As a kid one of the things that would scare the snot out of my was the possibility of nuclear war. The only hope, it seemed, of avoiding all out annihilation at the hand of our communist enemies could be summed up in two things:

1. Sting’s prayer that the Russians love their children too.
2. The inane doctrine of Mutual Assured Destruction.

No, it was obvious to my adolescent mind that we were gonna get blowed up. Hopefully, we would have the opportunity to escape their clutches and reassemble in the mountains to make our all out assault on the Russian forces with the lone cry “Wolverines.”

In the midst of that scare came a movie that was so intense and so real that as a slightly skittish 15 year old I refused to watch. The Day After premiered on a Sunday night in November 1983. I was in 10th grade and the movie promised to be a realistic look at the aftermath of a nuclear attack on the United States.

Because it premiered on Sunday night I did not get home in time to watch it in its entirety. Nor did I want to. I remember the anxiety level in the media leading up to its premiere. There was a tremendous amount of controversy about showing something so provocative, something so close to our greatest fears. There would be hot-lines to call after the movie for those freaked out to call. The movie would run uninterrupted after the bombs hit to heighten the anxiety and fear. Vigils were held throughout the country. A debate, moderated by Ted Koppel between Carl Sagan and William F. Buckley aired afterwards. During that debate Sagan said that the arms race was “two sworn enemies standing waist-deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.”

100 million Americans watched that movie. I was not one of them.

I finally saw the movie this past Saturday night, almost 24 years later. The reality of that sort of event is now the subject of one of my favorite TV shows. So much of the plot and ideas conveyed seemed archaic. The acting was not professional in many cases, nor was it intended to be.

However, despite the passage of time the impact of the film is still compelling. We no longer fear an attack from those behind the Iron Curtain. But still so much of us are gripped by fear. We are more likely to meet our deaths in this nation through natural causes or accidents than we are through a bomb or a bullet. But it is that fear of the “other” that captures our attention, stirs our imagination and quickens the pulse.

24 years later I was seized by the hatred and baseness of man that could elevate the threat of annihilation as a distinct possibility. Man’s inhumanity to man is still one of our greatest sins.

At the conclusion of the film, the producers ran this closing statement:

The catastrophic events you have just witnessed are, in all likelihood, less severe than the destruction that would actually occur in the event of a full nuclear strike against the United States.

It is hoped that the images of this film will inspire the nations of this earth, their peoples and leaders, to find the means to avert the fateful day.

We still must hope that our leaders will find the means to avert war and destruction.

Do you remember seeing The Day After? What were your thoughts when it was shown? To refresh your memory here is the video of the attack: