Threads Is A Terrifying Movie About Nuclear War Where Everything Is Bad And Nothing Good Happens

Don’t know what got me to watch Threads, but once I did it was terrifying. It provides a plausible scenario in which a nuclear would would happen. A Western-backed coup overthrows the Iranian government, causing the Soviets to invade the country in response. Things gradually escalate resulting in some tactical nuclear exchange all while people are trying to live their daily lives. At 8 AM when the Americans are fast asleep, the Soviets decided to nuke the shit out of the UK and EU. First with an EMP strike to cripple communications and power then debilitating strikes to wipe out the entire British economy.

This terrible nuclear exchange pales in comparison to life after the blast which makes you wish that you were taken out by the initial blast. You deal with meager food rations, less if you can’t work because as less people means more food. Said food is hard to grow due to the subsequent nuclear winter which pollutes the water and limits light for photosynthesis. Healthcare is overwhelmed and worthless as there’s no equipment and sanitation is impossible, not to mention numerous disease outbreaks and complicated pregnancies. You’re basically forced to work (where you can’t see shit due to the excess UV causing cataracts) for scraps and you can’t loot abandoned homes lest you get shot, since summary executions are now ok. Then again, I wonder how the state retains a monopoly on violence that they can keep the ammunition they need to maintain order.

As for the young people, they’re fucked. They can only communicate with highly limited vocabulary and the only education they get is a TV show telling them what animals skeletons used to be.

There’s so much cruel calculus involved in this post apocalyptic hellscape. For instance, what can you do about the millions of rotting corpses? There isn’t enough fuel to cremate them, nor enough fuel to get an excavator to dig a mass grave and it’s not worth spending strained labour on moving them some place so they’re left to decompose.

It’s just terrible all around and that’s just in Sheffield, England where this movie is based. Throughout the film, the local government supposedly has more powers, but they struggle to use them, especially as they get trapped after the initial blasts. Throughout the film you get a grim narration, ratting off statistics as if there aren’t people behind those numbers. In all, it’s a really scary movie where the scariest part is just how fast things get out of control just as people live their ordinary lives. I really hope that we don’t face such a threat again.

It’s well worth a watch and I also want to see the american analog The Day After.