In 1986 The Cold War was still raging and the good, innocent people of the world were still fearful that one day the superpowers might lose patience and annihilate each other with nuclear weapons. Author and illustrator Raymond Briggs (of The Snowman and Fungus The Bogeyman fame) released a picture-book entitled When The Wind Blows that tells of an elderly couple who attempt to prepare for, and survive in the aftermath of, a nuclear strike. Here, the book is adapted for the screen by Briggs himself. It is not a story that lends itself naturally to the medium of film, for several reasons. Firstly, the entire story involves just the two elderly characters, so there are inevitably tedious patches. Secondly, the film doesn't really have a clear audience in mind the animated approach suggests a juvenile audience, but the story is so bleak and talky that one begins to feel that maybe adults are the intended audience. Thirdly, the book was very much a "message book", put together in such a way that it allowed adults to educate their children about the horrific possibility of nuclear war. But when a "message book" becomes a "message film", it is almost inevitable that there will be a certain level of heavy-handedness
. and, true to form, When The Wind Blows certainly has its heavy-handed moments.
James Bloggs (voice of John Mills), an elderly man who lives in the English countryside with his wife Hilda (voice of Peggy Ashcroft), is worried about an international crisis that threatens to escalate in full-scale war. He listens daily to his radio to find out if there is any sign of the situation easing, or if the world is soon to be at war. A veteran of World War 2, James believes that people should prepare for conflict with the kind of stiff-upper-lipped spirit that saw the British triumph back in 1945. He uses an emergency leaflet, and a book from the local library, to prepare himself and his wife for the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. They build their fall-out shelter, they paint their windows white, they put aside emergency supplies. But, tragically, the aging couple have no idea what a nuclear strike may actually involve. Hilda innocently declares that she will leave a note for the milkman to leave 28 bottles of milk for the 14 day fall-out period. James absurdly expects the bomb blast to be filmed and later shown on TV and newspaper covers. Stuck in their old-fashioned ways of thinking, the elders do not understand that after the nuclear blast the world as they know it will never be the same again. As expected, a nuclear strike does occur . afterwards the poor couple sit and wait for help that isn't coming, keeping up remarkable optimism and spirit even though the world beyond their shattered window is grey and bleak and empty. Without realising it, they may be the last people left alive in the world - yet they cling on to the hope that their son may have survived, that the local shop will be open for business as usual, that the emergency services will come to their aid as soon as they can .
When The Wind Blows is an incredibly sad film, both in the way it shows these two old people misunderstanding the dire predicament they're in, and its devastating ending in which, diseased and dying, they still don't realise that the world of old has gone forever. David Bowie's title song is very moving, and the animation captures the deteriorating condition of the doomed couple in subtle detail. Occasionally, the dialogue is a little wearisome, especially when James talks about "the government guidelines" and "being prepared" and the effects of "the bomb" for the umpteenth time. But on other occasions the dialogue is very good, like in the scene where James keeps trying his household appliances after the explosion his cooker, his radio, his television, his telephone and in bewilderment keeps uttering "nothing, all dead" over and over. He thinks he's talking about the appliances, but unsuspectingly and tragically he is actually describing the condition of the entire planet. When The Wind Blows is bleak stuff, but certainly thought-provoking.
James Bloggs (voice of John Mills), an elderly man who lives in the English countryside with his wife Hilda (voice of Peggy Ashcroft), is worried about an international crisis that threatens to escalate in full-scale war. He listens daily to his radio to find out if there is any sign of the situation easing, or if the world is soon to be at war. A veteran of World War 2, James believes that people should prepare for conflict with the kind of stiff-upper-lipped spirit that saw the British triumph back in 1945. He uses an emergency leaflet, and a book from the local library, to prepare himself and his wife for the possibility of a nuclear holocaust. They build their fall-out shelter, they paint their windows white, they put aside emergency supplies. But, tragically, the aging couple have no idea what a nuclear strike may actually involve. Hilda innocently declares that she will leave a note for the milkman to leave 28 bottles of milk for the 14 day fall-out period. James absurdly expects the bomb blast to be filmed and later shown on TV and newspaper covers. Stuck in their old-fashioned ways of thinking, the elders do not understand that after the nuclear blast the world as they know it will never be the same again. As expected, a nuclear strike does occur . afterwards the poor couple sit and wait for help that isn't coming, keeping up remarkable optimism and spirit even though the world beyond their shattered window is grey and bleak and empty. Without realising it, they may be the last people left alive in the world - yet they cling on to the hope that their son may have survived, that the local shop will be open for business as usual, that the emergency services will come to their aid as soon as they can .
When The Wind Blows is an incredibly sad film, both in the way it shows these two old people misunderstanding the dire predicament they're in, and its devastating ending in which, diseased and dying, they still don't realise that the world of old has gone forever. David Bowie's title song is very moving, and the animation captures the deteriorating condition of the doomed couple in subtle detail. Occasionally, the dialogue is a little wearisome, especially when James talks about "the government guidelines" and "being prepared" and the effects of "the bomb" for the umpteenth time. But on other occasions the dialogue is very good, like in the scene where James keeps trying his household appliances after the explosion his cooker, his radio, his television, his telephone and in bewilderment keeps uttering "nothing, all dead" over and over. He thinks he's talking about the appliances, but unsuspectingly and tragically he is actually describing the condition of the entire planet. When The Wind Blows is bleak stuff, but certainly thought-provoking.