Animation from the United Kingdom (England, Ireland, etc.) has a proud legacy, despite its trouble trying to attract attention globally. One of their better known short films is "The Snowman," a 1982 short film directed by Jimmy Murakami, still cherished as a Christmas tradition in Britain the same way "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is in the USA. British audiences were probably surprised when a second team up from the author of "The Snowman" and Murakami would come in the form of "When The Wind Blows," a black-comedy around a theoretical nucular holocaust from the eyes of an elderly couple. It was the Cold War, after all, and threats of missle attacks were probably on everyone's mind for decades. All the same, cartoons not meant for children were still an anomoly, but if such a film made sense anywhere, it was Britain (they had already made films "Animal House" and "Watership Down," each of which were not much cheerier). At the start of the film, World War III seems eminent. James is a retired Englishman living with Hilda, his wife, in a house on the outskirts of town. As soon as James hears of the war on the radio, he takes to the public instructions made available at the library to prepare a makeshift bomb-shelter in their home. The instructions are well detailed, but seem to contradict information depending what branch of the government it was taken from: the shelter is to be made with wooden planks placed at 60 degrees against a solid wall, the windows should be painted white to prevent radiation after the attack, food should be stored with the intention to not leave the shelter for the days immediately following the attack. James takes to these steps, for surely the government knows what they are doing? He himself has lived through two World Wars already, after all, and everyone got through it alright. Hilda doesn't think much of the threat of war, and just wants to keep James from ruining the good cushions as he takes materials from around their house.Initially, the film can be mildly funny. It's entertaining in a mild-British-humor sort-of-way to watch James and Hilda talk as they would any other day, discussing the weather, the local grocery store, the newpaper, and what town might receive the direct blast. There is a very "keep-calm-and-carry-on" attitude to the situation, despite their being well-aware of the seriousness of the potential attack. Before the film is halfway through, the bomb hits, and at the last moment James is able to throw himself and Hilda into the shelter ("but I left the oven on! The cake will be burnt!" cries Hilda, while James swears for the first time to convince her into the shelter). When the dust settles, they peak out to see most of their home in shambles, wondering if the bomb had hit their area directly (it was many miles away). After staying put for a few days, they see the electricity and water had been shut off, and so use rain water (contaminated) and a portable stove-top to get by. Soon, food runs out, and while not understood fully by the couple, radiation sickness takes them, making them feel constantly sick, develop skin blisters, hair falling out, eyesight going faint. They remain confident that someone will come for them, and continue on and carry on, but no one comes. The film ends as they try to get some rest, still waiting for the country's rescue team or the newspaper to arrive and tell them what to do, presumably they die in their sleep in the final minutes of the movie.War movies, especially around the topic of World War II, are common in film, including animation, But there aren't too many films that directly address the fear surrounding the Cold War, and the threat of nucular bomb attacks (aside from the real attack in Japan during WWII). "When The Wind Blows' makes it clear: government instructions to get by are simply to instill confidence in the morale of the citizens, and are absolutely useless should a real attack strike. And in the case of nuclear attack, nothing CAN be done. Everything in the radius is doomed to die. Instead of simply being about a bomb, the story is really about the ill-placed trust that citizens, especially older generations, would have in the system, and their trust that they had seen it all before. It isn't a complex story, in fact this could have been a short film. But it is a powerful one, enhanced by the conversations and insight in the couple's view on current politics and hypothetical situations.
The visuals and animation deserve a lot of credit. Yes, it does look dated, but their animation style is still unique even today. At a time before 3D animation was readily available, the team composed the setting (mostly set within the single household) using live-action models and paper cutouts for and stop-motion for animation. The couple themselves are hand-drawn, interacting with the 3D space. It's a revolutionary attempt, and allows moving camera shots not seen before with 2D animation, as well as simply relaying what destruction might look like in a grim reality. To make the conversations more interesting, the film sometimes goes into dream-sequences to help explain the topic, typically in a pretty but abstract style compared to the rest of the film. The music score does much to give a slight sense of dread, despite the initially cheery attitude of the couple, and elevates more during some of the more visually arresting shots. David Bowie famously contributed the main song, alongside other background and credit songs by other notable musicians. The couple's conversations are a little mumbly, but feel real and approrpriate to their characters, helping sell the vision of these being our own parents or grandparents. The film's release was small, despite maintaining a cult status in the U.K. A DVD release existed in America, but more recently a Bluray by Twilight Time was released, limtied to only 3,000 copies (as of 2018, this 2014 Bluray can still be easily bought online). It includes a short booklet and a couple insightful making-of videos. More significantly, it contains a feature-length documentary on the director Jimmy Murakami: it has little to do with the film, but gives some background information to him being Japanese-American when internment camps were used in America during World War II, and how this led to him living in Ireland to pursue his career. Murakami would die shortly after the release of the documentary. "When The Wind Blows" is a sad, funny, and memorable film that will remain one of the most depressing I've watched. The avant-garde approach to the animation makes it one that inudstry hopefuls should still seek out.