Threads is a movie that’s hard to describe. Broadly, it’s a movie that portrays what would happen if a nuclear bomb detonated over one of England’s biggest cities, Sheffield, in the 1980s. It follows the lives of a few individuals before and after a nuclear winter. But it also feels like a mockumentary at points. Leading up to and following the nuclear bombs being dropped, there will be a narrator or text on screen describing the political events leading to the missiles being launched or describing the effects of nuclear fallout on the human body.
It’s a harrowing film. I find myself attracted to “disturbing” media a lot, films like Saw or Banned from Television. They’re pieces of media that starkly contrast with my whole-heartedly average life. But it’s not something that freaks me out day-to-day. I can take realistic precautions not to get captured by some murderous sociopath like in Saw and not get tore up by some bull like in some clips from Banned from Television.
But what precautions can I take to avoid getting obliterated by nuclear weaponry?
It’s a thing that’s so out of control by the general population, that barely anyone has any recourse. And the film touches on this. As tensions rise between the US and Russia, protests start to occur in Britain. People are unhappy that their leaders sided with the US and got dragged into the scenario at all. But of course, the protests meant nothing in the end.
One of the scariest things about the film, is how normal everything is before the bombs drop. And how similar it feels to the situation the world is in right now.
They show off anti-war protests in the film, but they also show a young couple moving into a new living space, worried about other, more mundane things. It’s so easy to put myself in the place of the characters, because what happened to them could happen to any of us at any moment. They didn’t expect nuclear bombs to detonate at 8:00 am or whatever time they did. It’s 5:08 pm right now, and nuclear bombs could detonate 1000ft above me at 5:10. It’s weird to think that any moment could be my last, or worse, it wouldn’t be my last and I’d be forced to live through a nuclear winter.
It feels weird to say, but the film really makes me wish that if a bomb was to go off, I would be caught in the initial blast and be obliterated in an instant. If this film is anything to go by, life in a nuclear winter doesn’t get much easier as the days go on. Not only do you have to worry about supplies running out as months pass, you have to worry about the effect of radiation on your body after being exposed to it for that long.
Something that stuck with me is how long it takes for society to rebuild. This is the part of the film I feel could just be artistic interpretation and not how reality would play out, but the city and surrounding area seemed exactly the same 10+ years after the bombs dropped. It struck me as weird that no outside countries came in to aid England at large, but then again, I think the UK received 10% of the total megatons dropped, so it’s not like the US was in any position to offer aid.
The effect the movie had on me was pretty strong. I found myself wondering what world leaders would think after watching this. Like if the US and Russia were at each other’s neck like in the film, I wonder if the leaders seeing the potential destruction would ease the tension a bit. I have a feeling I know the answer to that, unfortunately…
I feel like I painted a pretty dire picture, but it’s something that I’ve calmed down on. It was pretty distressing at first, but a day later, I’ve realized that this just isn’t something I should worry about. It’s been multiple dozens of years since nuclear bombs came into the public eye, and we haven’t really experienced a nuclear winter like the film portrays, so we’ll be good for the next few years probably.
Probably.
Would I Recommend It?
I’d say it heavily depends on your taste in film. It’s really a slow burn, and I realize not everyone vibes with slow burn movies. Hell, I even struggled to maintain interest at certain points. But if you give it a chance, this is a film that’ll really bring out some emotions in you. Whether or not you’re interested in feeling despair and shock as you watch a town deal with the aftermath of a nuclear bomb, that’s another question. If you’re in the mood for it though, it’s pretty satisfying.