The Day After :: essays research papers

The Day After The Day After, was viewed in the living room of my house on two occasions. The purpose of viewing this movie is to write a movie critique from my AP U.S. History 3rd block class. The objective of this overall story is to portray the event and effects that would occur if there were to be a nuclear war. The director of The Day After, is Nicholas Myer and the producer is Robert A. Papazian. The three main characters in this film include Dr. Russell Oakes played by Jason Robards, Stephen Klien played by Steve Guttenburg, and Jim Dahlberg played by John Cullum. The political background of this movie includes escalating events of the Cold War, which led to a nuclear holocaust. The Soviet Union was in a competition with the United States over economic and political systems. As tensions between rose among the United States and the Soviet Union, President Eisenhower used Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) as spies to get information from the Soviet Union. The plot of The Day After, is that a nuclear bomb warning is given to a town near Kansas City, Eisenhower Doctrine. The residents of the town become very frantic and buy supplies to last them through this tough time. The military personnel believe that the country is just taking a precaution and that nothing with really happen. But one afternoon the residents were given a 30-minute warning before they would see soviet warheads flying above them. The soviets dropped weapons of mass destruction (WMD’s) on the United States and instantly many people died. Within a couple of day people all over the city and nation suffered from severe injury, breathing complications, and skin conditions due to the mass amounts of radiation in the air. Throughout the movie, the radio and television updated the citizens about what was going on overseas at the time. This includes historical events such as the Warsaw Pact of 1955-a military alliance of the Soviet Union and its satellite nations. The radio also mentioned the isolation of West Berlin from East Germany, which took place in 1948. The NATO pact alliance was a defensive military alliance of the United States, Canada, and ten European nations. The historical events were interpreted from a general perspective. There was a change in attitude in The Day After, because the military personnel at first were not convinced of the seriousness of the Soviets and their ability to launch nuclear missiles among the United States.