With the help of government-issued pamphlets, an elderly British couple build a shelter and prepare for an impending nuclear attack, unaware that times and the nature of war have changed from their romantic memories of World War II.
Cuando sopla el viento, Når vinden blæser, Minne tuuli kuljettaa, Tryggare kan ingen vara, Rüzgar Estiginde, Quan bufa el vent, Quand souffle le vent, Cuando el viento sopla, Wenn der Wind weht, Quando soffia il vento, Quando o Vento Sopra, כשהרוח נושבת, Όταν φυσάει ο άνεμος, Amikor fúj a szél, Когда дует ветер, A gdy zawieje wiatr, 바람이 불 때, 当风吹起的时候, Kai pučia vėjas, 風が吹くとき
UKPG
Germany6
Netherlands6
Italy
JapanG
IrelandPG
Spain
USA
PortugalM/12
France
Netherlands
France
Germany
Ireland
Italy
Japan
Netherlands
Portugal
Spain
UK
USA
It's a flipping miracle the entire British population didn't off themselves after watching this, fucking hell.
It's rare that I finish watching a film and have no desire to write about it or talk about it, but I'm honestly not sure what I'd say about this one that you couldn't get from simply watching it. It left me empty. It's a beautifully animated, heavily frustrating experience focused on two very cute characters that make you want to clench your fists and punch a wall due to their utterly baffling obliviousness, naiveté, whatever you want to call it. And this is, of course, the intention of the director: to create a film that shows just how futile any preparation for a nuclear attack and fallout really is, that there's nothing one can do once the blast occurs. It's a hopeless, painful and endlessly terrifying film, but it does come highly recommended from me, so long as you're looking for a hollowing film rather than an uplifting one.
If there’s anything more British than having Yorkshire tea with your wife listening David Bowie sing about the end of the world while slowly dying from nuclear fallout I don’t want to know.
if i had to describe watching this film i'd say it's the most anxious and upsetting dramatic irony that you could possibly witness
A cute kitchen sink-ish film until it's not and becomes a poignant, existentialist disaster film that still finds its way to hatch onto the very last second. Another thing I loved and arguably its biggest standout feature is hands-down its distinctive animation, or should I say animations, as while most of it is hand-drawn in 2D, the movie plays with 3D, stop motion, and even live action in a very interesting way that still manages to never feel fully out of place but drive the message home. Waters score never drives attention to itself and does a very good job setting up this very melancholic tone that gets darker and darker as the movie progresses, yet it sustains in sometimes…
The combination of stop-motion and drawn animation was a surprise, but it was effective. It gives a three-dimensional feel to a two-dimensional medium in a striking manner, and in the aftermath of the central event of the film, conveys a stillness and emptiness that is essential to convey the deep horrors of nuclear war. It also reflects the juxtaposition of the cheeriness and obliviousness of the Bloggses with the stark, awful reality they live in. It makes watching them suffer all the more painful, and when the film ends, it comes as a relief.
The lessons of the Cold War seem to have been ignored. A war so devastating no one could possibly survive it has no preparation nor protection,…
I can only imagine that this and Grave of the Fireflies would make for an incredibly bleak, depressing double feature - yet much like Isao Takahata's film, what makes Murakami's film work as well as it does can be boiled down to how there is a feeling of hope that comes forth within the unfortunate circumstances, even if you know the outcome.
Nevertheless, from watching When the Wind Blows, the animation would be one thing that already catches your eye, but it only becomes even more heart-wrenching from there. We're watching an ordinary couple in love trying to retain a sense of normalcy when all hope seems to be lost, for Murakami only depicts their naive nature in the most loving manner - only as intense sadness starts to cloud the world outside of their home afterwards.
This isn't an easy film to watch, but it's absolutely rewarding in all the best ways.
You know this is going to be a dark and sad film just from the title and the fact that it's '80s animation (truly the most despairing era of that form - "Grave of the Fireflies", "The Plague Dogs", the fraught nature of everything Don Bluth did, even the Disney output had bleak undertones until the Renaissance kicked in at decade's end), but it starts off very unassumingly, about an elderly British couple puttering around their estate in a rural area during the times of the Soviet-Afghan War while listening to radio broadcasts explaining precautionary steps to take in the event of an impending nuclear attack. And it never changes tempo - the entire film is them making small talk…
