Hilda's utter despair when her hair began to fall out is horrifyingly sad.

When Jim yells “Come back you stupid bitch and get in the shelter!” that’s meant to shock you in purpose. It also serves as a tone shift for the movie, changing from this calm and casual day for Jim and Hilda, to something that will shock you and possibly have you covering your mouth, which is what I did when Jim said those 10 words.

That moment when Hilda says "should we have used the cellar, dear?" just made my jaw drop and I nearly pulled my own hair out, mentally screaming "noooooo you poor, silly couple!"

"The cake will be burnt", is such a realistic disassociation that people engage in. Worrying about something small instead of the actual traumatic event you're dealing with. Like once one of my pet rats I was very close to had died, and I buried him, and that night it rained, and I started crying because I was thinking "he's out there cold and alone in the rain, my poor baby." He was dead.. he couldn't feel anything, but it was easier for my brain to obsess over the cold and rain and not the fact that he was completely gone forever, something that I was still having trouble processing.

One scene worth mentioning is when Jim and Hilda smell what they think is roasted meat and Hilda assumes that it's coming from people having dinner in their homes...while the camera pans over what vaguely resemble the skeletal remains of a dog and a person, before transitioning to the wreckage of a small city, where the camera stops on a melted teddy bear.

One thing that just stuck with me was how they had a cellar. Its horrifying to know they could've had a chance to survive.

The paper bags is one of the best foreshadowings I’ve seen. It’s something subtle, something you wouldn’t notice at first, but realize later on. This movie really captures the real situation, and does it so good.

I think the distorted comic panels after the blast are meant to resemble a photo of a woman who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, where the pattern of her kimono was burned into her skin. Horrifying stuff. I don't know if the comic did this but in the film Jim actually brings this exact example up whilst he's preparing for the war

I think there's definitely a point where Jim realizes that they're a lot worse off than he lets on. The fact that they bring up the ID's again after getting in the potato sacks is pretty clear proof to me that they know they're dying, and have understood the true purpose of the bags.

Its horrifying because the couples personalities have traits that most peoples grandparents have. They also dress the same as a lot of our grandparents. Its hard to watch this and not think of your grandparents in this scenario, clueless, patriotic, and happy despite the most sinister thing imaginable happening to them. I won't forget this for a while.

The part that most gets me is when Jim asks Hilda if she's wearing lipstick and she says she is when we know she had just been puking up blood. This is a great video but the film is even darker than comes across here.

I feel as if the husband forgetting and messing up with the shelter, and the water... Might simply be human error. I'm not even in my 30's, but I've messed up and forgotten things my entire life. The sudden realization of rainwater, afterall your water supplies are destroyed and contaminated, makes perfect sense and like salvation, in the moment. You get happy at *any* bit of hope; You forget, don't realize, or simply don't know that hope is actually the nails in your coffin

It's amazing how a bunch of old men that I didn't vote for could ruin and destroy everything and everyone I know and love by signing a piece of paper.

Him not remembering what the bag was for and them coming back to them at the end is one of the most powerful pieces of media ive ever seen.

It kills me knowing that these people could've survived if they had just thought on their own accord instead of listening to the manual. They had everything they needed, food, water, shelter, they could've lived, and likely would've.

This film left me completely devastated when I watched it years ago, "The cake will be burnt!" still sticks to me years later.

Looking at the image of Jim singing “smile” while slowly dying is so haunting and strangely beautiful with how hopeful he is, it’s enough to make me wanna cry. I think the bags becoming realistic is very interesting. I see it as not just reality setting in, but also the idea that they are becoming apart of the background, as if just another miscellaneous object destroyed in the blast.

The music starting to pick up when Ducks realised her hair is falling out really hurts because it seems to be the point of where they both realise "oh.. we're not surviving are we" But at the same time both of them try to stay positive for each other as If to not scare the other partner which is both sweet and depressimg as fuck

He very clearly knows the reality of their situation, and he demonstrates this knowledge over and over. But the most damning evidence of this is when he panics while trying to get her to go into their "shelter", saying "Come back you stupid b**** and get in the shelter!". This clearly demonstrates that he had an understanding of the gravity of the situation (in the movie, at least).

i remember studying this in school. The thing i always took from it was the love story. The way that, when the world ends, they just want to be together. The way he sees his wife as beautiful even as she falls apart always made me cry.

