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From: CossieKid
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  • Given everything we've seen so far -- which is probably a fairly accurate and realistic depiction of what the aftermath of a nuclear war would be like -- does it really seem possible that electricity would be available to run the television set and the videotape machine without a portable generator (assuming that such a thing would even still run after ten years)??

  • @BloodDaze I know, I was really expecting some freaky stuff, like in Dawn of the Dead. Meh.

  • 3:30 bitch be retarded. what the fuck is she doing? why not boil the grain, maybe with some rat thrown in, for a nice stew?

    you're not gonna make flour like that, that's for sure.

    in any case, in a survival situation, the only food preparation method should be boiling. that way, no nutrients are lost.

  • @Jay16King Ignorance is a way of life for you, then?

  • Agriculture in the aftermath of a nuclear war? Yes, medieval farming techniques may very well save your arse..assuming farming is at all possible.

  • 4:38 - Putting three rats into a Gateway bag that says "Good Food" Reminds me of the current Co-op adverts slogan "Good with food" I suppose the makers were trying to put a bit of humour into a bleak film.

  • @Steve10578 Like many of us I watched this film in my youth at school and it scared the hell out of us but the one bit that brought a chuckle in the classroom is that scene you mention

  • I'm watching this as a nice cheerful change from Eastenders.

  • some 2500 years ago in Samaria when there was this huge famine family's kill there babies and eat them

  • I couldn't listen to my infant crying and not do something to try to comfort him / her regardless of whether I had any food to give or not. Even more so if that child was my last and only surviving link with someone I loved very deeply.

  • why not just kill and eat the baby?

  • @adropofcolor wouldn't last very long, would it?

  • survivors tips #41

    eat your babies

  • 0:47 dogs like 'yum, dinnertime'

  • I think no one would survive in nuclear holocaust. Why? Because all water will be contaminated. Food doesn't matter if there is no drinkable water.

  • @155qwerty155 I don't think ALL the water would be lethally contaminated the really severe fallout would be limited to the actual bombsites and the areas immediately downwind of them. Besides there would be plenty of survivors in places like South America, Africa and India.

  • @Aletheophile Only until nuclear winter sets in and pretty much all of the plant life dies off.  Oh, and until the dust from firestorms causes tropospheric heating, which in turn depletes the ozone layer, letting through way more UV than anything on the planet could ordinarily handle...

    Yeah... if there's ever a nuclear exchange, we're all hosed, even South America. And India? These days? If the warheads start flying, Pakistan and India will happily join in (assuming they didn't start it).

  • @TheIppus A nuclear war is not likely to be started by long time foes who, understand the long term consequences, i.e. the Russians, and Americans. It is far more likely to be started by those who acquire nukes recently and have no diplomacy in place for dealing with the new reality.

  • 5:48 Strange to think it'd be about 1992 at that point..

  • 0:44 that dog hears baby crying and is like: 'what the fuck...?' xD

  • Quickest labour evar.

    Although this is a truly horrifying film, I admit, but so worth watching.

  • @alirocker08

    LOL!

    I'm guessing she went through a fairly normal-length labour but had to keep working in the fields right up until the birth was imminent. Don't forget -- you don't work, you don't eat.

  • It's a bit ridiculous to think she'd have no reaction to her mother dying at all (unless she is quite literally a sociopath).

    She is a human primate after all. That doesn't go away just because it's a crappy situation.

    Nuclear war is particularly destructive, but these wouldn't be the first humans to face terrible situations, including war, death, disease, and famine.

    Might there be more looting, murders, and such? Yes.

    But you'd still see a smile made and tear shed. It's in our genes.

  • @ChristophDollis I have read a lot of stories from WWII were people who are faced with a lot of misery and death soon only cares about their own well beeing.

    After beeing exposed to death on a grand scale you sort of become imune to the feelings which otherwise would have seen normal in a normal time.

    Remember I saw this film sometime back in the 80's. It is a chiling reminder.

  • @Brasidas69

    For brief periods of times. And to individuals.

    Do you think nearly everyone went 4-6 years without smiling?

  • @ChristophDollis She'd more than likely suffered brain damage from fallout while still in the womb.

    Perhaps she just didn't understand Ruth's death.

  • @ChristophDollis Not necessarily; babies who aren't nurtured and cuddled grow up to be almost detached...not sociopaths, but unable to feel the bond between mother and child. Remember when Jane was an infant, crying at the fireside, and Ruth made no effort to comfort her. My guess is that because of the emotional trauma caused by the attacks, Ruth either could not or would not be able to bond with her child in that deep and primal way.

