When the Wind Blows (1986)

I was like a lot of people. I saw ‘When the Wind Blows’ and I really didn’t know anything about it. I saw that one of the voices was provided by Peggy Ashcroft (‘A Passage to India’ is one of my favorite movies) and was drawn to it.

What struck me first was the drawing style. It looks like a children’s storybook. It is sort of fitting that this movie looks like a fairy tale because it’s story is anything but.

The movie takes place in the home of an elderly couple John and Hilda who know that WWIII is emminent but think that the government will have the same jolly, let’s-all-pitch-in spirit of WWII. The first half is the two of them preparing for war. They have pamphlets on how to set up a bomb shelter but are totally unprepared for the impact of nuclear weapons.

When the bomb hits, the second half deals with their slow realization that the government isn’t going to help and the harsher realization that they are slowly dying.

The movie is chilling because it looks so sweet. These two lovely people are so naïve, they have no idea what will or has happened to them.

The movie is patently for adults. Animated films for adults don’t do well and don’t get a wide distribution because of the false assumption that all animated films are for children. ‘When the Wind Blows’ is a disturbing film about a disturbing subject. It puts together two things that seem to be on opposite ends of the spectrum, and animated film and a dark social message.

Because these two themes mesh together so well, the movie leaves you breathless and in deep discussion afterwards.