Nicholas Meyer
The Day After

THE REVIEW

1983. Full Cold War.

In Lawrence, Kansas, life goes on quietly, as always. A rural town, mostly made up of farms. A mother is hanging laundry with her two children; a girl is flirting with her fiancé ahead of their wedding set for a few days later. In a hospital, dedicated doctors are working hard to save a child's life and to induce labor in a pregnant woman.

Meanwhile, the news broadcasts unsettling reports: in Europe, East Germany closes the borders with West Germany. The Soviet Union threatens the West, NATO troops are amassing along the Iron Curtain's borders. International tension is at its peak, but no one expects the worst: "you would have to be crazy," everyone says. But human folly goes beyond all expectations. The button is pressed, nuclear weapons are unleashed. It's World War III. Kansas City is completely destroyed, Lawrence is wiped off the face of the earth. The few survivors suffer the horrific effects of radiation. Nicholas Meyer, director of what has become a cult film of the genre, describes the post-war apocalyptic scene that human imagination has always dreaded during forty years of the Cold War. The accuracy of details and the post-nuclear atmospheres full of anguish and desolation masterfully portray what the world would be like 'the day after' a nuclear conflict.

An unmissable film for both fans of the disaster genre and for anyone who wants to open their mind and not forget that although the Cold War is over, the nuclear threat remains due to the presence of atomic weapons in the arsenals of many countries, many of which are decidedly 'dangerous' such as the USA, Iran, North Korea, and Israel.