Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
When Stanley Kubrick made Dr. Strangelove, the United States was in a nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union, the Cuban Missile Crisis had almost resulted in a worldwide catastrophe, and the potential destruction of the human species was a very real possibility. Fifty years on, it’s quite terrifying to note just how topical Dr. Strangelove remains.
Dr. Strangelove follows a set of characters – many of them played by Peter Sellers – as they attempt to either stop, start, or cause a worldwide nuclear disaster. When rogue General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) launches an airborne attack on targets within the Soviet Union, the U.S. government – headed by President Muffley (Sellers) – attempts to recall the airplanes. This almost works, except that one slightly damaged craft manages to get through without receiving the recall.
The Russian ambassador soon reveals that there’s more here than just the danger of nuclear war: Russia has invented a Doomsday Machine that will cause worldwide nuclear fallout if the country is ever attacked. It’s meant to be the ultimate determent to nuclear attack, but it’s now likely to result in the destruction of the human race because it cannot be disabled. As the lone aircraft nears its destination, destruction seems inevitable.
Dr. Strangelove bears the distinction of being one of the funniest films about a nuclear apocalypse ever made, its very darkness bringing out the inherent ridiculousness of the situation. While it very closely satirizes the political and military climate of its day, it is still one of those films that resonates across the years. The players may have changed a little over the course of the past fifty years, but the fears – and the humor – of Dr. Strangelove remains distressingly topical.