I think Hilda knew at the end of the movie that they were dying and for all the comforting Jim did for Hilda, it was Hilda that comforted him as she guided him into the bags and to their deaths with a prayer

“The cake will be burnt!” Also feels like a metaphor for the story taking a darker approach up to this point.

There’s an Iron Maiden song “When the Wild Wind Blows” closely based on this, but the bomb doesn’t go off, an earthquake happens but the couple assume it was the bomb and take poison. Fun fact- their song the Trooper is actually about the charge of the light brigade mentioned at the end of this video

this movie deeply traumatized me as a little kid. remember watching this on tv in 1990/91, and cuz it was a "cartoon" it must be funny and interesting. i clearly remember that i was terrible afraid of tab water and didnt drank it for some time out of fear getting radiation sickness and losing hair/dying

I was born smack in the middle of the Cold War, and my parents, for some awful reason, got me this book when I was like 11. Scared the ever living stuffing out of me and set up a persistent fear of nuclear war that took me years to cope with. Funny enough when I realized that we were within the flash radius of a military base, the idea of instant painless death made it a lot easier to cope. The ending of this book, while well written with a lovely soft art style, is literally nightmare fuel.

This has to be the most stereotypically British film imaginable, in the best possible way. The combination of the sort of naïvely optimistic, dutiful patriotism of the main characters and the extremely bleak, nihilistic scenario they're placed in gives it this cynical yet touching aura that I've only ever seen in British media.

I stopped the video a few minutes in to seek out the movie. I felt such dread when they started happily collecting rain water and drinking it. All those pamphlets did was tell them how to build a shelter, but it didn't educate them on anything after. They could have collected food and water sooner, they could have hidden in the cellar, they could have prepared better.... but they weren't properly taught, and they had to watch each other waste away. And the way they so casually went outside of their shelter.... made me wonder if they were already suffering side-effects and couldn't think properly.

I'm constantly reminded of the Hitchhikers Guide. "Should we lie down, or put bags on our heads?" "If you like." "Will it help?" "Probably not."

I don't think Jim worked it out from the start, but the film does imply that he realises it about 10 mins before the finale. (When he's giving Hilda a hug he says 'It's just the side effects of the Bomb...' and there's a dramatic musical sting while his face seems to show recognition, especially since he knows she can't see it.) Which seems about right for his character.

When the wind blows is technically a sequel to the graphic novel Gentleman Jim. It stars the same couple but younger. Jim is a toilet cleaner dissatisfied with his position in life, so he dreams up a more exciting life. All his attempts at chasing his passions end up backfiring, and he learns to be happy with what he has. This story certainly recontextualizes that ending.

I feel the couple in this story is a representation of the "keep calm and carry on" mentality of ww2 generation Britons. The charming, hopeful British spirit that lasted them through the blitz failed to stand against the terrifying devastation of the nuclear bomb.

Honestly, I've finished seeing the Fallout TV show, based on the game series, and made me think that the apocalypse after a nuclear war is "cool" but then it's stuff like this that makes me remember the horror of reality.

So I did say a bit of this on the original but I'll say a bit more here. In the end credits, 'M.A.D' is spelled out with Morse code. They directly talk about it earlier on, but this I see as confirmation that the worst case scenario did occur. And as noted by Water Wave, this place is far out from London. We can assume that London was the direct target. So this wasn't an attempt to destroy military bases or strike stockpiles of weaponry. This was to eliminate as many people as possible. So no doubt the UK immediately returned fire, as would any allies...everything is gone. No TV. No radio. In the end there's just this little Morse code message, like there's at least one poor soul out there trying to warn anyone else who's still listening what's happened. 'M.A.D'. Over and over. Basically saying "everything is gone. Everything has been destroyed. The worst has come".

