Computer Age

The day after (1983)

Director: Nicholas Meyer
Cast: Jason Robards, JoBeth Williams, Steve Guttenberg, John Cullumm, John Lithgow

There are many aspects of the 80 of worthwhile reflected in the books of history, and contrary to what many people think, not all are specifically good. A while ago, I commented that the 80, far from the years of wine and roses that many fans want to sell us free, were very difficult years and full of uncertainties. Particularly during the first half of the decade, which was the rare day that was not a breakfast, ate, slept and cenaba among other things without wondering whether the next day not amanecería with a huge mushroom shaped on the horizon.

And that is the doom of the total thermonuclear war will not lack reasons to go to tremble when, in 1980, Ronald Reagan came to the presidency of about U.S. calling, more than ever, someone who will return after the lost pride infamous defeat in the Vietnam War. Not surprisingly, one player from the second row converted into political ultraconservative, anti sickly moreover, had publicly called several times during his time senator from California, the use of atomic bombs on that country to "remove once and for Always communism in Southeast Asia. " With similar backgrounds nothing good could be expected in the future, but rather the reverse. And the events will soon be responsible to prove when, soon after, the Americans decided to boost its arms race seeding Western Europe of nuclear missiles (the then notorious "Euromisiles"). In the respondents' ruskie "how could it be otherwise, planting rockets in" his "half of the continent. The Cold War, during which the 70 had experienced some moments of tension, is now revived with a rawness unknown for years, putting fear into the body to the entire world.

As often happens, even in the darkest times there is always someone with enough arrests, strong character and intelligence to make a good business, and it goes without saying that the film was one of the sectors that benefited most from that situation. With the film already in sharp decline disasters, some enlightened producers saw that the next seam to explode in a nuclear psychosis, and started to appear like mushrooms (never better) productions of varying shapes and sizes to big screen and TV. Even the usually sensible edit a BBC documentary that illustrated survival techniques before a nuclear attack (by way of "instruction manual"), which latched onto the TV screen the whole England.

When we think about this subject, most of us, and a boat soon, we will come to mind films like War Games, the saga of Mad Max (particularly the latter two) or is an pelín gimmicky, When the wind blows . All of them, regardless of their subject more or less common, are notable examples of good cinema. But if there is a film that represents as none of the horror that such nuclear psychoses situation is undoubtedly The day after, which in 2008 met 25 years since its premiere on the ABC television network.

Because actually, we are talking about a television that was released outside USA in commercial cinemas, with the effects almost as devastating as those of the nuclear explosion that portrays. Effects of course also occurred at the home of Coca Cola, where the day after even listed as the most-watched TV movie in the history of that country, with a peak audience of 60%. The intelligent film's producers were able to see how anyone the opportunity of that wave of "panic nuclear," orchestrating a pre-premiere publicity campaign that included a phone line to deal with possible cases of nervous breakdown. The stunned spectators could attend, in the first row and with a level of detail never seen until then, the horror of nuclear war that many thought inevitable as things were, and the discussion following the broadcast of the tape, with the brilliant and missed Carl Sagan describing in great detail the Nuclear Winter, ended by "fix" that night, to the point that Ronald Reagan himself had to issue a communique later for serene, if possible, the mood of the people .

The day after nothing more than a film of more disasters, virtually modeled many of which were made in the first 80 and 70 (just changing the boat, airplane or skyscraper by the atomic bomb). Of course, the most notable is the sequence in which drops the bomb. Taking into account the available time and budget of the movie special effects are good, even shocking, but not serve to capture in all its starkness the real effects and consequences of an explosion of that caliber on a densely populated area (actually would be much worse). Yet it was enough to affect a greater or lesser extent to all those who had the audacity to see it. I still remember a night in which, strolling with my parents, we face a couple of friends just to attend the screening of the film at a cinema in the city. Leaving it completely pale and she was shaking like a custard, literally, while wise to mumble comments such as "horrible", "frightening" or "nightmare", and not just because the tape they had similar bad. I waited for the video to see the movie and then, with 13 or 14 years, and despite knowing of the dangers of nuclear weapons after ojeado much on the subject in books and magazines, I was so shocked that I dared not to see her again until the whole time, in order writing this article, the library got in my neighborhood, taking advantage of way (I will not deny it) to confront one of my private hell. Even so, and despite the years that I envisage, I could not avoid "distract" in some of the toughest moments. I still get the hair-raising to remember the sequence of the explosion, and that despite the existence of movies like Terminator 2, which threw budget for a sequence similar (although much shorter, of course) and ultra absolutely shocking in big screen.

Two and a half decades since the premiere of The Day After, and hardly anyone remembers the tremendous mark he left on a frightened citizenry, with news from home on the TV and everything. But leaving aside the opportunism and why not say so, the character of those who devised it, this platform has its positive things even in the future, as a warning not to forget a danger that, while apparently "minimized", is still present The political situation has changed a lot and nuclear weapons are no longer front page news in the media, but nuclear proliferation, far from diminishing, has increased. And what is worse: the disorder has increased over a part of such weapons, with unpredictable consequences. As Carl Sagan said, as long as there is in the world one atom bomb, the danger posed by these bombs will never disappear.