The Day After Review

MPAA Rating: NR
Released: 1983

The specter of full-scale nuclear war may not seem like a pressing issue nowadays, but it was a constant fear for many people during the midst of the Cold War. The Day After was a product of that fear – a grim depiction of how callous politicians can lead a country into nuclear war if they rely on posturing more than common sense. The movie details the events leading up to the war; the actual exchange of hundreds of nuclear missiles; the devastation caused by these warheads; and how the unlucky survivors must face impossible adversities such as radiation and lawlessness.

November 20, 1983: a day that would shock and horrify Americans all across the nation. It was that day when ABC unleashed its epic production The Day After at 8:00 p.m., keeping nearly 50% of the adult population glued to their television sets as they observed a gritty and all too realistic nuclear war scenario where no one was spared from the war's devastation or fallout, including the citizens of Lawrence, Kansas, a sleepy agricultural town was unlucky enough to be situated close to strategic military missile silos.

Although the story is told through the eyes of primary characters such as Dr. Russell Oakes (Jason Robards), college student Stephen Klein (Steve Guttenberg) and college professor Joe Huxley (John Lithgow) just to name a few, for the most part the film avoids focusing on any one character. The Day After's goal is to detail the horrors of nuclear war, and it does so with an uncompromising and unflinching tenacity.

With a runtime of just over two hours (significant for television movies, which are generally much shorter to allow for commercials), The Day After takes the time to set the stage for the nuclear exchange. Normal Americans, ranging from farmers to soldiers, go about their day-to-day business while trying to suppress their nagging fears about a quickly deteriorating skirmish in East Germany that is poised to become a full-fledged war between Russia and the U.S. Citizens nervously watch news reports about the escalating situation, but the Americans keep telling themselves that no one would be insane enough to trigger an actual nuclear war… right?

Alas, that is exactly what happens when Russia and the United States unload their arsenals of nuclear ICBMs at each other. Kansas City and Lawrence are the focus of this film, and neither is spared from the nuclear holocaust. Thousands upon thousands of residents in these cities are instantly vaporized, while those who were far enough from ground zero survive temporarily, only to deal with issues such as flash blinding, deadly radiation and anarchy.

The Day After doesn't paint a rosy picture or offer hopes for the future; it's here to show people that with nuclear war no one can win, and even the survivors are condemned to a slow and painful death. ABC even set up special hotlines during and after the showing of this film to help calm down people that were horrified at what they just observed.

Considering this was a television movie and made in the early 80's, the movie's special effects are pretty darn good. Sure, by today's standards some of them look a little hokey, but real stock footage if ICBMs and nuclear effects were spliced into the film during the assault, lending a gritty realism to the occurrences. The makeup effects were also no less than impressive; the slow deterioration of the survivors via sores, hair loss and bloody wounds was surprisingly graphic for a network film.

Here's another quick trivia tidbit: the film was so potent that sponsors refused to allow their commercials to be aired from the point the nuclear missiles hit until its conclusion, so once the missiles started flying the remainder of the film continued uninterrupted.

The Day After is a human drama that is actually far scarier than most horror films due to how easily such devastation could have happened had cooler minds not prevailed throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's. And although this film is now a relic of the Cold War, it remains a powerful caution about the futility of nuclear exchanges, and a constant reminder that although the Cold War may be behind us, the threat of nuclear war will never leave entirely.

This movie is not a fun film designed for entertainment purposes, but The Day After does have a compelling vision to share.

Movie rating: 8 stars

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