When the Wind Blows (1986)

Wonderful character development!

disgusting, overrated, pointless

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

When the Wind Blows is a 1986 animated disaster film based on a graphic novel by Raymond Briggs, who was also known for the Snowman. The movie's about an elderly British couple - James and Hilda Bloggs respectively - who live out in Sussex, England, on the countryside. Meanwhile, a war is raging between the United States and the Soviet Union. When it was announced that war could be expected within three days, Jim builds a fall out shelter from his door, and buys several pamphlets that the government had distributed concerning the upcoming attack. The couple had been through the likes of WWII, so they are fully convinced that after the war is over, everything will go back to normal. Unfortunately, they don't really have much knowledge on the prospect of nuclear missiles and the impending fallout. The missile drops in the middle of the film, obliterating everything in its path. The Bloggs survive seemingly unscathed, but for how long? The book was written during a time where the threat of nuclear war was much too real. It tried to convey that in the event of a nuclear holocaust, you'd rather it that you get killed immediately by the heat of the blasts. If you were to win the worst lottery ever and end up surviving, your expectancy is limited as your food supply dwindles, and the water is most likely saturated in radiation. Worse yet, you could begin to feel the symptoms of radiation sickness making your death slow and painful. The Bloggs are a likable couple; they're funny, they genuinely love each other regardless of not seeing eye to eye much on some opinions, and they are funny; really, it's their light-hearted naivety that makes the overall tragedy of the film more pronounced. When the radiation sickness begins to set in, the last few hours of the film are of you watching this couple that you had come to love slowly die from radiation sickness, and there isn't anything you can do about it. These characters wouldn't as much as hurt a fly, and yet, they will still die anyway, because it is next to impossible to maintain the extremity of a nuclear holocaust. For whatever reason - most likely a feeble attempt to maintain face from the reality of their situation - the couple attributes each symptom of the illness to old age. The film ultimately ends with them returning to their shelter and praying whilst death comes to collect them.The movie is done in traditional hand-drawn animation as well as claymation to give the film its surreal atmosphere. As the Bloggs are hand-drawn, anything that they grab onto immediately changes into a traditional style to match the character design. The animation is eerily similar to the Snowman which can be bad as it would lead to the assumption that the film is targeted towards a young audience when its subject matter is too mature for them to comprehend fully. However, you could say that the reason for the animation style is to show how life can change with just the push of a button; whatever was beautiful and well-furnished would immediately blacken and go up in flames, heavily resembling many's interpretation of the apocalypse. The actors who played the protagonists also do a good job with making their characters seem realistic. At some points, they could even pass themselves off as if they had been married for years. Lastly, the music is great. Besides the opening title that was sung by the late David Bowie, there are also musical scores that fit the scenes swimmingly. When the bomb goes off, the music becomes louder and sinister to emphasize the fact that the world as we know it is coming to an end. The music that begins to play the moment that the elderly couple realize they're dying is also haunting and depressing. While the film is dark and depressing, it served its purpose. The film is a warning about the likelihood of a nuclear war happening. If a nuclear war were to happen, the government is powerless to sustain the extremities of the blasts, and those that are morally upright and wouldn't hurt a fly will nevertheless still die. In the event of a nuclear war, there is little to no hope of recovery. I recommend this film to anyone who watches apocalyptic films or anti-war films. For films that are similar to When the Wind Blows, I would suggest checking out Barefoot Gen and Studio Ghibli's Grave of the Fireflies. The latter is bound to make you feel miserable. However, if you are in a happy mood, by all means, do NOT watch When the Wind Blows. It is a truly haunting film, but one that will leave a huge impression on you.

