The animation is wonderful in this movie. I want to thank Dave for mentioning it in his blog.
I was moved by this movie. It brought back the Cold War that even as kids we thought about from time to time. I watched this movie Wednesday night and I have been thinking about it ever since.
It’s not a movie to cheer you up by any means. It’s about an elderly British couple named Jim and Hilda Bloggs who read that war was about to begin. This was made during the cold war and Jim comes home with government brochures on how to prepare for a nuclear attack. They both keep thinking of WW2 and neither were knowledgeable on the horrors of nuclear war.
You really get invested in this couple and as the story unfolds and it’s terribly realistic. Jim keeps reading the brochure and both are optimistic about it all without fully understanding it…Even after the worse happens they remain confident that all will be well…it’s worth a watch. When the Wind Blows was based on a 1982 graphic novel, by British artist Raymond Briggs, that shows a nuclear attack on Britain by the Soviet Union.
It looks like a stop-motion background but with cartoon characters for the bulk of the movie. A technical crew employed a striking combination of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation to bring to life Briggs’ characters, the numerous fantasy/dream sequences, and the soon-to-be nuclear-ravaged, picture-postcard surroundings of the Sussex countryside.
The music… David Bowie sings the theme “When The Wind Blows” and he was going to give more tracks but decided to back out to focus on his album. Roger Waters came in and finished it up. Squeeze also adds to the soundtrack.
A very thoughtfully written review, Max. Expertly written. I’m intrigued by this movie. I’ve never heard of it. I’m going to bookmark this and revisit it. Right now the subject matter might be too emotional for me to deal with. This COVID-19 thing has me running a bit.
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Thanks Pam…I totally understand. It will make you think. Bailey and I were stunned while watching it. We both sat around in silence afterward. It centered on the human element rather than the shock value.
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Thank you for posting this. It looks great. I am definitely going to have to see this now. Permission to repost once I have watched the full movie?
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Anytime you want to repost anything of mine feel free!
I’ve never seen animation like this before…at least that I can remember. The subject matter is not fun and games but it gets it’s point across. I hope you like it.
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Well, thank you so much. The same goes for you. I think that’s the best kind of animation or just storytelling in general. It looks awesome. I think I’m gonna like it.
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Thank you.
I have looked for a behind the scenes look at it…I want to know how they did it. They actually had two stop action figures made…here is the best thing I could find if you are interested:
https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/when-wind-blows-raymond-briggs-jimmy-murakami
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Thanks! I’ll check it out now.
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Speaking of which, I have downloaded. You can remove, now.
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Ok…It will really make you think
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I will watch it, tomorrow. I am too tired to think, now. LOL!
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Take your time! Not a sunshiny day one! When you do pay attention to the animation.
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if you don’t mind
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Rokie, dokie… 😀
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Ok Scooby
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😀
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Looks interesting in the way it’s animated. It may be awhile before I watch it, my state of mind can’t take much more apocalypse for the moment.
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I know…that is what Pam said. I totally understand it.
Bailey and I just sat in silence after it was finished. If anything its worse than now.
Bad timing bringing this one out. Thanks for reading Lisa I was interested in what you thought.
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Have you ever seen The Triplets of Belleville? It’s a fun animated movie, French.
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No I never have…is it new?
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No, it’s probably 10 years old maybe more. VERY good.
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I will look it up…thanks…subtitles right?
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I don’t recall how I came across that book (a graphic novel) in the 80s, but I remember having it & finding it grim but exceptionally rivoting. Really reminds us of how tense the times were back then … things are better today though not all that much.
Where did you come across the movie? It seemed like it was obscure even back then.
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The couple are so ordinary…what you would imagine an older British couple being at that time… You can tell they still think it’s the 40s….even knowing what happened I wasn’t prepared for the aftermath and animation.
A buddy of mine has all kinds of hard to find British things. It surprises me if he doesn’t have something…thats how much he has.
One email and I had it….last year I got the Beatles bootleg complete Budokan concert.
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