ANTI-WAR INTERVENTION
SUMMER FILM PROGRAM

Organized by the Nuclear Free Committee of the Syracuse Peace Council.

The War Game is a 1965 television drama-documentary film depicting a nuclear war. Created by Peter Watkins for the BBC, the film’s TV debut was canceled. The BBC said that “the effect of the film has been judged by the BBC to be too horrifying for the medium of broadcasting, it will, however, be shown to invited audiences…” Despite this decision, it was publicly screened and shown abroad, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1967.

Filmed in black-and-white with a running time of just under 50 minutes, The War Game depicts the prelude to and the immediate weeks of the aftermath to a Soviet nuclear attack against Britain. A Chinese invasion of South Vietnam starts the war; tensions escalate when the United States authorizes tactical nuclear warfare against the Chinese. Although Soviet and East German forces threaten to invade West Berlin if the US does not withdraw that decision, the US does not acquiesce to Communist demands and the invasion takes place.

Sponsored by the Syracuse Peace Council. Free to the Public.