The documentary mode that best suits this documentary would be the performative category. Watkins presents a documentary that is designed to have an emotional impact on the audience and provoke a variety of emotions regarding the subject matter.
The documentary takes a hypothetical look at our world if there was ever a nuclear war, focusing on the effect that the use of a missile strike would have on the United kingdom, using Kent as the epicentre of the strike and showing what the reality of such an event occurring would look like.
‘The War Game’ takes a genuinely frightening look at our world during a nuclear war, raising key issues that at the time of filming as to the knowledge of the general public should they ever be faced with such a horror and the social, cultural and economic impact that it would have.
Lack of knowledge
In the documentary, there is a focus on the lack of awareness pre-strike regarding what to do in the event of a nuclear attack and how to best protect yourself from its effects. Watkins makes clear the hypocrisy of the Home Offices statement in 1959 that “” as he contradicts this by showing a multitude of people who are unaware of what course of action to take. The retrieval of material to protect your home such as sandbags and wooden planks is mostly unknown as is the location of these materials whilst a copy of what to do if a missile strikes published years prior to the setting of the documentary cost 9 pence, causing it to not sell well and therefore no one understood what to do. Watkins appears to be calling on better communication concerning serious matters such as this during ‘the Cold War’ when risk was at its peak.
Social, cultural and economic impact
Scenes depicting riots and chaos after the explosion show the country’s turmoil caused by the missile that has caused fear and panic into those affected by it, fearing for their lives and the complex states of shock and fear of those who will suffer mentally rather than physically from the stress. The decision to show the impacts mainly on children evokes the audience to feel even more sympathetic and enraged by the subject, pushing them to actively do something about it. The long term impact is also made evident as 4 months later, severe burns still mark those involved and there is a clear focus on how the young will be affected in the future of the country rather than just in the short term. Radiation from the explosion causes a young boy to be bed ridden for 7 years and then die due to a lack f requisite number of red blood compusles whilst a young woman has no idea whether her baby will be born alive and a large group of newly-made orphans have no desire to achieve anything in their lives due to what they have experience. Concerning the cultural impact, regardless of a war or not, the necessary evacuation of 10 million people would mean that the economy wouldn’t recover for at least one and a half years, going up to 4 years which would mean that rationing would still be required and looting would be commonplace which would see a rise in violence.
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