When the Wind Blows (Nuclear War)

(Full Lenth Version) When the Wind Blows depicts a nuclear attack on the UK by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, Jim and Hilda Bloggs. The Bloggs live in rural Sussex and are confused regarding the nature and seriousness of their situation. This confusion is sometimes used to generate gentle comedy as well as darker elements. As the film progresses, things become steadily more hopeless as the couple suffer from the effects of radiation sickness. The film ends on an extremely bleak note, with them praying in their fallout shelter as death approaches.

At the very end of the closing credits, a morse code can be heard, spelling "MAD".

Home media releasesThe film was released on VHS in the United Kingdom by CBS/Fox Video after its theatrical run, and later on laserdisc. After a short theatrical run in the United States in one theatre and grossing $5,274 at the box office in 1988, it was released on VHS by IVE and on laserdisc by Image Entertainment. It was released on DVD in 2005 by Channel 4, with 0 region coding: the official UK DVD is still PAL format. The film was recently re-released on DVD in September 2010, again by Channel 4, and is available on Amazon.com, it is formatted in NTSC and All region coding.

Track listingAll tracks written by Waters and performed by Waters and The Bleeding Heart Band except where noted. On some versions of the album the Roger Waters tracks are all put into one 24:26 minute song. The lyrics to the closing song, "Folded Flags", feature a reference to the song "Hey Joe" in the lines "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that gun in your hand?" and "Hey Joe, where you goin' with that dogma in your head?"[5]

1."When the Wind Blows" (Bowie, Erdal Kizilcay) -- 3:35
Performed by David Bowie
2."Facts And Figures" (Edgar Sampson) -- 4:19
Performed by Hugh Cornwell
3."The Brazilian" (Tony Banks, Phil Collins, Mike Rutherford) -- 4:51
Performed by Genesis
4."What Have They Done?" (Chris Difford, Glenn Tilbrook) -- 3:39
Performed by Squeeze
5."The Shuffle" (Hardcastle) -- 4:16
Performed by Paul Hardcastle
6."The Russian Missile" -- 0:10
7."Towers of Faith" -- 7:00
8."Hilda's Dream" -- 1:36
9."The American Bomber" -- 0:07
10."The Anderson Shelter" -- 1:13
11."The British Submarine" -- 0:14
12."The Attack" -- 2:53
13."The Fall Out" -- 2:04
14."Hilda's Hair" -- 4:20
15."Folded Flags" -- 4:51
PersonnelThe Bleeding Heart BandRoger Waters -- bass guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals on "Towers of Faith" and "Folded Flags"
Jay Stapley -- guitar
Snowy White -- guitar
John Gordon -- bass guitar
Matt Irving -- keyboards, organ
Nick Glennie-Smith -- piano, organ
John Linwood -- Linn programming
Freddie Krc -- drums, percussion
Mel Collins -- saxophone
Clare Torry -- backing vocals on "Towers of Faith"
Paul Carrack -- keyboards and vocals on "Folded Flags"

Category:

Education

Tags:

• When
• The
• Wind
• Blows

[chockychocky]

There was a truly fearsome radio version of this story broadcast in the 80's, made even worse if such a thing could be possible by the voice being provided by Peter Sallis, alias Wallis in Wallis & Gromit: he sounded so innocent and it was just tragic beyond words. I have the original book by Raymond Briggs and it still makes me weep to read it. I lived in the shadow of the cold war and this film is everything I remember: utterly terrifying. I hope those days are for ever gone.

[IncrediblyStupidName]

29:05 COME BACK YOU STUPID BITCH AND GET IN THE SHELTER!!! laughed my ass off XD

[Batben01]

@IncrediblyStupidName 29:44 and then you'll have nightmares for the rest of the week.

[birdy20034ever]

i rember watching this at school

[HappyandAtheist]

i remember seeing this as a child. terrifying

[AnxiousAngusPostRock]

Stumbled across this while watching some shitty filth that the internet is so fond of nowadays. This film is magical, fucking beautiful. What happened to film and music over the last decade? seriously

[Korisoup]

Wow, horribly depressing but worth watching anyhow. The animation is fantastic and superior to most animated films today. I don't think I could watch it again though, those last twenty minutes were pretty hard to watch.

[AmethystAnarchyAngel]

:(

[bloocuttlefish]

I read the book when I was a kid and I thought it was the saddest and most terrifying thing I've ever read. Raymond Briggs is an absolute genius.

[SaltPeople]

Every time I try to watch videos or educate myself on nuclear power I feel paranoid, nauseous, scared, depressed, ect. I watched a one hour video even knowing in the end they would die, and to add to the suspense they make it creepy. WTF 1986!?

[GaaraBabyEater]

@OreadNYC

You have to realize that back then, nobody really knew what would happened if somebody was exposed to radiation. The government actually went as far as teaching children in schools to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack. Later on, we all found out that radiation is more powerful than that. I know that there is a video somewhere with this. There was a turtle that would tell everybody to "Duck and cover" and had a catchy little tune.

[ZLi0n]

@OreadNYC im sure that was the point.