When the Wind Blows (1986 film)

When the Wind Blows (1986 film)
When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British adult animated disaster film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on Raymond Briggs' graphic novel of the same name. The film stars the voices of John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft as the two main characters and was scored by Roger Waters. The film recounts a rural English couple's attempt to survive a nearby nuclear attack and maintain a sense of normality in the subsequent fallout and nuclear winter.
Plot
Jim Bloggs and his wife Hilda are an elderly couple, living in an isolated cottage in rural Sussex, in southeast England. Jim frequently travels to the local town to read newspapers and keep abreast of the deteriorating international situation regarding the Soviet–Afghan War, which is threatening to escalate into an all-out nuclear conflict between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union. Hearing a radio news report stating that a war may be only days away, Jim follows the instructions outlined in the government-issued Protect and Survive pamphlets to build a fallout shelter, including covering the windows with white paint and readying sacks to lie down in when a nuclear strike hits. Despite apprehension, Jim and Hilda are confident they can survive, as they did the Second World War, and that a Soviet defeat will ensue.
As a radio transmission warns of an imminent ICBM strike, the couple rush to their shelter, just escaping as distant shock waves batter their home. They emerge after a few nights to find that all utilities, services and communications have been destroyed. Jim and Hilda remain stoic and try to resume their daily routine, preparing tea and dinners on a camping stove, noting numerous errands they will have to run once the crisis passes, and trying to renew their evaporated water stock with rainwater. Jim believes that a rescue operation will soon be launched to help civilians. They venture outside where radioactive ash has blocked out the sun and caused heavy fog. They are oblivious to the dead and dying animals strewn across the landscape, the destroyed buildings of the nearby town and the scorched vegetation outside their cottage. Their initial optimism begins to fade due to the prolonged isolation, lack of food and water, growing radiation sickness, and absence of communication from the authorities.
Jim worries that the Soviet military will soon invade, experiencing a vision where a Soviet soldier breaks into their house. Hilda, whose symptoms are worsening, encounters a rat in the dried toilet, which traumatises her. Coupled with her worsening symptoms - bloody diarrhea, bleeding gums - she begins to lose hope. Jim tries to comfort her, still optimistic that he may be able to get medications for her from the chemist. After a few days, the Bloggs are practically bedridden, and Hilda is despondent when her hair begins to fall out. Jim clings to his belief that emergency services will eventually arrive. Near death, Hilda suggests they lie down in the paper sacks. Jim, now resigned to their fate, agrees. As they crawl into the sacks Jim tries reciting prayers, including Psalm 23, but, forgetting the lines, starts to read "The Charge of the Light Brigade." The dying Hilda weakly asks him not to continue.
Outside the shelter, the smoke and ash-filled sky begins to clear, revealing the sun rising through the gloom. As the credits end, a Morse code signal taps out "MAD" - mutual assured destruction.
Cast
Peggy Ashcroft as Hilda Bloggs
John Mills as Jim Bloggs
Robin Houston as Radio 4 Announcer
James Russell as Additional Voice
David Dundas as Additional Voice
Matt Irving as Additional Voice
Production
The film was Briggs' second collaboration with TVC, after their efforts with a special based on another work of his, The Snowman, in 1982. It was distributed by Recorded Releasing in the UK, and by Kings Road Entertainment in the United States. A subsequent graphic novel by Briggs, Ethel and Ernest (1998), makes it clear that Briggs based the protagonist couple in When the Wind Blows on his own parents.
When the Wind Blows is a hybrid of traditional and stop-motion animation. The characters of Jim and Hilda Bloggs are hand-drawn, as well as the area outside of the Bloggs' house, but their home and most of the objects in it are real objects that seldom move but are animated with stop motion when they do. The stop motion environments utilised are based on the style used for the Protect and Survive public information films. "Protect And Survive" is also featured as the booklet that Jim takes instructions from to survive the nuclear attack.
The soundtrack album features music by David Bowie (who performed the title song), Roger Waters, Genesis, Squeeze, Hugh Cornwell and Paul Hardcastle.
