When The Wind Blows....

[The Succubus]

Have you ever seen a film that's permanently left a mark on you, even decades after you last watched it?

This is an animated film, drawn in the same art style as Raymond Biggs "The Snowman". It follows the daily routine of a retired couple living out in the countryside as they listen to the radio's increasingly anxious news reports of increasing tensions between Russia and the USA. They receive a government instruction leaflet telling them about preparations to take in the event of a nuclear attack. Jim diligently follows the instructions much to his wife's mild exasperation; she believes it's all stuff and nonsense.

Then the warhead lands, bringing with it a very sharp change in the tone of the film. Suffice to say, it does not make for comfortable viewing.

As many other people have said, the couple we follow in the film could so easily be our own grandparents - a sweet trusting couple, if outstandingly naive. The film was shot back in the 1980s - there's no internet, no mobile phones - they rely on newspapers and radio for their communication with the outside world.

I saw this film by accident when I was young. It was part of my parent's film collection and like a few other people I mistook the fact that it was done by Raymond Biggs and would therefore be child friendly and fun. It was neither of those things...and yet I'm still glad I watched it at that age, because it taught me nuclear war is no joke and to be fearful when the wind blows.


Have you seen any similar films that have haunted you like that?

[Manga Shoggoth]

Like The Snowman, When the Wind Blows was based on a graphic novel. I've not seen the animation, but I did read the graphic novel. It is really dark humour and satire.

He also did two Father Christmas books and one called Fungus the Bogeyman. These are much more suitable for children.

I make a point of not going to films like that. The only comparable experience was when my parents took me to see "An Inpector Calls" in York. Dark and depressing, and not what you want when you are 14.

[factotum]

If you think "When the Wind Blows" was a dark take on nuclear war, you really want to track down a copy of "Threads" (BBC drama from 1984). It's about as horrifying as they come.

[The Succubus]

That's another one in my folks collection, along with The War Game (which was a bloody nightmare to track down for them) The Day After (which legend has it caused Ronald Reagan to rethink the USA's nuclear stance) and On The Beach.

My folks grew up in the sixties and had all this stuff hanging over their heads. Terrifying when you think about it. I'm going to try and find a copy of Threads for myself - the folks won't let their copy out of the house on pain of extreme pain. Oo

[Tiki Snakes]

When the wind blows is a great David Bowie track and the single most depressing piece of animation I've ever seen. And I've watched grave of the fireflies.

I'll say it left its mark, I even had to skim past your description of it for my own mental health.

[Dr.Epic]

Does the film end with a giant squid monster teleporting to New York?

[Tiki Snakes]

Does the film end with a giant squid monster teleporting to New York?

I wish.
I'd have less mental scar tissue that way.

[The Succubus]

If you think "When the Wind Blows" was a dark take on nuclear war, you really want to track down a copy of "Threads" (BBC drama from 1984). It's about as horrifying as they come.

I just watched Threads.

Hold me. ='(

[factotum]

I think most people probably felt that way, especially after watching the very last scene!

[theangelJean]

We watched it in school.

In primary school. I think we were 8.

I don't know why. I think I've blanked out most of it.

[Aidan305]

I recall reading the graphic novel when I was 9. Didn't really get it at the time as I was too young, but I still remember it fondly.

[Elm11]

I've never seen threads, though I've heard plenty of traumatic things about it. On the Beach hit home for me as an Australian, and the whole understated despair of the movie was incredibly moving.

[khoregate]

Threads was definately one of the Scariest series i ever watched back then...


oh on a plus side they did nuke sheffield

[Dr.Epic]

I wish.
I'd have less mental scar tissue that way.

Less then a story when one of the main characters walks around naked for 90% of his scenes...and is blue.

[Tiki Snakes]

I'm not sure I'm particularly capable of making light of the subject, even now.
Suffice to say, short version; Watchmen did not emotionally scar me, let alone in comparison to When the Wind Blows.

Slightly longer, slightly spoilerific version;
Is it really a surprise? Compare a graphic novel wherein sometimes a blue man's bits are visible to a story which revolves around two endearing old folks slowly dying of radiation poisoning due to exposure to fallout, all the time doing their very best to follow the (completely ineffectual) official guidelines and keep each other safe as best they can.

I'm sure it would be easy to find the film online with only the most cursory of effort, should you wish to look more closely.

[The Succubus]

A genuine offer Dr Epic - if you like, I'll mail you my copy of Threads on DVD. You'll need to be able to play Region 2 DVDs though. I'd be interested to see what you make of it. :smallsmile:

[123456789blaaa]

I thought the film was fantastic. My only nitpick was that it seemed like the husband was too naive. I can understand the wife but the husband was a soldier in WWII. Even with nostalgia clouding his mind he shouldn't be as naïve as he was during the film.

