Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Release Date: January 29, 1964
The movie, Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, is a very good representation of the theme, the glory and horror of war.
In the movie the United States Air Force General Jack Ripper goes insane and orders to have a squad of U.S. bombers drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. This is a scary thought for anyone. In real life before this movie was released in the 50s the United States government had actually given the authority to many of their generals to use nuclear arms if and whenever they needed to, without any approval. This brought us close to nuclear war on a few occasions. For example during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 there was an incident when a Soviet nuclear sub had lost control with Moscow and believed that a nuclear war had started. The captain of the sub needed the approval of the co-captain of the sub and the approval of the highest ranking communist party official on board the ship to launch their payload. The co-captain agreed to fire, but the communist party official wanted to wait and regain communications with Moscow before doing anything.
Another example of why this movie represents the theme is when the one U.S. bomber lost its communications system and dropped its bombs. The bomber mentioned in the movie went through opposing fire from a Soviet anti-aircraft gun that knocked out its communications systems. This is a real possibility if a nuclear attack were to occur. If a bomber carrying nuclear weapons were to lose communication and be called back, they could not get the message, so it would end up starting a nuclear war.
A third example from Dr. Strangelove is when General Ripper and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake are talking to each other about being prisoners of war. Mandrake was actually a prisoner of war for the Japanese during World War II and the thought of someone being imprisoned for their believes is not good.
In the movie the United States Air Force General Jack Ripper goes insane and orders to have a squad of U.S. bombers drop nuclear bombs on the Soviet Union. This is a scary thought for anyone. In real life before this movie was released in the 50s the United States government had actually given the authority to many of their generals to use nuclear arms if and whenever they needed to, without any approval. This brought us close to nuclear war on a few occasions. For example during the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 there was an incident when a Soviet nuclear sub had lost control with Moscow and believed that a nuclear war had started. The captain of the sub needed the approval of the co-captain of the sub and the approval of the highest ranking communist party official on board the ship to launch their payload. The co-captain agreed to fire, but the communist party official wanted to wait and regain communications with Moscow before doing anything.
Another example of why this movie represents the theme is when the one U.S. bomber lost its communications system and dropped its bombs. The bomber mentioned in the movie went through opposing fire from a Soviet anti-aircraft gun that knocked out its communications systems. This is a real possibility if a nuclear attack were to occur. If a bomber carrying nuclear weapons were to lose communication and be called back, they could not get the message, so it would end up starting a nuclear war.
A third example from Dr. Strangelove is when General Ripper and Group Captain Lionel Mandrake are talking to each other about being prisoners of war. Mandrake was actually a prisoner of war for the Japanese during World War II and the thought of someone being imprisoned for their believes is not good.
Photo from: http://www.soundonsight.org/dr-strangelove-lovecraft/