Duck and Cover! De-Nuke Before Its too Late! –

Filmmakers often use apocalyptic end-of-the-world themes to draw in audiences. If the world isn’t being destroyed by aliens, Thanos isn’t zapping half of the universe’s population into non-existence. Filmmakers are ending civilization under mushroom clouds.  

Fail-Safe is a terrific nuke film. Although many suppose Dr. Strangelove was a parody of Fail-Safe, both premiered in 1964, with Dr. Strangelove being launched first. Both are on my listing of favourite films. George C. Scott as General Buck Turgidson, explaining how we might win if we just hit the commies first, is a fairly humorous scene. In the clip below, Turgidson is explaining that, if the pilot is nice, the bomber will get through commie defenses.   

It’s a darkish comedy that affords the same conclusion as Fail-Safe. There are no winners in a nuclear exchange. Planet of the Apes ends with the enduring image of the Statue of Liberty buried in rock and sand. We blew ourselves up.  

In Wargames, “WOPR” learns, just in time, that a nuclear conflict is like tic-tac-toe – there’s no winner. “Best not play”.  

In other phrases, nuclear conflict is unhealthy. Very unhealthy.  

At White Sands, once the check was profitable, Oppenheimer reasoned that he was the “destroyer of worlds.” At the time, America was a nuclear social gathering of one. We have been the nice guys, so there was little cause to fear about the world being destroyed. A communist spy modified that. The Soviets joined the social gathering, and the Cold War was on. There are now 9 international locations with nuclear weapons. Are any of those 9 prepared to use them? In a first strike situation, it’s extremely unlikely. The U.S. wouldn’t. Maybe North Korea would, but that would end the Hermit King and his kingdom.  

By the start of Eisenhower’s presidency, a nuclear exchange was a theoretical risk. Unlikely, but attainable. Eisenhower believed that proudly owning heaps of nukes and the menace of utilizing them can be enough of a deterrence. Mutually Assured Destruction. He also reasoned that a drawdown on typical weapons and manpower was logical because the menace of a nuclear exchange would render the thought of conflict untenable and unwinnable.  

Nuclear winter eventualities are fodder for writers and filmmakers, but are we on the precipice of a nuclear conflict? The simple reply is, No. Nonetheless, filmmakers are still making films with “end of the world” themes. The latest iteration is called “House of Dynamite”.  

Kathryn Bigelow, once married to James Cameron, directed the movie. A real corker of an concept – the world is on the sting of nuclear conflict. Apparently, a bad-actor nation (they suppose it’s North Korea) has launched an ICBM, and it’s headed for Chicago. I haven’t a clue how “we” know the trajectory, but don’t know the launch origin of the ICBM. One reviewer praised Bigelow for her groundbreaking use of personal backstories of characters and the movie’s “realism”. Pro tip: Fail Safe did that 60 years in the past.  

Bigelow needs us to know that we need to de-nuke the world before it’s too late. Well, that’s another unique thought, Kathryn. No one has thought of that before. She hopes her movie can be a tipping level toward disarmament. With her blessing, nations will start rolling their stockpiles to dumpsters in her excellent world.  

“Hope against hope, maybe we will reduce the nuclear stockpile someday,” she added, “but in the meantime, we are really living in a house of dynamite.” 

“We need to be much more informed, and that would be my greatest hope — that we actually initiate a conversation about nuclear weapons and non-proliferation in a more perfect world.” 

Stunning. Bigelow seems like a contestant in a magnificence pageant. Her movie will inform the world that nukes are unhealthy. Very unhealthy, and we need to de-nuke because, like, nukes are unhealthy. Very unhealthy. She needs world peace. Thanks, Miss California.  

The movie debuted at the Venice Film Festival. Bigelow’s film obtained an 11-minute standing ovation. Who will get an 11-minute standing ovation? Kim Jong Un and Kathryn Bigelow. Her crew of actors clasped their palms and bowed, soaking in the adulation.  

Angel Reese, the WNBA’s star bricklayer, makes a cameo look in the movie. Idris Elba, a black British actor, performs the American President. A few months in the past, Elba recommended that if the UK would just take the sharp factors off knives, knife crime can be diminished. Shaving down the purpose on a kitchen knife, like “toddler-proofing” a espresso desk, is some next-level silliness. But he performs the ever-wise US President. 

Bigelow added: 

“The film is an invitation to decide what to do about all these weapons. How is annihilating the world a good defensive measure?” 

Well, it isn’t the annihilating half, it’s the menace half. If you hit me, I’ll annihilate you. Maybe I’ll get an Oscar nomination for that clarification. Perhaps a Nobel Peace Prize.

She also added: 

[S]he was motivated by a want to “get that information out there.” 

Breaking news, Bigelow: You aren’t breaking news. News of nukes has been “out there” for 80 years.  

Until the Mullahs in Iran and the Hermit King and commie international locations abruptly determine that nukes usually are not in their best curiosity, the West can not and is not going to disarm. In fact, the only safeguard against nuclear blackmail is the West holding onto its nuclear stockpiles.  

Cast members said that after watching themselves on movie, they “couldn’t sleep for a week”. Does anybody suppose that Idris Elba might describe the distinction between a tactical nuke and a strategic nuke? I variety of doubt it. But he is aware of a paring knife is pointy and needs to be banned.  

The movie appears to observe the new Hollywood tips on range. The US President is a black British man. Check. The Situation Room has a lady officer in charge. Check. She’s a 40-year-old Captain, working the Situation Room Communications? A Captain at 40? Never thoughts.  

Who performs the required homosexual character stays a thriller. We have to wait to see. It opens in the UK in early October. General release is a few weeks later, on Netflix.  

The Doomsday Clock is ticking. Can the world wait?