Still frightening after all these years (poor DVD features though)

gvf

I first saw the movie around 1987 when it was first shown on German TV (while at movie theaters across Germany, the movie had a "12" rating and I was only 10 at the time). And I remember that even then, in 1987, it sparked up quite a discussion the following day at school. I grew up in the Hanover area, which is some 60 miles west of the former East German border and cities like Helmstedt and Wolfsburg (in the movie, they play a vital role in the prelude to the main standoff between the U.S. and Russia). This made the whole scenario especially chilling for us.

"The Day After" is the definitive anti-war movie of the early 1980s. For the first time, the nuclear holocaust was not portrayed as some military think-tank scheme with a focus on rank-and-file leaders and the goings-on at the Oval Office. This film is about people like you and me and their everyday struggle in a world that all of a sudden offers nothing more to live for. Civilization is almost brought back to the stone age, there is death and destruction everywhere, and those who were spared by the nuclear fire are fading away as their health visibly deteriorates **spoiler alert** (perhaps the most disturbing scene is where a church community is gathered for service in a pretty much no longer existing church building and the pastor holds his sermon thanking the lord).

This is truly not a feel-good film to enjoy with a six pack while you are having your buddies over. It is a chilling account of what it could have been like had there really been a full-scale nuclear war between the two superpowers. But even today, with the Cold War long gone, this movie touches you and will send shivers down your spine not only during the scenes where the bombs go off. It does so because the different elements (plot, narration, acting and screenplay) go so well together.

The special effects in the scenes where the nuclear strike takes place, well, that's a different story. Naturally, they are 1983-style, when CGI was little more than three random letters of the alphabet. But this does not take away the film's credibility at all.

I bought the DVD because to me this film is a must-have for any collection of all-time movie classics. Sadly, I bought a shortened version that you can find in stores in Germany (and maybe in the U.S. as well or whatever your whereabouts). It only has 115 minutes (the original one is 126 minutes) with several not-so-unimportant scenes cut out. Not that I would really care for more on that, but the nuclear blast scenes have been edited as well. And then there's the virtually non-existent extra footage that you have really come to expect even for classic movies (am I right?). The DVD only features a few text files, mainly giving you the biographies/filmographies of the main actors.

Sound and image on the DVD are alright considering that we're talking about a 21-year-old made-for-TV film here. It comes with a 4:3 TV-format picture and with mono sound. The picture sometimes lacks contrast and sharpness. It all does have kind of a high-end VHS feel to it. Let us kindly overlook this fact.

So, all in all, the movie is a timeless classic that has not lost any of its authenticity over the past 21 years - if you want to buy/rent the DVD, however, make sure you get the original 126-minute version!

8.0/10

score /10

gvf 19 August 2004

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw0200492/