Reception and legacy
When the Wind Blows received positive reviews, currently having an 88% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 8 reviews. Critic Barry Lappin called it "Absolutely brilliant.... It was very subtly done but the message more than gets through well". He explained that the scenes are "more than touching" and encouraged people to watch it to the very end.
Colin Greenland reviewed When the Wind Blows for White Dwarf #85, and stated that "The story of Jim and Hilda Bloggs preparing for the Bomb and trying to get back to normal afterwards is heavy-handed, especially at the end, and would have been better shorter; there are odd continuity problems between the pictures and the dialogue. But it is powerful, ludicrous and shocking. It gets to you. As it ought to."
Soundtrack
Originally, David Bowie was supposed to contribute several songs to the soundtrack for the film, but decided to pull out so he could focus on his upcoming album Never Let Me Down, and instead only submitted the title track. Roger Waters was brought in to complete the project instead.
Track listing
All tracks written by Roger Waters and performed by Waters and The Bleeding Heart Band except where noted. On some versions of the album, the Roger Waters tracks are all put into one 24:26 song. The lyrics to the closing song, "Folded Flags", feature a reference to the song "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?"
"When the Wind Blows" (lyrics: Bowie; music: Bowie, Erdal Kızılçay) – 3:35
Performed by David Bowie
"Facts And Figures" (Hugh Cornwell) – 4:19
Performed by Hugh Cornwell
"The Brazilian" (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) – 4:51
Performed by Genesis
"What Have They Done?" (Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook) – 3:39
Performed by Squeeze
"The Shuffle" (Paul Hardcastle) – 4:16
Performed by Paul Hardcastle
"The Russian Missile" – 0:10
"Towers of Faith" – 7:00
"Hilda's Dream" – 1:36
"The American Bomber" – 0:07
"The Anderson Shelter" – 1:13
"The British Submarine" – 0:14
"The Attack" – 2:53
"The Fall Out" – 2:04
"Hilda's Hair" – 4:20
"Folded Flags" – 4:51
Personnel
The Bleeding Heart Band
Roger Waters – bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals on "Towers of Faith" and "Folded Flags"
Jay Stapley – guitar
John Gordon – bass guitar
Matt Irving – keyboards, organ
Nick Glennie-Smith – piano, organ
John Lingwood – Linn programming
Freddie Krc – drums, percussion
Mel Collins – saxophone
Clare Torry – backing vocals on "Towers of Faith"
Paul Carrack – keyboards and vocals on "Folded Flags"
Home media
The film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by CBS/Fox Video after its theatrical run, and later on laserdisc. After a short theatrical run in the United States in one theatre and grossing $5,274 at the box office in 1988, it was released on VHS by International Video Entertainment and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment. It was released on DVD in 2005 by Channel 4, with 0 region coding: the official UK DVD is still PAL format. The film was re-released on DVD in September 2010, again by Channel 4, it is formatted in NTSC and All region coding. In the United States it was released on Blu-ray on 11 November 2014 by Twilight Time in a limited edition of 3000, and in the United Kingdom, a dual-format release containing both the DVD and Blu-ray version was released on 22 January 2018 by the BFI. Severin Films released another Blu-ray and a DVD of the movie in the United States through their Severin Kids label on 21 April 2020.
See also
List of animated feature-length films
List of nuclear holocaust fiction
The War Game (1965 film)
The Day After (1983 film)
Threads (1984 film)
References
External links
Toonhound pages on original graphic novel and animated film
1986 films
1986 animated films
1986 drama films
1980s war films
British animated drama films
British black comedy films
British animated speculative fiction films
British war drama films
British post-apocalyptic films
1980s British animated films
Cold War films
Films about World War III
1980s English-language films
Films about nuclear war and weapons
Films set in Sussex
Films based on British comics
Films based on military novels
Annecy Cristal for a Feature Film winners
Films directed by Jimmy T. Murakami
British adult animated films
1980s British films
Adult animated films
Anti-nuclear films
British animated feature films
Animated films set in England