International Cinema Festival of India

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove – How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb still stands as one of the greatest war films of all time, not in spite of what it does differently, but because of it. In the pantheon of great war films, there are no others like Dr. Strangelove. It is because of the bizarre mix of terrifying truth and Marx Brothers like one liners that the film succeeds on so many levels.

The film is very funny because when you think about it, the very notion of war is absurd. Not to discredit the courage of those who have gone to defend their countries, the film focuses on the business of war, the administrative end, where politicians will send men to die for the sake of their own egos. In fact the notion of the bomb as phallic symbol is made literal with the iconic image of the film: Major Kong riding a nuclear bomb down to Earth while whirling a cowboy hat over his head.

The film is primarily a comedy, and it’s a real comedy. The jokes aren’t just meant to “make you think”, they’re really there to make you laugh, so while the movie definitely makes its point, it’s certainly not the sort of humor that’s “Not funny, but has something to say”. The humor is, in fact, incredibly funny.

When Kubrick dealt with similar subject matter in Full Metal Jacket, he managed to make a movie that was just as funny without it being so overt. There are no direct jokes in that film, but the movie stands as a comic masterpiece nevertheless. By the mid eighties it would seem that Stanley Kubrick had come to think that you don’t need jokes to make war seem absurd.

At the heart of the film would be Peter Sellers in multiple roles. These days, one star in multiple roles is usually a sign of a bad comedy, where the producers thought that a weak script could be saved with enough money to just hire one star and put him in a dozen different sizes of fat suit. Sellers was simply a master of creating characters and was allowed to create several for the film.

The centerpiece of these would have to be Doctor Strangelove himself. Strangelove is portrayed as a former Nazi, whose limp right hand will sometimes snap into a Nazi salute. It is through Strangelove that the link between nuclear armament and sexual dysfunction is made most clear and direct. When the bombs start to fall, his sexual thrill is made nearly tangible.

George C. Scott’s performance as General Buck Turgidson is another highlight. It’s odd to see such a wild performance from Scott, who is typically noted as a gruff master of understatement. Certainly, his trademark is to do with a grizzly whisper what most would do with a shout. Kubrick actually had to trick Scott into going so wild for this role by requesting over the top “practice” takes, and then using them in the actual movie. Slim Pickens as Major Kong was similarly fooled into giving a straight performance by being told that the film was a standard war film and not a comedy.

If you haven’t yet, you need to see this film before you die. It is essentially the only statement that ever needs to be made on the foolishness of nuclear war.

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