Hacker Cinema
When the Wind Blows
1986 · Film · 84 min
Directed by Jimmy T. Murakami
With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
6 positive4 neutralfrom 10 commenters
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11 comments on Hacker News
It doesn't really matter what the cause is or who did what or who "deserved" it. The sheer scope and magnitude of a nuke blots out anything else. I recommend you look up the film When the Wind Blows, which I believe is on YouTube now. It's an animated thing about a rural English couple and how their little world ends when their country is nuked. It is extremely tragic and grim and all too real, because it focuses on these people who could never have had a say in anything that happened to them and were victims of a system that never consulted them. Watching that film and then going to the national air and space museum and seeing the plane that dropped the bomb in real life shook me in a very real way when I realized the human cost of it all. The horror of it isn't that the agony it causes is unimaginable, but that it's completely real, that it has happened and could happen again to anyone or to everyone. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.
We do proper apocalyptic books and films in the UK! If you survive "Threads" and "When the wind blows", why not wash it down with some dystopia! 1984, Animal Farm, Children of men.
Other apocalypses and dystopias are available. The UK is not the sole source of them. 451F, Brave New World ...
Whether or not it counts as PTSD, I remember it being a stressful time, causing worry that has persisted through to the present. There were the films, of course; When the Wind Blows and The Day After are films I watched (the former was also available as a graphic novel IIRC). I'm not sure about Threads, but I definitely saw The War Game (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Game). The scene with firemen trying to put out a firestorm and being suffocated has stuck in my head. The Protect and Survive booklet (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_and_Survive) was around to instruct families in how to construct temporary makeshift shelters against nuclear blast. I recall such planning, including watching a film explaining how long the various Protect and Survive shelters might last at different distances from a blast ("The occupants of this shelter will be fine, for 6 seconds until the blast wave hits..." etc. etc). Military training at school (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Cadet_Force) also involved, from time to time, lectures from liaison officers who would remind us of the odds against us in terms of land forces, and how long we might hold out before things went nuclear (should the Warsaw Pact have attacked NATO).
For me it was When the Wind Blows[1].
A cutesy animated cartoon film about an old couple dieting the affects of nuclear fallout ...things were different in the 80s.
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(1986_film)
I usually see “Threads” (1984) paired with “When the Wind Blows” (1986), which is a British animated film with similar themes. It’s really good if people are looking for something to watch.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(1986_film)
Dr Strangelove was obviously about the absurdity of trying to plan for nuclear war, but the ending credit scene of nuclear bombs exploding while playing "We'll Meet Again" by Vera Lynne sounds like it might have influenced "The Atomic Cafe".
Interestingly, the detail in the linked document that made me think of a movie was the improvised lean-to shelter. One of the protagonists in the British film "When The Wind Blows" built one in his house while following a similar guide.
Slightly more info about his work in this [1] Guardian piece:
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/aug/10/snowman-author-raymond-briggs-dies-aged-88
I loved watching The Snowman every year on UK TV, but can't recommend enough the graphic novel (and later animated film) When the Wind Blows [2], about an old British couple living in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. Utter helplessness and resignation. So bleak.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/When_the_Wind_Blows_(comics)
When the Wind Blows is a allusion to the children's nursery thyme "Rock-a-bye Baby" [1]:
Rock-a-bye baby On the tree tops, When the wind blows, The cradle will rock When the bough breaks, The cradle will fall, and down will come Baby, Cradle and all.
In the context of Brigg's book/film, its seems clear that the bough (tree branch) that breaks is the disaster of nuclear war and the cradle/baby is us/civilisation falling down. I guess that a child-like reference emphasises the horror of the subject by way of contrast.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rock-a-bye_Baby
As a kid I had nightmares for ages after watching 'when the wind blows'. I can't recommend that film highly enough.
No one seems to have mentioned When The Wind Blows.
http://m.imdb.com/title/tt0090315/
It's a gentle little film I saw as a kid. It left an impression. :(
I'm young enough to be on the tail end of it, but I remember seeing When The Wind Blows as a kid in the late 80s and being aware of what could happen. Curiously, the whole movie is now on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9aHT-IlkHo (it's animated)
For anyone with a morbid curiosity over nuclear war, THREADS is worth a watch too. I didn't learn about it until very recently but supposedly it was on prime time British TV in 1984 and scared the bejeezus out of everyone in its rendition of what might happen to the UK in the case of nuclear war. It's also on YouTube! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MCbTvoNrAg