uk |date=2004 |access-date=8 January 2012}}</ref>

On 27 August 1968, nearly 250 people at a peace rally in the Edwin Lewis Quadrangle in Philadelphia, attended the screening of the film sponsored by the Pennsylvania Coalition.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/535147708/|title="The War Game" shown to 250 persons in Philadelphia|publisher=newspapers.com|date=28 August 1968|access-date=13 April 2022}}</ref> Like the United Kingdom, the film was also banned from [[National Educational Television]] in the United States due to its theme.

== Reception and legacy ==
The film holds a [[Rotten Tomatoes]] rating of 93% based on 14 reviews, with an average score of 8.46/10.<ref>{{Citation|title=The War Game (1966)|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_war_game_1966|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

[[Roger Ebert]] gave the film a perfect score, calling it "[o]ne of the most skillful documentary films ever made." He praised the "remarkable authenticity" of the firestorm sequence and describes its portrayal of bombing's aftermath as "certainly the most horrifying ever put on film (although, to be sure, greater suffering has taken place in real life, and is taking place today)." "They should string up bedsheets between the trees and show "''The War Game''" in every public park" he concludes, "It should be shown on television, perhaps right after one of those half-witted war series in which none of the stars ever gets killed."<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-war-game-1967 |title=The War Game Movie Review & Film Summary (1967) |last=Ebert |first=Roger |author-link=Roger Ebert |website=rogerebert.com |access-date=2019-02-26 }}</ref> David Cornelius of ''[[DVD Talk]]'' called it "one of the most disturbing, overwhelming, and downright important films ever produced." He writes that the film finds Watkins "at his very best, angry and provocative and desperate to tell the truth, yet not once dipping below anything but sheer greatness from a filmmaking perspective [...] an unquestionable masterpiece of raw journalism, political commentary, and unrestrained terror."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/23132/war-game-culloden-the/|title=The War Game / Culloden|website=DVD Talk|language=en|access-date=2019-02-26}}</ref>

===Accolades===
The film won the 1967 [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref>[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ztllDW2GtOw Documentary Winners: 1967 Oscars]</ref>

In a list of the [[100 Greatest British Television Programmes]] drawn up by the [[British Film Institute]] in 2000, voted for by industry professionals, ''The War Game'' was placed 27th. ''The War Game'' was also voted 74th in Channel Four's 100 Greatest Scary Moments.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/S/scary/results_80-71_2.html |title=100 Greatest Scary Moments: Channel 4 Film |publisher=Channel 4 |access-date=8 January 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091216172825/http://www.channel4.com/film/newsfeatures/microsites/S/scary/results_80-71_2.html |archive-date=16 December 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==See also==
* Other fiction about nuclear and radiological attacks on Britain
** ''[[When the Wind Blows (comics)|When the Wind Blows]]'', a 1982 graphic novel about a nuclear attack as experienced by a retired couple which received an [[When the Wind Blows (1986 film)|animated adaptation]] in 1986
** ''[[Brother in the Land]]'', a 1984 novel about a boy's struggle for survival in the aftermath of a nuclear attack
** ''[[Threads (1984 film)|Threads]]'', a 1984 film about a nuclear attack and its long-term aftermath which, like ''The War Game'', was produced by the BBC
** ''[[Dirty War (film)|Dirty War]]'', a 2004 film about a terrorist [[dirty bomb]] attack which, like ''The War Game'', was produced by the BBC
* [[List of nuclear holocaust fiction]]
* [[Nuclear weapons and the United Kingdom]]
* [[Nuclear weapons in popular culture]]
* [[Survival film]], about the film genre, with a list of related films
* ''[[The Day After]]'', a 1983 US film about nuclear war and its aftermath

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb title|id=0059894|title=The War Game}}
* {{Internet Archive film | TheWarGame_201405}}
* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02zy7nt ''The War Game''] at the [[BBC]]
* [http://theconversation.com/the-war-game-how-i-showed-that-bbc-bowed-to-government-over-nuclear-attack-film-42640 BBC contemporary "censorship"] from John Cook's article in The Conversation
* [http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wargamethe/wargamethe.htm Encyclopedia of Television] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090503193144/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/W/htmlW/wargamethe/wargamethe.htm |date=3 May 2009 }}
* [http://www.screenonline.org.uk/tv/id/438638/index.html British Film Institute Screen Online] UK only
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20051016134931/http://www.filmint.nu/pdf/special/watkins.pdf The War Game – The Controversy] by Patrick Murphy in Film International, May 2003.
* [http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/the-war-game-script.html A transcript of the film]

{{Wednesday Play}}
{{AcademyAwardBestDocumentaryFeature1961-1980}}
{{Peter Watkins}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:War Game, The}}
[[Category:1966 films]]
[[Category:1966 television films]]
[[Category:BBC controversies]]
[[Category:BBC television dramas]]
[[Category:Black-and-white British television shows]]
[[Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:British black-and-white films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Peter Watkins]]
[[Category:Apocalyptic films]]
[[Category:Cold War films]]
[[Category:British science fiction television films]]
[[Category:Films about nuclear war and weapons]]
[[Category:Films about World War III]]
[[Category:Films set in Kent]]
[[Category:Anti-nuclear films]]
[[Category:1960s English-language films]]
[[Category:1960s British films]]
[[Category:Films set in 1966]]
[[Category:British dystopian films]]