  • @KarenEngelhardt

    Very true! I also wonder if malnourishment in Jane's early years might not have also played a part. In the scene at the fireside, where the baby was screaming... I wondered if she were hungry and Ruth, who would herself have been fairly malnourished by then, might have had no milk -- probably not for the first or last time, either.

  • OMG Words and Pictures... I grew up on that show (born in 1982).

  • cutting the cord with teeth @ 1:13.. that's the way Neanderthals probably did.. When it came to sapience, they first used stone blades, and later iron blades.. appears that we would look much like Neanderthals if a nuke war happens.. 

  • @bkthambugala

    What ARE you talking about?

  • just thought i have no idea how to make bread, something bout grinding the wheat and baking it

  • Ruth looks like how I sometimes feel when getting up for work in the morning...

  • look at the dogs face when the baby was born kinda cute

  • Her daughter (played by Victoria O'Keefe who died in an automobile collision in 1990 at the age of 21, google her, she has a page) and other children born after the attack speak in one to two word phrases. Is this the result of the mental retardation caused by genetic damage by radiation and starvation alluded to near the end of the last segment?

  • @JackRussellTerrier2

    That, and the breakdown of society. School is inadequite or non-existent, and the parents would'nt have the skill, patience, will or time to teach their children to speak.

  • Finally remuneration for military service in the UK looks lucrative. "Three rounds rapid fire into the chap with shopping bags and search the bodies for food!"

  • the BBC's excellent dead on the water n Now for first time ever uss Lierty survivors tell their story the Gathering storm avenge the Liberty also MacNamara admited is on u tube the Guld of TonKin wa a false flag opperation for the excuse to attack North vietnam N vietnamese torpedo boats Never attack the us navy they just sunk their boats n accused them of attackng them so yes the Yanks will start WW3 n i hate he thought of Britain paying for us crimes

  • another excellent documentary from Britain the only thing in reverse is the yanks attacking Iran in the first place am not sure if they'll wait till they'll surround Russia first with nuclear missiles or go ahead now anyway LBJ send jets to nuke Cairo while the attack on the USS Liberty was ongoing expecting isreal to sink the liberty kill all survivors as intented for him to blame egypt attack n take over the mid east

  • And here's me, thinking I'd have to deal with Super Mutants and Deathclaws.

  • @PoisonInc No, just dead bodies EVERYWHERE.

  • lol

  • On the subject of the Queen's English: by now, there ain't no Queen no more. Or King, P.M., etc. Only the Law of the Jungle: "Survival of the Fittest."

  • In other words: the stronger and more resourceful you are, the more likely you are to survive.

  • 07:00 Ruth has seen better days

  • What's the name of this movie?

  • Threads, directed by Mick Jackson.

  • Shit , I'd rather die when the first bomb went off.

  • @godstomper So would I!

  • 08:19 Where did they get the electricity to operate the TV and VCR?

  • Reply to PaulDougouba:

    Probably a generator and a can of spare fuel lying around; stored in the basement, maybe.

  • @PaulDougouba Dynamo + rechargable batteries, for example.

  • Three rats for an HJ. Seems fair enough.

  • @GammyGoose atleast if you would save a book by Shakesphear and Euclid elements of geometry, you could carry a new civilization. but with some lumber jacks shouting for food, nothing is possible

  • @GammyGoose A BJ would have been a better idea due to the protein.

  • threads

  • 8:35 mole rat meat

  • They cooked that on this year's I'm Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.

  • huh, i remembered that the baby died. what a nice surprise.

  • oh, it was ruth's baby that was stillborn. nm.

  • this film is fucked up

  • Not nearly close to the real thing.

  • If you want to open a can without an opener, grind the top off by placing it flat-side down on concrete and making circular motions. It will wear the ridge down and eventually open the lid (yes, you'll spill some, but better than nothing).

  • a knife works wonders. i had to open cans with knives a lot when i lived on my own.

  • Well, Napoleon said that you can "use a bayonet for anything except to sit on it."

  • The BBC thanks you for allowing us to come into your living rooms scaring the shit out of you now stay tuned for coronation street.

  • @Doppelganger399

    That's on ITV.

    To be honest, this would be a good warm-up for East Enders which is so depressing, it makes this look like a comedy.

