These days, there’s a veritable ton of horror slithering its bloody way out of Hollywood, some of it mildly innovative (Cloverfield), and some of it mining the tired torture-and-gore terrain of bad ’80s slasher flicks (the Saw series). Few of these films actually chill the blood. Thanks to companies like Netflix, however, movies can be mailed directly to our homes, meaning that we no longer have to settle for the same old brain-deadening blockbusters at the multiplex. Instead, we can pick and choose from among thousands of titles in order to find something good to watch — something from, say, the past.
A wide of range of choices was definitely (and quite tragically) not the case more than 40 years ago, when British filmmaker Peter Watkins fashioned a film for the BBC called The War Game, a government-financed, fictional television documentary that makes me sick, frightened and confused just to write about it. In the film, Watkins depicts what would have likely transpired in the wake of a nuclear attack on Britain courtesy of the Soviet Russia, beginning with the evacuation of residents from the more populated areas and into places like Wales and ending with the chaos of food riots, mercy killings and bodies burned en masse. The War Game, in other words, is a devastating critique of government policy before, during and after a nuke strike that Watkins, a public employee then working for the BBC, attempted to air on Aug. 6, the anniversary date of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Not surprisingly, the movie didn’t air in England until 20 years later, and only then after the success of the U.S. post-nuclear TV film The Day After.
Still, no one can keep a great movie down, and thanks to the art-house circuit in America during the ’60s, Watkins’ War Game went on to win an Academy Award for Documentary Feature. A little context, though: Watkins would continue to court controversy in America a few years later with Punishment Park, another documentary-style nail-biter that takes place in a fictional America, where the counterculture (or enemies of the state) have been rounded up and judged before secret tribunals: The only thing missing to make the whole thing complete is images of waterboarding.
If at this point you think we’re making up the fact that Watkins’ films are more relevant now than at any time since their creation, then you need to view them soon — particularly The War Game.
Shot in shaky black and white and just under an hour in length, The War Game is a full-court press to the philosophical and emotional parts of the brain. With a brief voiceover, Watkins quickly outlines the scenario: The Chinese take over Vietnam, pushing the United States toward a nuclear response. Meanwhile, the Soviets move into West Berlin, and Britain finds itself hit by several nuclear missiles. Watkins doesn’t just simply document the British government’s response; he steps into the fray with a handheld camera, getting in the actors’ faces, following them, probing their minds with questions, then moving on to another chaotic scene. Like Punishment Park, more than a few lines seem improvised, bestowing each individual with a greater sense of realism and despair.
Clearly, many of these are not professional actors, but their lack of formal training makes their disorientation that much more palpable. There are no clear-cut protagonists, except for Watkins’ camera, and yet the viewer begins to fret for mankind as a whole — not just the British. Given the shakiness of today’s nuclear-powered governments (Pakistan being just one recent example), it is a distinctly uncomfortable experience to witness government not only fail to keep its citizens safe but actively drive them into oblivion like so much grist for the mill. Watkins is clearly an anti-war filmmaker, but unlike most propagandists he doesn’t preach; instead, he starkly delineates what will happen when the bombs start falling. It’s a grisly film that, despite its lack of gore, unsettles the stomach. Perhaps the worst image is that of people instantly and permanently blinded by the flash of an atomic explosion. Bloodless, yet blood-curdling.
Think your government has a helpful plan for us when a rogue nation decides to hit us with a nuke? Watkins’ film, despite its advancing age, will make you think again. Forget all those corny flicks being churned out by Hollywood. The War Game, and the equally lacerating Punishment Park, are works of art scarier than any giant monster.
