More and more public voices manifest their concern about a possible third world war erupting at any moment, considering the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine, as well as the tensions between Russia and the United States. While we all hope that such a scenario remains only for sci-fi movies, as promoting diplomatic solutions and relations between nations is an absolute “must,” we cannot completely neglect some movie directors who imagined how a third world war would look like and put it on the big screens.
Perhaps we can all learn some useful information from those movies, as certainly, we should all learn to live together in peace. After all, we all have only one planet, and we need to do our best to get along and preserve it for future generations.
Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964):
This movie was directed by Stanley Kubrick, and it satirizes the Cold War era through a lot of black comedy. Of course, the movie revolves around the hypothesis of nuclear annihilation through a new world war. Long story short: in this movie, a mentally unstable United States General demands that his army launches a nuclear attack against the Soviet Union. Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, remains a classic movie that offers a darkly humorous take on the fears of a nuclear war.
The Day After (1983):
The Day After was a television film directed by Nicholas Meyer, and it portrays the effects of a nuclear war on a small town in Kansas. The movie also focuses on the ensuing struggle for survival in the face of such a devastating attack. Although this movie is over 40 years old, it was widely watched at its time and had a major impact on public discourse about nuclear war.
Red Dawn (1984):
Dawn was directed by John Milius, and it depicts a fictional invasion of the United States by the Soviet Union and its allies. The movie focuses on a group of teenagers from a small town who have to join forces in order to resist the occupation.
Threads (1984):
https://youtu.be/vgT4Y30DkaA?si=jak75tClEzbNjtle
Threads from 1984 is a British television drama that depicts the effects of a nuclear war occurring in the city of Sheffield in England. This movie was received pretty well, considering its realistic and harrowing portrayal of the aftermath of a nuclear conflict.
Fail Safe (1964):
https://youtu.be/owqrRoZMcjs?si=7_eG0lvX-lsQh3mW
The failsafe movie from 1964 was directed by Sydney Lumet, and of course, it also explores the scenario of a nuclear war. But while other movies from this list offer the dreadful hypothesis of a nuclear war occurring as the result of the deliberate orders from high ranking men who are in charge of nuclear superpowers, the Fail Safe movie proposes a scenario in which such a nuclear war occurs as a result of an accident. To be more precise, in this movie, a series of Technical and human errors are to blame for a nuclear standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union.
In the end, regardless if we are fans of the movies mentioned in this article or not, we all need to be well aware of the possibility that the ongoing wars on the planet can get out of control. While it’s pretty easy to predict when a war will start, the sad reality is that military conflicts slowly and surely will develop their own logic, which will be incompatible with rational thinking.