  • So did they roast and eat the baby?

  • I am sure all those kids know damn well what a skeleton looks like considering the circumstances...

  • Yeah there would be plenty of them about.

  • man this movie was kinda funny in a strange way........I would so have a hummer and a machine gun......

  • Your very sick if you think this is in anyway funny. I suggest see a counsellor for it or cut down on the video games.

  • Theres no other way to take this these people would not have lasted 4 minutes that close to the blast let alone months there is no way to take this seriously.

  • Maby you can just buy a Hummer & a machine gun in the nuclear war provisions isle at Walmart but here in the UK all we'll have to get by on after the war is a knife on a stick & our superior linguistic skills.

  • @kingsman565 LoL actually I have a cousin who works at the Walmart distribution ctr in Northern California, if they sold Hummers and Machine guns, I would have barrowed his employee card so I could get his 10% discount! :-P seriously however, last time I was in a walmart all you could buy would be some basic hunting shotguns and small caliber rifles. most of the ammo was out as well. I was looking for some 5.56x45 rounds for my rifle but they had a run on the stuff...

  • @Defconfx Relly they sell gun's in Walmart? O.O Interresting, Good luck anyway when the bomb's fall mate. If it ever happen's I'm stealing a boat then it's off to green land. :)

  • @kingsman565 Yeah at some Walmarts they do sell guns, though only sporting arms like small calber rifles and hunting shotguns. Depending on the state, is what determines if you can take it home that day however. Here in Califrornia you still have to wait the 10 days for all the paperwork to clear. In a total breakdown of order, it would be a good idea to have anything even if it was just a .22 rifle or hunting shotgun, since you can use it to hunt food and provide some basic security, >>

  • also one can use a basic rifle or shotgun or even pistol to get a better military grade weapon later. though in such a scenario in this movie you could probably raid damaged arms depots for arms, but you would have the best idea, which is to simply use any means possible to get away from the blast zones. Thankfully this was the ultimate worse case scenario in this movie, which is highly unlikely in 2010.

  • what is equally as frightning, and more likely today however, is a rogue nation becoming a nucular power and passing it to a terror group for use against a population centre....

  • @Defconfx I'd say that was far more frightening.

  • @kingsman565 haha

  • @kingsman565 ha ha

  • Rats! Yummy! :)

  • oh my fucking god she chewed the umbilical cord off! hahaha

  • Dude, you do what you have to do in a survival situation.

  • still funny though lol

  • No, the thing is that the situation would be a lot better in Russia, because of the huge landmass the population distribution has large pockets outside the radiation range of targeted areas. Even a very large nuclear weapon has kill radius no more than 10 miles, while the country spreads to 12 time-zones. Its all probability distribution, and the US worked relentlessly on a political end of the USSR, because they knew the odds, vastly in favor of the USSR in terms of population survival.

  • What about nuclear winter? Russia is a manly land locked country and temperatures would plummet as they would also do in the USA. Where as the UK would see temperature drops not so extreme because it is an island surrounded by the sea.

  • No that is the shape of the standard 44 pattern helmet. They were replaced by kevlar ones in the mid eighties, about this time.

  • You'd think that they belligerents would have wanted to launch a follow up attack after the initial onslaught to wipe out any survivors. After all, they might as well use up all their nuclear stockpiles. No point in wasting any warheads.

  • your assuming any of them would survive the counter attack to strike again

  • In reality there would be a follow up strike from all those nuclear subs on both sides. Apparently, if couldn't reach their military or political master in a month, they have order to fire their missiles.

    Don't forget the Soviet's put the small pox virus into many of those warheads. So I would say that would finish the job.

  • Who in the hell gave me -1? Its the truth the Russian subs and probably the US subs as well, would launch a second strike a month later, if they didn't hear from their commanders.

    The Smallpox thing is not fragment of my imagination its what Soviet's did during the 1980s to ensure in there warped view, total victory if such a conflict had occured between the super powers.

  • @garyturner96 are you kidding me? there would be no way to communicate with the subs because the capitals would be leveled and EMP would detry comm equipment. and i doubt the presidents would even order it.

  • The soldier at 3:20 has what looks like the same helmet as those at Crécy during the 100 years war... probably an intended reference..

  • Love the Nativity scene...

  • I just love how she chews through the umbilical cord....tasty!!! I wonder if she ate the placenta?

  • у вас там все такие ёб.тые на голову?

