The Day After is a 1983 American made for TV film. The Movie depicts a fictional war between NATO Forces and the Warsaw Pact over Germany leading to a nuclear exchange between the United States and the Soviet Union. The film focuses on several residences and families in Kansas near the missile Silos. The Day After is a disturbing depiction of what would happen in the event of nuclear war and the dangers of such an event.
The film starts with the air force intercepting nuclear submarines of the west oat as the film jumps right into the action of the cold war. A normality is established in the first half of the film showing a generic American town as this normality will be used to reinforce the impact of the events in the second half of the film, as economic sanctions grip the Soviet Union as they invade Germany. This negatively effects the Soviet Union ultimately leading to tensions between them and the US. However, people ignore the real problems of the world and go about their lives as shown by the TV as we see normal people like the doctor going about their lives. This simplicity is interrupted by soldiers in a helicopter talking about the alert, as other soldiers go fishing. There is a great normality to the film as the solider visits his girlfriend and their parents’ house via helicopter showing that the war is not far behind. The people working in these nuclear facilities fades to normal people talking about the war as the film shows this tension is ever present and hangs over even mundane normality such as a dad and her daughter going to an art museum.
The daughter going away from her dad ultimately acts as a microcosm to the war with them saying goodbye for the last time as a tone of tread is present throughout the film with is further shown with people going into air force bases showing the constant threat of nuclear war, as NATO puts missiles in Europe cause tension between Britain and the soviet division in Europe and the US. This broadcast is interrupted by a TV showing that people are not interested by the war and are instead worried about their own lives, as these people’s problems are ultimately a microcosm for the real problems in the world as the TV interrupts saying that the soviets are close to the east German border making people worry. The normality of two young people making out is interrupted by a TV broadcast about the soviets in berlin as this is going on the sisters are chasing each other around the house unaware of the war as both sides are talking with each other to try and defuse the situation. The old couple watching the broadcast relate the events to the Cuban missile crisis and the Kennedy admiration as well as their own personal experiences living through that era as when their daughter was conceived, they feared what would happen. Warfare is present throughout the film as when a soldier has to leaver his wife as the characters personal relationships in the film add tension to the story. The US ends up deigning military action is east Germany as a guy watch this on TV but the scene cuts to him and his wife as again people don’t take notice of the real dangers. The daughter then gets in trouble with her dad about seeing her boyfriend again these issues are a microcosm of the problem of nuclear war as the characters have nice little connections with one another throughout the film. Again, the war encompasses all as they listen to the news seeing that the soviets have gone into east Germany to wards Belin as the French report that Migs are attacking Germany, as in an ironic twist they talk about the invasion in a hospital saying the devastation to Kansas City would be more than Hiroshima as people don’t understand what’s going on.
They get news that Moscow is being evacuated as one of the main characters rings his wife as the hospital starts to lose grip as they don’t know who’s in charge as his not there. Tons of military recruits get medical exams to sign up for the army as everyone ends up watching the TV showing the Russians have invaded west Germany. It states that the Russians might advance causing worry about nuclear weapons as the government says nothing will happen people comment that the US won’t help Germany and only do so when oil is involved. People contently talk about using nukes as an emergency broadcast tell people to take cover in the event of a nuclear bomb. The water peoples an emergency supply as people que to use the telephone as panic buying sets in as everything becomes bedlam with people stocking up on food as the Russians attack the US ships. There is a calm before the storm as film again showcases the mundane normality of life with people eating Sunday dinner as the kids watch an emergency broadcast about the soviets as the military scramble. This is when the panic and doom of the film sets in as the child watches the TV broadcast, the tensions continue to mount and is palpable as this normality is interrupted with the very real threat of nuclear war, as the editing becomes a scrabbled mess as the panic of the military and the public sets in.
These scenes become more frantic as the military engage to intercept the missiles as their own counter missiles are launched ratting houses and giving off the feeling that this is the end of the world. People watch in shock and awe as they try and protect themselves but it’s no good, they are doomed. People run out of the hospital watching the missiles being launched as the military scram into the base trying to deal with the missiles only for the communication to go out as everything descends into shouting about orders showing how unprepared people are for events like these. The Americans manage to launch their missiles as people run and hid with tones of people silently watching the missile launch. They find out these isn’t an exercise this is real as the film descends into madness as the traffic piles up. As the bomb finally drops all the power goes out and then everything just stops working. The US is encapsulated in a nuclear explosion as time freezes. Everything becomes still as buildings are whipped away people are obliterated out of existence becoming Skellington’s as the explosion continues wiping out everything causing mass destruction and fire as everything becomes rubble and destruction with imagery reminiscent of nuclear test footage, all that is left is just destruction and the sound of the wind. The film shows this mass devastation and destruction, as people are shell shocked crying and trying to make sense of what is happening to them as they let a dog die to save food and they all must band together to survive despite not knowing what’s going on.
