Watched Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

There are some movies that you watch in one sitting. Is “Dr. Strangelove” one of those? Oh…

As a connoisseur of black humor, I couldn’t miss the film, which was mentioned quite often in one place or another. And although the cinema of that time is not my favorite, there are certain films that are simply impossible not to watch. This one was one of them.

In general, the story is not very different from our present. The command is given from above to launch nuclear weapons at the Soviet Union. As it turns out, such a command was given by Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, using a program that was intended as a last resort in case the high command (the president) is neutralized. At the same time, after the operation begins, the president learns about Ripper’s plan and tries to stop it. But this raises certain difficulties, since the code that can be used to cancel everything is known only to Jack himself, who has cut off all communication. So… will it be possible to save the world from an inevitable catastrophe?

Watching such films, which are more than half a century old, you try to somehow analyze what you see in it and try it on today. Remembering the beginning of a full-scale war, threats of the use of nuclear weapons, etc….perhaps right now, more than ever, you can perceive this film in the plane of “what if”, sometimes smiling, sometimes wiping away a sad tear. Why sad?

In the film, I saw a Pete Hegseth (on the right, respectively):

and somehow it is…despite the artistic quality of the film, here the Soviet Union is shown in the same vein in which we can now observe its country-consequence – a liar, wanting to destroy the whole world. And as then, so now, people try to “come to terms” with it, not understanding that this will not lead to anything good.

The black satire of the film, again, is very reminiscent of the present, where many things you can’t take seriously, because your mind and heart won’t be able to survive it. Therefore, despite the seriousness of the topic, the film is more like a humorous sketch than about something historical or important. It shows how people, going towards their goal, do not think about the number of victims to which their decision will lead. And therefore it is both a difficult (looking at the world in 2026) and a comical film, which will be perceived differently by everyone. But I would recommend it for viewing. Interesting. 8 out of 10 earned honestly 🙂