´Threads´1984 Nuclear war film (Must see)

If you´ve not seen it before,this truly horrific 1984 British film ´Threads´documents ,from a scientific viewpoint,
the effects of Nuclear war on a civilian population:
video.google.co.uk...#
I think it should be compulsory for as many civilians,politicians,war mongerers and religious ´end of times´ fanatics to view this as possible.


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

Yep, this has been posted quite a few times. If your looking for fanatics, to change, maybe you should send the video to london, and washington. Why would they care, about there actions, as they probably would end up in some bunkers.

But your right, about it being an eye opener, and maybe people have some sort of romantic view of armageddon, which is wrong.

I saw this when it was first shown on television in Britain. It's genuinely horrific stuff and weighed heavily on me for a long time. I think it accurately mirrored the way a lot of people thought about Britain used as an American runway.

However, I think you need to rephrase your title. 'Threads' wasn't a documentary. It's was a television play, a dramatisation.

Looking back on this, what's actually interesting is the pretext for the nuclear war which is the Soviets invading Iran whilst the U.S. and the U.K. try to intervene.

Originally posted by Merriman Weir
I saw this when it was first shown on television in Britain. It's genuinely horrific stuff and weighed heavily on me for a long time. I think it accurately mirrored the way a lot of people thought about Britain used as an American runway.

However, I think you need to rephrase your title. 'Threads' wasn't a documentary. It's was a television play, a dramatisation.

Looking back on this, what's actually interesting is the pretext for the nuclear war which is the Soviets invading Iran whilst the U.S. and the U.K. try to intervene.

MW Thanks for the reply
Your not wrong in your comments about this film being genuinely horrific-to my minds its one of the most truly shocking films of recent years and,without sounding alarmist,frighteningly plausible.
Its also interesting that the countries involved can be seen in a modern day context.
At least when unhinged lunatics,whether under the delusional excuses of nationalism,political ideology or religious bigotry,start hurling nuclear weapons at each other we now know what to expect-
starvation,radiation sickness,nuclear winters,canabalism and deformed births within months/years- not a very pleasant prospect.
Cheers Karl
PS Your right about the title-will alter thread

[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

The BBC did produce a thought provoking & perhaps more scientific documentary tv programme about the effects of nuclear war. From memory it was shown a few years before Threads aired, I remember being allowed to stay up late to watch it ... and it scared me to death. It's difficult maybe for the youngsters here to understand but in the late 70's/early 80's there seemed every likelehood that a nuclear war wasn't just possible ... it was imminent.

I asked my parents afterwards about their plans for when the four minute warning sounded and wasn't exactly reassured by their response ... they were going to sit out in the garden in deckchairs, both facing Glasgow !!

Here's a clip of the first part (assuming I can get youtube to embed)

Originally posted by Niall197
It's difficult maybe for the youngsters here to understand but in the late 70's/early 80's there seemed every likelehood that a nuclear war wasn't just possible ... it was imminent.

Yes, I often thought and said the same thing myself. I honestly thought I'd die sat at a desk at grammar school and I remember having nightmares about nuclear war before I was even ten-years-old.

I think 'The Day After' was actually made earlier than 'Threads' but I think it was shown in Britain after we'd been subjected to nightmare of 'Threads'. That was equally harrowing too. Around the same time was the Raymond Briggs book, 'When the Wind Blows' which seemed incredibly hardcore for pencil drawings, and then, not long after, was the animated film of the book. There just seemed to be so much of this about around that time in music and literature; it really seemed inevitable.

When Americans genuinely wonder why there's sometimes antagonism towards them from the British, I often wonder whether this has anything to do with it, at least when it's from people of that age group. I distinctly remember people feeling and saying that the British were just caught in the middle of someone else's cold war and that we shouldn't have been there.

Originally posted by Karl 12
Its also interesting that the countries involved can be seen in a modern day context.

Yes, it's interesting to see the same old players, but more interesting to see the actual roles reversed, with the UK and the US thought to be on the verge of a conflict with Iran and Russia being the party that rather they didn't.

Hi There,

I too saw this docu-drama when it aired in Britain in the seventies. At school the following day, our science teacher and our history teacher held a forum instead of a lesson to discuss the impact of the programme. This discussion highlighted to me the wide-spread anxiety prevalent at the time regarding nuclear weapons, but it also highlighted the 'don't care' attitude, the fatalistic resignation of succumbing to a fate delivered through the policies of those we all love to hate.

Later, during the eighties, I came across Johnathan Schell's 'The Fate of the Earth', which is a well-researched, well-written book on the impact of nuclear war. I still have it, somewhat battered, but still equally as shocking through what it conveys. I don't know why, but I always felt that the American version called 'The Day After' was overly sanitized.

Today, some believe that you can throw 'tactical' nukes and still control the conflict from going all-out nuclear...personally, I beg to differ. Waiting to see if any of the missiles in the air are going to land on one's own country is a hesitance of a vast error, and would probably lead to one's destruction. If nukes fly...you send your own as a matter-of-course...you don't wait to be hit.

I havent seen this. Thanks for posting.

30mins in its looking like a very good movie.

I remember this movie, and like others have said it played on my mind for a long time after i watched it, when you see people talk about Nuclear war on ATS, with a kind of gloating adventurous way, i remember back then, as im sure many of you do also.

I remember the tv commercials, telling us what to do if we heard the sirens wail, REMEMBER? take off your doors and lean them against a wall and use them as a shelter, paint your windows white to reflect the blast, not many people realized at the time, what they where being told to do is bury themselves, there would not be time for the remaining PTB to come and bury the dead, so they convinced everyone to do it themselves.