  • I was just about to say that!

  • Michael Jackson proably did just that after his baby was born.

  • Entrepreneur selling rats. A vibrant economy!

  • Actually, the idea in that scene is apparently - and I didn't get this even though I've seen this film a gazillion times - that he gives rats to Ruth in exchange for sex with her.

  • She named her daughter Mickie (as in Mickey Mouse).

  • seems like a fair enough trade...:)

  • i wonder how this would effect the sales of wham cds

  • Why is that? Sorry, afraid I was on another planet during the 80s...

  • the nuclear fall out could have affected wham sales because of radiation on their building

  • Idiot

  • Work it out. It's set in 1988.

  • 1984

  • You're right, my friend :(

  • The dog was barking at Ruth when she was giving birth, ''Hey, you! Don't even think about stealing food! Get out of here or else!'' But when the baby is born, the dog stops barking, as if he realized she was in labor. ''Oh wait, she was giving birth? Oh well. I'll let her be with her baby. Birth is a miracle after all.'' Sorry about this, but that part showed me that some animals can still be compassionate, even after a nuclear war. (Just my opinion.)

  • The dog instinctively realises Ruth's not a threat after all, so gets confused.

  • A dog doesn't know about compassion, that is a uniquely human trait, its only instinct is for survival. The nose of the birth simply sacred the dog because it was high pitch sound, seeing that dogs are aquately sensetive to high frequences of sound than humans are.

  • What I'd like to know is what's going on in the rest of the world?

    If this scenario is predicated on a US-USSR / NATO-Warsaw Pact nuclear war touched off through hostilities in the Middle East in the mid-1980s, wouldn't there be areas of the world still untouched by any direct nuclear attacks?

    And wouldn't some of these areas be comprised of semi-significant countries able to continue? I.e., South Africa, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, China, India, etc?

    Maybe they'd send aid..(yeah, right)

  • No, the whole human population of the world would be affected in a similar manner.

  • I agree that radiation poisoning, post-attach ultraviolet dangers, environmental damage would be severe worldwide - in that sense, the whole human population would indeed be similarly affected.

    That said, I have to wonder if countries that have not been directly attacked/bombed, and therefore still have intact national infrastructures - hospitals/healthcare systems, transportation/'roads, factories, universities/schools, farms, etc would be better positioned to survive and recover.

  • Well i'm afraid there are not many countries that would have avoided being bombed. The nuclear attacks would have been extensive and world wide, as the Soviet Union or the US had military bases in any countries of real significance. Those that would have been lucky enough to avoid direct nuclear attack would still have to deal with the problems you listed above, and many of these would be incredibly poor and underdeveloped countries anyway, with agriculture playing a huge role in daily survival.

  • But that brings me back to the country list I raised earlier: What about places that neither had a US / Soviet military presence, nor were incredibly poor and underdeveloped...and say, were somewhat geographically off the mainstream: Again, like Brazil, Argentina and Chile...New Zealand...and South Africa?

  • Well, most of these countries were and still are developing and therefore they would have been even more vulnerable to the catastrophic effects of nuclear fallout and the nuclear winter. There would be no food or aid from the grain producing regions. The environmental effects would be global, making indigenous food production near impossible.

  • Good points - You're probably right. One thing is for sure: Having grown up in the late 70s and 80s, I can clearly remember being TERRIFIED of an all-out nuclear war.

    Reading about some of the moments when we came very close during this time period - notably, Operation Able Archer in '84 - only intensifies how convinced I am that we avoided the bleak scenarios portrayed by this film by a hair's length.

    The post-911 world may not be perfect, but it beats hell out of the Cold War.

  • Well, what would be going on in other parts of the globe would be very similar to what this drama was portraying. Many of these countries that you said would not be directly hit by nukes, would be effected by the radioactive full out and of course the nuclear winter that would last for years. There populations would collapse and freeze and starve too death in the cold and darkness of such a winter.

  • Nuclear winter is overrated but there could be a "nuclear autumn." I think the countries not hit, especially in the South Hemisphere will go on in a general sense, most of them tend to be "kleptocracies" and will still be that way. Still you could have ambitious nations such as Australia, South Africa (especially in the 1980's world), Brazil, Argentina would branch out to see what is there, go out and salvage and establish colonies in North America and Europe.

  • 4:31 He gave her the biggest rat. Even after nuclear war romance does not die.

