The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

If Peter Watkins The War Games had been broadcast as intended in 1965 it would had scared the hell out of people of Britain. The BBC delayed its broadcast until 1985. By that time the BBC scared the nation with the drama Threads.The War Game was released in the cinemas and won the Best Documentary Oscar, however this is not a documentary.This docu-drama imagines the effects of a nuclear strike in Britain. It is based on research of nuclear tests carried out in the USA, the impact of the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The bombing campaigns and its aftermath in various German cities during World War 2.This is a grim film, it gets darker the more it goes on. Coldly showing the deaths from the aftermath of a nuclear strike but also showing a society that is breaking down.Even 50 years later this is a shockingly bleak film.

No way this fake documentary would had ever got made had the cold war never gone on around its time. It's a fake documentary, shot as a real one, in which a scenario is presented what might happen when England is struck by nuclear missiles.None of this ever happened during the cold war, so it's hard to say how accurate this movie was being. It could all have happened like presented in this fake documentary but then again it also could all had happened in a totally different way. It really mostly plays on the peoples fears and paranoia of the time this movie got shot. It shows some of the worst case scenario's, without providing any answers how to survive a nuclear attack. Basically the documentary says; you're going to die fast or you are going to die slow but you are going to die anyhow. I don't think I would had liked watching this back in 1965, had I been around, around that time. It's like it's prepare it's viewers for the inevitable, while today we of course all know none of this, thank goodness, ever happened.So in a way this fake documentary really is some propaganda but in todays light that also still makes this an interesting watch. It's interesting to see how much fear for an event like presented in this movie there was and what people's views on a nuclear war were and how they were preparing themselves for it. Both normal civilians but also some scientist and other experts (all played by actors by the way) give their views and opinions on things.It aren't really any of the actors (they are all awful) or the dialog and presented 'facts' that impress and make this an effective watch. It simply are all of its images. It really all got shot like this was a normal and real documentary, which makes some of the images work out as shocking and confronting. This is really the movie its biggest power and is also what still makes it something effective to watch this present day.Not as good or effective as the other, later, BBC nuclear holocaust production "Threads" but it's still a good and interesting watch, in todays light.7/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

The War Game is a very important what-if documentary. It was banned in Britain until 1985. It is the best what-if documentary I have ever seen and it is a very scary experience. The film shows what would have happened if Britain suffered a nuclear attack and how local authorities and the emergency services would have dealt with it. It doesn't show how the central government would have been handled it and it focuses on the ground level. Firefighters struggling to deal with fires caused, to a child going blind because of the flash, to a the aftermath showing food riots and longterm illnesses. As well as showing these experiences and playing it like it was really happening, the documentary also gives people facts and statistics about government planning for a nuclear attack. This documentary is very well done doesn't overplay things like some other films would have done. It shows how horrible a nuclear attack would have been and you can't watch it without a scenes of shook and sorrow. It is a very good thing and I think it still has a great impact, but I can imagine that it must have been very shocking in the 60s and 70s. You need a strong stomach to watch this film but it is worth it, especially if you like what-if scenarios.

I downloaded all 48 minutes of this film from the internet, having been aware of it for years but never having seen it. It hasn't dated, despite being made in grainy black and white over 40 years ago. In some respects, it's even more shocking than Threads (another excellent film on the same subject). The effects were surprisingly good (people being sucked into buildings by the fire storm for example). What was especially poignant for me were the effects of the war on children, being a father.It's a shame that this isn't better known, when many mediocre big budget films are lauded in the 'top 100 film' lists we see so often on UK TV.