[Nameless Ghost]

Threads is actually available on Youtube, though I doubt the legality of the upload I watched (incidentally linked from a newspaper commentary article on the same day I saw this thread). I'm also now doubting I had any sense when choosing to watch that right before I went to bed. =S

[razark]

My only nitpick was that it seemed like the husband was too naive. I can understand the wife but the husband was a soldier in WWII.
Except the husband and wife both talk about being kids during the war, comparing the different bomb shelters they had.

There's some inconsistencies with the characters. They're not exactly supposed to be real people, but a storytelling device that changes to fit whatever point is being made at that time in the film. Perhaps the story would have been better told with two couples, one somewhat older than the other.

[Tiki Snakes]

Actually, the couple are specifically based on Mr Briggs' own actual parents.

[factotum]

I just saw a clever comment on a Youtube video (yes, really, it *does* happen) which I thought was relevant. (Note that "The Day After" was a 1983 American drama about the result of a nuclear war):

"Ah, The Day After. It's what I go and watch to cheer myself up after watching Threads."

[Dr. Simon]

When the wind blows is a great David Bowie track and the single most depressing piece of animation I've ever seen.

Music for the film was done by Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame.

[Tiki Snakes]

Music for the film was done by Roger Waters, of Pink Floyd fame.

Amongst others, if I recall. (One track each from Bowie, Genesis, Squeeze, some guy from the stranglers and Paul Hardcastle, according to the wiki, with the rest of the tracks all being Roger.) But mostly I know and love the Bowie track. :smallsmile:

[razark]

Actually, the couple are specifically based on Mr Briggs' own actual parents.
Based on, yes. Directly copied from, no.

[Tiki Snakes]

Well sure, his parents aren't called Bloggs and they didn't go through an apocalyptic scenario involving nuclear weapons.

Beyond that, the extent to which they are based would require either asking the guy himself or doing more research. But he is on record as having based the characters on his parents, so I'm not sure I can agree with the idea that they are an inconstant, changing plot device.

[The Succubus]

Read "On the Beach" by Neil Shulte this week. It's not horrifying, like Threads or WTWB but it is very sad. It's very upbeat but fatalistic at the same time, as though humanity is taking one last look at life and the world before its collective book closes. :smallfrown:

[HandofShadows]

That's another one in my folks collection, along with The War Game (which was a bloody nightmare to track down for them) The Day After (which legend has it caused Ronald Reagan to rethink the USA's nuclear stance) and On The Beach.

I have seen the bit about The Day After and Reagan from a number of different sources. Including White House staff. So there might be some truth to it.

[The Succubus]

Am I bad person that after watching all these films about the horror of atomic weapons, I still bought a copy of the "Nuclear War" boardgame? -.-

[Elm11]

Am I bad person that after watching all these films about the horror of atomic weapons, I still bought a copy of the "Nuclear War" boardgame? -.-

Oh come on, as if the destruction of life as we know it isn't just a little bit cool.

[Killer Angel]

That's another one in my folks collection, along with The War Game (which was a bloody nightmare to track down for them) The Day After (which legend has it caused Ronald Reagan to rethink the USA's nuclear stance) and On The Beach.

Ah, The day After.
The imagines when peoples during their usual activities (out of stores, near the scholl, in the street and so on), suddenly stop, staring at the sky while the missiles are departig from the silos.
That remains fixed in my memory. It's the realization that you're watching the end, that it will come in the next hour, and that you cannot do anything about it. It must be terrifying.

[HandofShadows]

Am I bad person that after watching all these films about the horror of atomic weapons, I still bought a copy of the "Nuclear War" boardgame? -.-

It could be considered a way of "dealing with it". Turning something utterly horrific into a game.

[Dr. Simon]

Amongst others, if I recall. (One track each from Bowie, Genesis, Squeeze, some guy from the stranglers and Paul Hardcastle, according to the wiki, with the rest of the tracks all being Roger.) But mostly I know and love the Bowie track. :smallsmile:

Interesting - I had a soundtrack album that was all Roger Waters, although looking at the details on IMDB, I could be misremembering as some of those other tracks now seems familiar. Anything by Bowie is worth seeking out, IMO.

Another apocalypse drama that I remember from that time was The Old Men at the Zoo, about zookeepers in Regent's Park zoo, and what becomes of the animals in a time of nuclear war. Also. no nuclear war but still gritty 80's atomic weapons drama - Edge of Darkness. Don't bother with the Mel Gibson remake, seek out the Bob Peck original, still good stuff after all this time.

[comicshorse]

Also. no nuclear war but still gritty 80's atomic weapons drama - Edge of Darkness. Don't bother with the Mel Gibson remake, seek out the Bob Peck original, still good stuff after all this time.

Ah yes the series where humanity being wiped out by ecological change is the happy ending to the series