Free Great Movies Review
The animated film When the Wind Blows (1986) follows around an elderly couple in their English countryside home as they try to sensibly deal with the build-up and aftermath of nuclear war. Actors John Mills and Peggy Ashcroft provide the British voices of these two elders who are determined to carry on in the face of nuclear winter. It's not as depressing or horrifying as it should be, thanks mostly to the calm demeanor of these two, who are trying live by government recommendations in the face of the total collapse of civilization. The couple's interactions are sweet and lightly comedic but not very funny considering their circumstances. They slowly wither away from radiation sickness. It might've been better as a short film, but it's still effective. The animation is well done as a combination of hand-drawn and miniature stop motion. And the theme song "When the Wind Blows" from the opening is by David Bowie.
Movie Description
When the Wind Blows is a 1986 British animated disaster film directed by Jimmy Murakami based on Raymond Briggs' comic book 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 accounts a rural English couple's attempt to survive a nearby nuclear attack and maintain a sense of normality in the subsequent fallout.
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, 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 soundtrack album features music by David Bowie (who performed the title song), Roger Waters, Genesis, Squeeze, Hugh Cornwell and Paul Hardcastle.
(Summary from Wikipedia)
Copyright Info: This movie is legally distributed through the YouTube channel Retrospective - Classic Movies. Check out more free classic movies available on the Retrospective - Classic Movies YouTube Channel.