  • one of the bleakest films i've ever seen

    when the shit hits the fan like that i'd neck some whiskey, run the fuck outside and sceam, "Come and get me motherfuckeeer"

  • Bring out your dead *ding* bring out your dead

  • Yup that Ruth - she's a real '3 ratter' alright.

  • Bloody stupid man. The overwhelming human masses running away from the catastrophe will destroy the rest of human race, if a nuclear attack will reach Asia. How can't you see that?

  • How can't you see that you are a mental retard? Huh??

  • wow,people exist that are this stupid.

  • lol I think they know what a skeleton looks like by now.

  • lol

  • You could ski at night year round from all the glowing snow! lol

  • isnt there survivors from hiroshima??

  • Yes but...I'm sure some of them would have rather not survived. I met a few of them years ago. They were still suffering.

  • What happened to Ruth's boyfriend?

  • Jimmy died at some point during the nuclear exchange, whilst trying to get to Ruth's house.

  • Jimmy was the lucky one.

  • So Ruth would be the lucky one and not Jimmy I don't think so?

  • Jim was vaporized when the bombs dropped, at least thats what i think they hinted at

  • I think that's him in the last episode...

  • Am I the only one thinking of "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" in these scenes?

  • I have a bit more faith that they would get some vehicles up and running by then -even with spare parts an stuff.

  • Try and tell me that the guy with the rats does not look exactly like Prince Charles.

  • 1:48... not that much worse than Christmas is when spent with my relatives.

  • Japan seems clear of radiation these days but scientits keep saying radiation takes thousands of years to go away.

  • How long would it take for all traces of radiation to leave the soil, air and water? I know it would be a long time but how long?

  • If I remember correctly from science class years ago. I think it's at least 100,000 years. I could be wrong

  • was this a promotional tourist video for modern day Coventry?☺

  • she should hav eaten the imbilical cord, then the dog, lol

  • Baby jesus in the stable..

  • I love the surprised look on the German Shepherd's face as soon as the baby starts crying.

  • 4:33 i do that for a living

  • It's nuclear terror. We are good at inventing the worst ways for us to die.

  • The baby's umbilical cord. She had to bite it off because there was nothing to cut it with.

  • Rats for tea!.....

  • I've never understood what's going on with Ruth and the dude with the rats. Can anyone enlighten me?

  • It looks like Ruth agrees to sell her body for a few rats.

  • Yep, undoubtedly

  • That dog is kept by whoever owns the house to ward off looters. As for Jane Beckett, she addresses Ruth, her mother, by her forename alone for the emotional bond that previously existed between parent and child has been destroyed by the nuclear attack. Like Mersault, the cold, emotionless narrator of Albert Camus' novel "The Outsider" when his mother dies, Jane shows no emotion when her mother dies, either.

  • Good point. I felt that Jane was relatively unaffected by her mother's death as she's grown up in a post apocalyptic wasteland - death and despair are all she's ever known so this is nothing new.

  • It must have been a hellacious life for Ruth.

  • Thank you, weelin83. I returned the favour by giving yours a good comment rating, too.

  • So what happens with the other countries? Did everyone get nuked?

  • Well, regardless of who got nuked, you'd have to expect the entire world would be pretty negatively affected by 3,000 megatons getting thrown around. I mean, that's half-a-ton of TNT for every man, woman and child on the planet!

  • Why did she go off to give birth alone? And that December 25 thing, very naff

  • Wow...Ruth's body is worth 3 rats...wow...that is a depressed economy...

  • Well, that was in the 80s, nowadays with a Harvey Nicks just up the road in Leeds and Buxton Opera House booming, it has to bee at least 6-7 rats and a couple of cockroaches....

  • So, what's going through Ruthie's mind at this point? Does she 'love' the baby? Or does some instinctual drive kick in? I might be able to carry on myself, but to care for a baby...I think that would be beyond me..unless there was something instinctual about it. Or as bleak as it is, would the baby give you something to live for apart from yourself?

  • You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. (No pun intended). QED

  • Hey, uh who won the war?

  • no one probably there will never be a winner in nuclear war. Only big losers.

  • no one wins a nuclear war. everybody loses.

  • most people will die in the first impacts, the others will in the days after.

    I think nobody will survive to that intense radiation, not only by burning, but by food contamination, all over the world.

    only a miracle could re-initiate the life.

  • Wow. looks like the dogs would like a taste! OO

  • I can't believe that