People wonder the now irradiated wasteland like something out of a zombie movie, as people are forced to use old technology like two-way radios to get communication in the hospital. As the fallout settles the people are in danger as the counter shows mass radiation as hospitals are overrun. The doctor roams the ward in a state of shock thinking about the bomb as the towns injured have been exposed to radiation and everyone starts becoming confused and volent. The solider earlier on in the film ends up surviving and wanders the wasteland were everything seems to have no life in a very eerie sequence. The hospital further descends into bedlam as the doctor works with the non-seriously injured to take control and talks about how a EMP took out everything because the bomb dropped. People end up becoming more and more despite barricading themselves in their homes like forts as the hospital staff to become overworked. A makeshift operating theatre is set up with the doctors and nurses dealing with the overworked nature of the facility.
The people in the hospital look destroyed and wonder if the rest of the world is like this. This film has a great use of eerie silent moments as people outside looting die from radiation as looting starts to occur as people become desperate only for commination to be severed. The people in this film ultimately come to the realisation that their lives are about to end, as the doctor becomes more and more stressed under the horrible pressure of it all letting his mask slip and talking about his family specifically his daughter and son. The film explains that although cockroaches will survive humans will not. The film depicts a sort of messed up family dinner with a family sitting around a table eating not knowing if its day or night or even what day it is as they slowly loss trac of everything. The daughter finally snaps screaming that she can’t remember her boyfriend’s face before running into the dead irradiated field. She ends up finding her wedding dress realising her dream is dead and as people wonder the land like zombies the military guy realising his home is gone.
People descend into a more primate way of life caring flaming touches as they overrun the hospital like zombies as they are being pushed away. Foreign squads are set up and start enforcing law as people wander around like zombies fighting over water. The film shows a woman having a baby in this nuclear holocaust despite noting wanting it as she realises that the world is ending. The military man then comes across a shanty town like village. There is some levity destroyed by brutal realism as the boyfriend and girlfriend try to have sex only to be found out by her dad as the find out that the harvest and cows are all dead lamenting that they are supposedly the lucky ones. People end up queuing for the shanty town in need of a home, as it is stated that the radiation count is ok now as its low enough for limited exposure. People must dispose of the dead in their homes as they walk like zombies though the irradiated wasteland. In a practically poignant and moving scene people gather in a destroyed church listening to the book of revelations as the priest becomes emotional at the end. The book of revelations is about the apocalypse, and it very much seems like this is the end of the world. The main woman in the film has her period despite being in a terrible state as they live in a primitive slum, she says goodbye to her parents as she is carted off to the hospital. The doctor is a somewhat idealised character in the film as he wants to help everyone but is faced with the reality that here are too many people.
The president gives an emergency broadcast stating that they don’t know the damage, but he is both sympathetic and patriotic saying America will survive. However, this patriotism is just hollow words as everyone listening to it is suffering and dying, as people are angered by this as there is no solution to the problem. The doctor becomes a zombie walking around as people constantly need him, he ends up collapsing due to pressure and goes a bit crazy and ends up being just another ill person. People become crazy and start having mental breakdowns as mass graves quickly dispose of the bodies. The army hands out limited food but everyone just ends up storming the truck as people try and work out the machinery to get crops but don’t know how. People turn into shell-shocked caveman sitting by a fire as they take out one of the main characters with a shotgun. The doctor starts to look like a zombie as he loses his mind as him and his assistant hug each other. The doctor ends up getting transported to where the problem is at its highest as he witnesses executions. This sequence is full of disturbing imagery such as a blind kid having his eyes bandaged up and the doctor walking through a sea of dead and dying people like something out of a zombie movie. He finally fid his wife dying irradiated and looking like a zombie as he wanders the irradiated wasteland of America seeing the devastation as the girl gives birth in a horrific overrun hospital. The film ends with the doctor finding people in the ruins of his house at first his angry but with the piece offering of a bit of fruit he realises it all pointless and all hope is lost the film end with him crying as the guy squatting there tries to confront him.
The Day After is a film about the devastating effects of nuclear war. It shows the dangers of such weapons and how quickly a civilisation can turn to ruin due to the act of nuclear warfare.
