The Best of British Cinema: The War Game (1966)
Peter Watkins’ nuclear docu-drama is as terrifying as ever
Peter Watkins is one of Britain’s, and cinema’s, most unfairly forgotten directors. A revolutionary in both his formal approach to storytelling on film and his political stances, Watkins is a radical leftist who pioneered the docu-drama technique (or, at the very least popularised it and led to its acceptance as an important cinematic method — let’s not forget the films of Robert J. Flaherty and their importance, either!). The War Game is one of his very best works — Punishment Park (1971) and La Commune (Paris, 1871)(2000) are also major films — which captures both sides of Watkins, the radical political director and the docu-drama genius.
The War Game is a faux-documentary, merging scientific and political facts with a fictionalised story, which asks an important question: what if nuclear war really did break out in the U.K.? What would the before, during and after look like, and how would people react? With talking head interviews, fake news clips and sequences which capture the nuclear explosion itself, Watkins’ film is absolutely terrifying and all too real.
In fact, The War Game proved so impactful that it was banned from television screens for 20 years. Instead, it was screened in cinemas (despite its 46…