There is a ton of movies about nuclear war that are actually haunting. Barefoot Gen, for example. Some of these war movies are actually really frightening and I had nightmares from them. When it comes to British production, Threads comes to mind.This movie is very different and not in a good way. The elderly couple talks and talks and talks and the only horror I have experienced is the fright that they just won't ever stop. Really. Seriously. After one hour of uninterrupted chatter I just wished the movie would end already.The movie plays strongly at the 'good ol' England" instrument but it is downright silly. The nice elderly gentleman tries to comply with information from the government leaflets even though they are obviously stupid. The elderly woman just behaves as a housewife and cares not a bit about the world or about anyone else. Both of them pretend nothing serious at all is actually happening.First and foremost: As a generation that has experienced 1945 and bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki they should know better. There was never ending flow of civil defense trainings and information at that era. Everyone was informed way way better about what to do in the case of nuclear attack. The approach of the old folks to the situation is not just silly, it is simply retarded. Both of them should have been in the nursing home already.Second: There is not a sign of any emotional reaction from these silly folks. It might be because of some British sort of parody, but really: Everyone in such situation experiences horrible stress. Take a look at the "The Day After" - everyone is shaken into the core and on the brink of nervous breakup. For these retarded folks it is just some form of inconvenience. They are cleaning the house as if they just had experienced some sort of wild house party. Do they care about their folks in London? Do they care at all about their neighbors, about their friends? No, let's have a cup of tea, dear! Do you want some ketchup with your sausage, dear? They are not humans. They are some sort of constantly mumbling self centered and almost completely ignorant aliens. This movie should NOT be shown to the children as a warning from the horrors of the nuclear war. They would be bored into the death as after visit of a nursing home. Grandpa Simpson had a couple of both more thrilling and more horrible stories about the war! Watch the Barefoot Gen, watch the Threads, watch The Day After and then compare it with this movie. You may discover the high average evaluation of this movie is just as silly as the elderly couple.

When the Wind Blows is one of those films that keeps on haunting you long after the end credits have stopped rolling.It focuses on an elderly couple preparing for and enduring a nuclear attack on great Britain. Both are endearing in their love for each other, and their naive trust that all will be well if they prepare well. Sadly for them, none of the precautions they take protect them from nuclear fall-out. The point of the couple being naive was to emphasize how ludicrous and futile the advise the government offered to its citizens on how to react to a nuclear blast was. The movie rips all the advise given in the brochures and public information films to shreds by showing a couple who did their best to follow all the prescriptions to the letter, and proving that none of the advise they were given is of any use to them.The writer cleverly chose as his main characters an elderly couple who have survived WW2. It gives him the opportunity to hammer home to the audience that a nuclear war is not going to be even remotely comparable to the hardships of WW2. A lot of people used to say to each other that a nuclear war wouldn't be so bad as the doom-sayers predicted. After all we already survived 2 world wars. Sure many people would die, but most would survive and carry on regardless. Apart from the obvious political messages the movie has, its just a heartbreaking tale about a couple coping with the aftermath of a disaster. Although they bicker like old couples do, it's their love for each other that gets them through the day. They seem like a good team. He's more aware of the reality of the world outside, she's a practical thinker. When he sometimes gets a bit carried away with his memories of world war 2, she gently corrects him. When she panics, or worries about unimportant things like getting the laundry inside before the bomb falls, he protects her by preventing her from doing anything stupid. In the end their love is as strong as ever, which is very moving.This movie in part was intended to give people who were too complacent a wake-up call. I remember seeing it when I was only thirteen thinking I was in for a nice animation film. It shook me up alright. Now I'm older, I see the subtler points of the movie, and it still gives me chills.The opening sequence of the film consisting of news footage doesn't fit in very well with the rest, which is a pity. Personally I would have chosen to let the movie start with the man reading the papers in the library. Other than that, I think the movie made very few mistakes, and the animation styles changing over from sketchy and dreamy sequences, conventional drawn animations, and stop motion techniques work together nicely. As it is it stands out as a great achievement in serious animated movie-history.

If there's one movie on my list of favourite animated films, this is what I'd pick. A fantastic animated flick starring none other than Sir John Mills and Dame Peggy Ashcroft that deals with with the threat of a nuclear holocaust. It's like this, Jim Bloggs goes home on a bus to his wife and prepare a scrumptious British meal of sausages and chips, but that's not so peaceful after it turns out nuclear war is about to break out (in the film, I mean) in two or three days time. Jim jumps up in shock and exclaims "Crumbs! This is it, ducks." and over the next couple of days gets the work for a fallout shelter done, well not necessarily done, but what they think is done. Of course, they rely on "Protect and Survive", which I'm not entirely sure was completely reliable in the Cold War, and presume that just because a rescue brigade took care of citizens in the second World War, it will be the same for this one. Then it happens! The missile comes and totally destroys the countryside, blinding car drivers and blowing buildings apart. But that's not the worst part, instead it's when Jim and Hilda decide to go outside in attempts to harvest and keep popping out of their shelter so often, that they develop radiation sickness. So, I first watched the film on the internet when I was 13, now I'm 14, and soon I definitely wish to buy the original VHS on eBay or Amazon so my classmates can see it. BTW, the nuclear attack scene really gave me the shivers first time I saw it.