Upsetting. Horrifying. Chilling.
I imagine this was what it was like to sit down and watch The Day After on ABC back in 1983 when it debuted. That movie showed the true horror of what a thermonuclear war would like during the Cold War.
A House of Dynamite shows what a nightmare scenario might look like in the 2020s.
A nuclear missile inbound. It’s target only 20 minutes away. Its origins unknown as the satellite network that is supposed to detect intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) launches at their origins malfunctioned. Or was it a cyberattack?
It is a doomsday scenario made for our time as nuclear proliferation has returned, only this time with rogue actors like North Korea alongside more traditional nuclear-armed foes like Russia and China.
I found myself on both the edge of my seat throughout this film. It’s portrayal of the real people caught in the midst of a global crisis with just seconds to make decisions about whether billions of people live or die is vivid and chilling.
It’s quite easy to see yourself in these very human characters with flaws, foibles, and everything to live for. Fiancés. Spouses. Young children. Children on the way.
Their actions and reactions to the nightmare unfolding around them while Americans across the country are unaware of the speeding missile destined for American city in 20 minutes. Then 15. 10. 5. 2. 30 seconds.
The film brings to mind The Day After for me, but also two books that I’ve read and re-read in recent years.
The Day After showed Americans what the realities of nuclear war would like during and after thousands of nuclear strikes all over the world. President Ronald Reagan, a determined supporter of continued nuclear build-up against the Soviet Union watched the film before it aired and was great moved. He wrote in his diary in October 1983:
Columbus Day. In the morning at Camp D., I ran the tape of the movie ABC is running on the air on Nov. 20. It’s called “The Day After.” It has Lawrence, Kansas wiped out in a nuclear war with Russia. It is powerfully done—all $7 mil. worth.
It’s very effective & left me greatly depressed. So far they haven’t sold any of the 25 spot ads scheduled & I can see why. Whether it will be of help to the “anti-nukes” or not, I can’t say.
My own reaction was one of our having to do all we can to have a deterrent & to see there is never a nuclear war.
Historians, and Reagan himself, pointed to the film as playing an important role in changing the administration’s policies from those supporting growth of the nuclear arsenal to efforts to end nuclear proliferation and make treaties with the Soviets to stop the production of further nuclear weapons and deescalate tensions.
The Day After had a massive impact on Americans’ view of nuclear war. I wish the same will be said of A House of Dynamite, but that’s unlikely in the age of streaming. The film had only a limited run in theatres (it didn’t appear at all here in Frederick, MD), and is now streaming on Netflix. The Day After by comparison aired in primetime on ABC with an audience estimated at more than 100 million Americans.
The two books that the film brought to mind are Raven Rock: The Story of the U.S. Government’s Secret Plan to Save Itself – While the Rest of Us Die by Garrett Graff and Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen.
The first is an excellent history of the US government’s continuity of government (COG) planning as it evolved from the aftermath of World War II to the 2010s. In A House of Dynamite, you’ll hear many people referring to “COG” actions or plans – these are the efforts to ensure that at least some part of the government survives nuclear conflict and how to start the rebuilding process.
Graff’s storytelling and incredible research shows how the systems we have in place today in the event of a nuclear strike came into being and the network of bunkers and facilities meant to protect leaders and communications during a nuclear war. The book’s namesake, “Raven Rock,” is a COG facility inside a mountain on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border and features prominently in the film. I also pass this facility regularly while traveling to see family.
Slight spoilers ahead – travel with caution!
Jacobsen’s Nuclear War: A Scenario runs a scenario very similar to the one viewers experience in A House of Dynamite, only she takes us through the scenario to its hellish endgame – all out nuclear conflict.
If you are left with any questions about any events in the film, Jacobsen’s book will answer it in frightening detail. I’ll never forget her descriptions of the aftermath of a nuclear strike on an American city – what would happen in the seconds after the blast and the carnage it would wreak. It’s not for the faint of heart – it remains one of the most disturbing pieces of non-fiction I’ve ever read.
All of this to say: Americans should watch A House of Dynamite and demand that we make reforms to a system that is almost explicitly designed to end the world. As nuclear conflict has retreated from the American consciousness since the end of the Cold War – I grew up entirely in a post-Cold War America – this film is a stark reminder that thousands of nuclear weapons – intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarine based missiles, nuclear-armed bombers – all remain poised over humanity like the Sword of Damocles.
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We just watched it yesterday. So very powerful.