Cold Wind

By: Nadia Oxford
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2007

We all heard the lullaby when we were children: "When the wind blows, the cradle will rock…" Our mothers sang it to us before we fell asleep, or our fathers did, or else it was the dog if he got stuck babysitting again.

It's a soothing enough song until you dissect the lyrics: "When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall." Baby is safe until the wind blows. When that happens, all bets for survival are off. There's no doubt Raymond Briggs had the lullaby's soft but sinister double-meaning in mind when he wrote his classic graphic novel, When the Wind Blows.

A Different Kind of War

When the Wind Blows became an acclaimed animated film in 1986. It's another example of an animated movie that, like The Last Unicorn, can't really be defined as pure anime, but is a cultural hodgepodge with a definite Japanese influence. Its director is Jimmy T Murakami, a Japanese-American moviemaker who also adapted another beloved Briggs work, The Snowman.

The story follows the trials of a retired English couple, Jim and Hilda, who both survived the Blitz and are living in near-isolation in the countryside. As the Cold War escalates between the world's superpowers, rumors of pre-emptive nuclear strikes reach the newspapers and radio. Jim pours over some Civil Defence brochures he found in the library, but he's woefully unaware of what a nuclear war implicates. When Hilda asks him if they need to dig a bomb shelter like their families did during World War II, Jim cheerfully tells her modern science has eliminated the need for such old fashioned methods of protection; according to his Government brochures, they can shield themselves using a lean-to made of doors and thickened with books and pillows.

Although the art styles are radically different, When the Wind Blows brings to mind another animated classic about war: Grave of the Fireflies. Instead of focusing on naïve children, however, Murakami's movie centres around an older couple who are equally clueless about the gravity of their situation--maybe even moreso. Neither movie offers a pretty journey or a happy ending. Jim is clueless about what he's about to face, and he believes "tightening his belt" and following Government instructions down to the letter will carry him through a nuclear war like it carried England through the German attacks. When he calls his son to ask him a question about the construction of his "shelter," he's taken aback when the boy responds by laughing and singing "We'll all go together when we go." But Jim carries on, determined the Government will take care of him if he follows orders.

When the Bough Breaks

It's an eerie enough tale on paper, but Murakami's attention to detail and the haunting soundtrack especially helps to drive When the Wind Blows into your heart. The simplistic character designs follow Briggs' original vision very closely, but the backgrounds are packed with stories of their own. Before the bomb drops, Jim and Hilda live in a cheerful little country cottage overlooking green hills and sheep flocks. The winding country roads go on forever and the grass is soft, but the wind blows hard clouds across the sky and tell of something ominous.

The dropping of the bomb itself and the few minutes leading up to it are some of the most vivid scenes ever animated. The three-minute warning comes suddenly over the radio, and Hilda laconically decides she'd better "get the washing inside." Jim, who has not said a harsh word through the movie, swears at her and practically throws her into the shelter. While they're shouting at each other, the warning still drones over the radio: Do not look at the sky. Do not look out the windows. Take cover immediately.

The bombing is not punctuated by the stereotypical mushroom cloud associated with nuclear attacks. After the heat flash, black smoke rolls over the countryside from what was presumably London. The "blast" is almost silent, except for Hilda's echoing lamentations about her cake burning, and Roger Waters' quietly frantic score. In a flickering red monotone, cars pile up and burn, trains derail, livestock are tossed around like twigs. Trees fall, and houses are flattened like sandcastles before a wave.

The Very End

Unscathed by the initial blast, Jim and Hilda believe they've escaped the worst. Both admit they're a little confused about the nature of the war itself. Whereas their parents fought the tangible threat of Nazi warplanes and soldiers, all they know about this war is the bomb that's decimated their cottage and the countryside. Unsure of what to do next, they slowly begin to pick up the pieces and talk enthusiastically about how life should get underway soon. Soldiers will arrive, the newspaper and post will come through again ("After all, they kept it going through the Blitz to keep up morale," Jim says), and medics will tend to them. Hilda tells Jim she hopes they arrive soon; she's not feeling very well.

Jim's pamphlets don't clearly define what fallout is. Best he can tell, it's something they should "watch" for, like snow or rain. Believing the coast to be clear, the couple goes outside for some fresh air and the camera pans over the devastation. The sky is cold with black overcast. Dead sheep are crushed under pieces of concrete. Household fixtures litter the road, which has been melted. As Hilda and Jim talk in awe about the extent of the destruction, there's a brief shot of a dove fluttering feebly on the ground, foreshadowing what's to come for the couple.

The animation changes dramatically at this point as well. Photorealistic backgrounds, which were used sparingly in the first half of the movie, now punctuate the desperate landscape and the radiation sickness worming its way through Jim and Hilda while they stand, oblivious, and listen to a stricken dog howl somewhere far away.

The first half of When the Wind Blows is set like a row of dominoes. Jim and Hilda fall hard in the second half of the movie because of their harmless, clueless natures, but it's through no fault of their own. They made a genuine attempt to follow the issue literature, which was muddled and often contradicted itself. Too weak to move in their last moments, they still believe a rescue effort has been in action since the bomb dropped and will reach them in time to treat them for their "shock."

The immediate threat of nuclear war has diminished some since the end of the Cold War, but we still live in tense times. World leaders might not have their fingers on The Buttons anymore, but they surely eye them from time to time. If the worst ever does happen, what comes next is best summarised by the chorus of the title track: "I dread to think of when the wind blows."