THREADS

The inevitable scene where the bombs are dropped is unapologetically terrifying. When they first begin to explode, everything plays out as we expect – people looking up at mushroom clouds in awe, crowds running in all directions and individuals building up barricades in their homes. Ruth runs to find Jimmy, who is running home to her – then, all of a sudden, without warning, the tone changes and everything gets a little too real a little too fast. Glass bottles melt, buildings start to explode and people are lit on fire right in front of our eyes. The visuals become incredibly compelling and even though it can be hard to watch, viewers will find themselves unable to look away. Then, when the chaos is over and everything settles down, we are shown the city on fire as a charred hand reaches up from the rubble and dead bodies are engulfed in flames.  We see survivors suffering with scarred faces and damaged bodies as they react to the horrors that greet them in the aftermath.

Writer Barry Hines and Director Mick Jackson have successfully created a film that is an intentionally bleak and depressing experience. It has a point to get across and does so unapologetically and without filters. It introduces a rather dark view of the unfolding events with pretty much no hope ever eluded to. No heroes rise out of the smoke to save the day. There is no rebuilding. As the days, weeks and even years go by civilization begins to break down and life becomes unbearable as everything has been changed forever. When viewers are finished watching THREADS (actually, more like experiencing it), nobody will describe the film as something to be enjoyed. Its strength is in the fact that it doesn’t shy away from reality as it attempts to make the viewer as uncomfortable as possible. The imagery is real and never watered down. As a pregnant Ruth makes her way through the destruction, she passes a woman holding her dead baby to her breasts. The baby isn’t just dead though. It’s burnt to a crisp. Jackson’s need to reveal the subject matter’s truth forced him to create horrifying images that expose this truth. From the people suffering from Radiation poisoning and throwing up everything in their stomachs to the many burned-up dead bodies with rats crawling all over them that fill the streets, what we are being shown seems all too real. The scene where Ruth gives birth is both harrowing and emotional. Make no mistake, THREADS is a hard movie to sit through, but an important one too.

When it comes right down to it, a certain type of film is more important to experience in an honest, hard-to-believe what is being shown kind of way. When audiences reflect on their experiences watching films such as Oliver Stone’s PLATOON or Steven Spielberg’s SHINDLER’S LIST, they don’t remember having an enjoyable time at the movies. Films like these are hard to watch because of the terrible realities that the filmmakers are trying to explore. If you sugarcoat them, it makes the ideas being presented feel less important and less impactful. An audience doesn’t enjoy a film of this type as much as they respect what it has to say. Watching a movie like this is a psychological experience that can leave a viewer drained and emotionally spent. These movies are made to help us remember the travesties of the past so that we won’t be bound to repeat them or as with a film like THREADS, give us such an unforgettable viewing experience, one that is so terrifying as to wake us up to the terrible things that could await us in the future, so that we do our best to try and avoid them.