Threads was one of the first movies that told it as it was going to be, i guess my suggestion to anyone who thinks a Nuclear war would be fun and an adventure, is to watch it for themselves, and then rethink.

I just posted in another thread about people spreading doom and gloom and how it hurts others, and now here i am doing the same thing, i guess im a hypocrite, i feel so sorry for the generations who missed the cold war, but at the same time i miss the cold war myself, simply because i knew who the enemy was, now we don't have a clue, it seems to be ourselves, or those we trusted to keep us safe and well.

How can any leader of a country think we as the people they are supposed to serve, wish to be annihilated because they cant find a solution to obvious problems, yeah right im sure all of us will sit gloating because we got in there first, i personally cant think of a single war, where the populous were glad the PTB decided to sacrifice our children, on either side can you?

Maybe during these times of change, we the people said, ok in future, all wars will be decided, by making our presidents , prime ministers, fight each other in a boxing ring, winner takes all.

Originally posted by azzllin
Threads was one of the first movies that told it as it was going to be, i guess my suggestion to anyone who thinks a Nuclear war would be fun and an adventure, is to watch it for themselves, and then rethink.

Azzlin appreciate the post-very wise words,particularly about the boxing ring
As for the docu-drama,your right about it bringing home how brutally
´unadventurous´ and ´unromantic´ Nuclear warfare actualy would be.
Perhaps some people need to rid themselves of the delusion that nuclear warfare would/should/could ever resolve anything and be given this film so they can
´watch it for themselves and then rethink´
Cheers Karl

i just heard about this movie now, so i'm watching it..

i also found this older thread with a little less to say...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

anyway, knowing that similarities and half-truths of reality are mimicked in Hollywood films makes me wonder how "close to home" this film could be...

the fact that the plot for "Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon" was played out in real life, even down to the month and the date, is bad enough as it is...
www.abovetopsecret.com...

we shall see...

Just watched the movie and it sure brings home how bad life would be if this was to happen

I woke up this morning in such a great mood and now after watching this movie i feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders

As said before this should be watched by every person

This Video is a must watch for many who espouse

"how many Nukes to..."

or

"We would Turn Iran/Russia (Insert country of anger against here) to Glass "

and such like.

I watched It years ago when first broadcast and I must say I was very shocked by it.

I spurned my interest in politics, and made me realise the madness of spending Billions of $ £ on developing more and more ways to do this to each other.


A must watch.

Elf.

reply to post by Niall197


My caregivers said to go under the stairs cupboard with a mattress on top of us.

Lol the parody and ridiculous nature of trying to protect yourself from this.

I think people fell for it though, seemed reasurred to have something to do!

I had nightmares after watching this for the time when young!

But it is a Must still.

Elf

Originally posted by MischeviousElf
reply to post by Niall197

 

My caregivers said to go under the stairs cupboard with a mattress on top of us.

Lol the parody and ridiculous nature of trying to protect yourself from this.

I think people fell for it though, seemed reasurred to have something to do!

I had nightmares after watching this for the time when young!

But it is a Must still.

Elf

Mischevious Elf~Thanks for the reply,I to remember the ´cupboard under the stairs´ advice....but I suspect it wouldn´t be too effective.
Also ,your right about the film-it scared the bejesus out of me when I first watched it-perhaps it should be reaired on HBO.
Cheers Karl


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

A person from this site reminded me of this film and another named "testament" a year or so ago. Both are very good in showing the events after the "war".

Nuclear war is survivable but it takes far more than a mattress under some stairs. The question of if you want to live in the aftereffects of a nuclear war can only be answered by you, the individual.

I guess it's easy to knock some of the civil defence advice that was available in the late 70's, early 80's. Obviously a mattress under the stairs won't do you much good if a nuclear bomb explodes in your immediate vicinity.

Some of their advice was quite useful though & as relevant today as it was then. Ensure you have tinned food, water, torches (flashlights), candles, batteries etc etc. But given the lack of domestic & public shelters they had to give some advice to help you protect against fall out. The advice was to take shelter under the stairs ... but also to ensure the stairs were shielded by whatever you could lay your hands on. Bags of earth, mattresses, doors, anything & everything really. With some warning & decent preparation many people would survive a nuclear attack who otherwise would perish.

Although the authorities did really stretch credibility to breaking point by encouraging you to take all the doors off their hinges to make a shelter, then advising to keep all doors closed to prevent the spread of fire.

The most ridiculous advice I saw was that if a nuclear bomb had exploded that you shouldn't light a cigarette in case you caused a gas explosion.

On a side note, I recently contacted my local council & requested to see their detailed civil defence plans from 1970-1979, I especially wished to see their arrangements for feeding & housing the remaining population, healthcare provision & the disposal of the dead. I've been told in no uncertain terms that the files will not be released because they're restricted & disclosure is "not in the public interest".

That suggests to me they're still working to those plans even today, which is rather frightening to say the least.

reply to post by karl 12


When the wind blows was a much much much better film.. although animated it always stuck with me as a kid.

Google Video Link

reply to post by spitefulgod


Thanks for posting that,its a very powerfull short film


[edit on 02/10/08 by karl 12]

As its mentioned here and was a well made film her is The Day After from 1983:

Google Video Link

Again a good if scary depiction of the effects of Nuclear War.

Why we spend soo much money on finding ways to do this to each other I just don't know.

Truly sad.

Elf