Back once again with a review, Last time we focused on a family surviving an invasion of the digital kind in the film Dragon Day, this time we looking at how multiple people survive following an all out Nuclear attack on the U.S in the brilliant 1983 Tele-movie, The Day After. Check out my words after the jump...
This website was born
out of my love of the post apocalypse genre hence the name
Cine-apocalypse, the reason I write this is because over the years
I’ve veered well of the PA path, well like most people I go through
phases, one month i'll be on a WW2 trip or a slasher movie trip, at
the moment i've delved back into the post apocalyptic world of films.
It started after watching Dragon Day which I reviewed a few days ago,
well since then i've watched a few pretty good movies dealing with
the end of the world or post nuke world. After Dragon Day I watched
the brilliantly tense 1962 Nuke drama This Is Not A Test, Kinji
Fukusaku's 1983 Virus (108min version), The Divide, Damnation Ally
and the low budget UK alien invasion flick, U.F.O but the reason i'm
writing this is because I re-watched one of the most important TV
movies ever made for American Television, the Nuclear war/Nuclear
holocaust drama, The Day After. Much like BBCs Threads from 1984, The
Day After shows both the build up and aftermath of a nuclear strike
on America, (Threads focuses on a nuke attack on U.K soil). The Day
After is more a multi-character affair as opposed to the other,
probably much much more important Nuke movie from 1983, Testament
(dir: Lynn Littman) which focuses on a small town but primarily on a
single family, The Day After focuses more on multiple characters
including a doctor played by Jason Robards, a pre-med collage student
played by Steve “Mahoney” Guttenberg, a hospital nurse played by
Jobeth Williams, Farmer and his family and Science teacher played by
the always brilliant John Lithgow.
Tensions between
Russia and the States reaches boiling point when Russia nuke Germany,
fearing an attack the U.S goes to Def-Con 4 alerting the people of
Lawrence, Kansas (home of all the minute-man nuclear warheads) to
prepare for a possible strike. While the towns folk rush to prepare
by panic buying and stocking their shelters, the inevitable happens,
a massive strike on the U.S comprising of 300 ICBM rockets headed
right in their direction. The U.S retaliates by launching all of
their missiles at Russia and with an attempt to intercept the Russian
rockets. Only a small % are destroyed and Lawrence, Kansas is hit
multiple time. This takes us up to around the hour mark and the rest
of the film focuses on the survival of the principle characters, how
they succumb to radiation sickness and fallout over passing days and
weeks.
It's a sad film and
one that in 1983, towards the end of the Cold War, was an actual
possibility. I was born in 1983 so I wasn't really around during the
actual height of nuclear paranoia, although we did get the old
Protect And Survive PSA's shown here in the U.K. I am however alive
now, at the age 30 we still in a way live in fear of nuclear war,
North Korea has nukes, China probably does and I would hazard a guess
at Russia hiding some away somewhere, but I think WW3 may not
actually be a nuclear war more a massive cyber war, destroying
technology infrastructure allowing for ground invasion. I'm not an
expert but I don't see a nuclear happening because as soon as it
starts, it's over.
The Day After boast
an impressive cast and some impressive performances, Jason Robards
stands out as the victor with his portrayal of the chief surgeon
caught up in the blast shockwave, who returns to his hospital where
he is instantly in charge of the entire place, his final moments are
actually heartbreaking as he returns to the site of his home to look
for the body of his wife. Another standout in an early role is a
pre-Police Academy Steve Guttenberg as the pre-med student hitching
home who gets caught up in the blast and find himself shacked up with
the farmer and his family. The cast also includes Amy Madigan as a
pregnant woman, William Alan Young as a Soldier, Stephen Furst and
Arlis Howard and features a small early appearance from Seinfeld's
Newman, Wayne Knight as a hospital patient.
Director Nicholas
Meyer, fresh off his stint on Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan, shoots
this film in an almost documentary style at points reverting only to
traditional filming when the more dramatic moments between characters
are happening. Credit to Meyer for taking on a subject matter like
this and treating it more as an important message than as
entertainment. It has a wonderful musical score too which comprises
if music from the 1938 short documentary The River and some left over
music written by David Raskin.
All in all, The Day
After was and still is a powerful piece of film, maybe not as
powerful as Testament or Threads but it still stands as one of best
films to focus on a all out nuclear attack and it's ensuing fallout.
The TV show Jericho looks to have borrowed from it, borrow from the
best they say, and it did. I've seen it multiple times and every time
is just as though provoking as the previous time. Full five stars
from this guy, I really do recommend The Day After.
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