Trychydts in English

Although I love movies, I have never been in a movie club before. Then I really became interested when I have read that one of my favorite museums is initiating one with the title Dystopias on the screen. We decided to attend it regularly.

The first show was on Wednesday. They played Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Stanley Kubrick. It was a brilliant black comedy; no wonder it is the 3rd on the American Film Institute’s list of America’s 100 Greatest Comedies. Not bad from a film on the total nuclear war. It begins with a general commanding arbitrary a wing of B52s armed with nuclear bombs to attack Soviet targets. He is the only one knowing the code required to call the planes back. He seals himself in his base, so the case seems really hopeless. The Soviet retaliation seems unavoidable. The president of the US and his generals have only one and a half hours to find some means to stop the planes.

This is one of those few movies I regard perfect. It shows an extremely accurate yet satiric picture of the Cold War. It becomes perfectly clear how dangerous it is to give too much power to military leaders. In the movie, they are either extremely zealous, opportunistic and/or absolutely incompetent. The only two exceptions are two civilians: the president of the US and his scientific consultant, Dr. Strangelove (both roles played by the same actor, Peter Sellers). The president tries to stick to humanity and reason all along. Unfortunately it turns out that his naivety makes him also responsible for the situation. Dr. Strangelove, a mad, crippled and former Nazi scientist does seem to be perfectly aware of the situation. He might have forseen the danger throughout. The problem is that he doesn’t seem to be worried about total nuclear war at all — as long as his personal survival is provided.

I just can’t stop thinking of this film since then.

The actors were great. Besides Peter Sellers (who even played a third major role excellently), I especially liked George C. Scott, who plays one of the generals. The plot line staged on one of the B52 bombers also had a really special, documentary feeling. Being so realistic, these parts also added a lot to the tension of the movie — you could easily imagine that it could happen real life.

Next time we will watch The Truman Show. I have already seen it once, but V. hasn’t. I hope she will like it — after all, it will also be a comedy, but with an absolute happy end.