Film Review: Threads (1984)

When it was first shown Threads presented a harrowing depiction of the after effects of nuclear war, even supposedly frightening our glacial PM at the time, Margaret Thatcher. Originally broadcast in two parts on the BBC, the film became a major talking point across Britain. Whilst it didn't command the Hollywood budget of its US counterpart, The Day After, it certainly presented a far bleaker and perhaps more realistic view of the aftermath of a nuclear strike.

Set in Sheffield during the mid-1980s, the film focuses in on two families, brought together by the relationship of Ruth Beckett and Jimmy Kemp who are expecting their first child. We get glimpses of the state of world affairs through television and radio broadcasts in the background as people pay little attention and go about their daily business. For added effect, the film makes reference to the chilling Protect and Survive information videos made by the government in the late 70s and early 80s, only to be broadcast if nuclear war ever looked 'imminent'. These alone send shivers down my spine, eerie, chillingly morbid and scarier than any horror movie. I remember first seeing one in the Imperial War Museum in London. I never liked it.

The build-up to nuclear war is vague, but largely unimportant. We are told that the Soviets have marched into Iran after a supposed US coup, to which the US issues an ultimatum for their withdrawal. The Soviets refuse and a limited nuclear exchange evolves into a full blown war. Sheffield, an important centre of industry at the time with neighbouring military assets is a prime target, and is consequently bombed.

This isn't a story of geopolitics, it is a story of those who survive the horrors of a nuclear war, one in which it might have been better to die in the initial blast. What ensues in the aftermath is a picture of complete destitution and repugnance where public order and modern conveniences such as clean water, food, electricity and the ability to produce them are non-existent. Ruth survives, left to traverse the barren, sunless and radioactive wasteland left in the wake of atomic war. Whilst Ruth remains the most distinguishable character, the film is more of a fly-on-the-wall experience trying to give a sense of a post-apocalyptic future. Indeed, it's not a drama being filmed here, but a fully-fledged disaster.

Such was the desire to capture the sense of utter annihilation, even Carl Sagan was consulted on the film for authenticity. It is a disturbing and cold film which makes no apologies for its gruesome portrayal. The vile imagery of a poisoned world is particularly poignant, daring to attempt an answer to the question everyone was afraid to ask back then; 'what if?'.