The “grainy white spots” that float around near the end of the movie could be a nod to when they’re wondering about what fallout looks like when they first step outside after the bomb had gone off. They’re speculating and the husband says something to the tune of “I reckon it would look like snow”. My guess is the white specks on the screen and to show they’re both fully aware at that point that they’ve been exposed to the fallout

"We will all go together when we go" is a Tom Lehrer song from the early '60s; great choice to highlight the generational difference between father and son.

You mention at the end of the movie/book that the elderly man quotes The Charge of the Light Brigade, but it's worth noting around the @8:18 mark that he says, "ours is not to reason why..." That line is quoted from the poem. "Ours is not to reason why, Ours is but to do and die."

On the subject of their son, I'd actually wager that their denial plays a part here. They know, they have a gut feeling, that everything is so much worse than they're deluding themselves. By not mentioning their son, it means neither one of them has to face the very likely situation that he is now dead.

Im so glad to see a portrayal of a couple in stressful situations where they aren’t fighting. It feels like all we’re ever shown is that even the most perfect relationships fail in the face of sufficient hardship but that’s not true. These two have such a wholesome and beautiful relationship which makes their endurance both inspiring and heartbreaking. And to think that a simple blue pigment could have saved their lives.

30:42 That was the line that made my chest feel tight. Knowing what I do about radiation sickness from documentaries (what little I DO know to be honest) that was the most horrifying sentence. They are sunbathing. But they're using the seating embrace of a vile death to do so. It's the gentle optimism of an elderly adoring duo, the sudden desperation when he calls her a bitch, because his denial broke for a moment and he absolutely KNEW if she wasn't with him behind that wall she'd have been obliterated. The docile way he speaks to soothe every scary thing for her. Sunbathing on a radioactive fallout. One of the most horrifying things I can imagine.

The funniest part about all this is how in the comic, after the explosion, man just says "BLIMEY"

This is probably one of the most disturbing movies I've ever seen. Something like "A Serbian film" just isn't disturbing to me, because it's just so over the top and trying way too hard to be shocking, but stuff like this is based in reality, it's something that has happened before and can happen again, and that's terrifying.

38:58 made me start tearing up. I honestly think that at this point in the movie they both knew what was going on, they both knew they were dying, but they didn't want to upset the other one. They each wanted the other to go peacefully in their sleep. smiling until the very end. So they still weakly joke and laugh as they climb into their own bodybags, with the kind of lighthearted tone of a loving couple. It even sounded like something I would've heard my own grandpa say.

I always wondered what happens after that. Was the whole world destroyed? Were there any survivors at all? Were James and Hilda’s bodies ever found? Was anyone in their family even alive to mourn them?

Saw this movie last winter. Chilling. The lack of control we have over the future of this world is a terrifying thing.

I literally just watched this today. There is actually a line in it where they comment on there being a smell of burning and roast dinners, and you realise they’re smelling people burning

This reminds me alot of "Grave of The Fireflies", tho that one hits me harder bc children are involved. You're just watching these lovable characters wither away under forces beyond their control but very much man-made. Unlike a natural disaster, their fate was completely preventable and that fact just fills you with frustration and bitterness. it definitely gets their messages across

'He'll be alright, our son is a very safe driver' Ma'am, i think your 'careful driver' is dea-

I think the husbands shoddy fallout shelter and idea to drink the rain water was maybe a way to speed up their deaths because he knew that no food and water was more suffering than dying faster due to radiation.

We can say that Raymond Briggs made a story for *both* kinds of winters.

There's something so unknowingly terrifying to me about that picture of James in the thumbnail. It's like I can hear the dying, desperate tone in his voice, while having to look at that...I don't know what it is, but it fills me with dread

This is a genuine movie that made me think and cry all throughout the movie, it is so sad but sweet at the same time. It makes me think that the little things really do matter in life, to cherish what you have.

I’m a fellow American, I thank you very much, Water Wave for uploading this masterpiece of a analysis, you have made me start collecting Raymond Briggs’s work. I mostly try to get the Hamish Hamilton hardcovers cause I love that UK feel. I collect the more obscure ones too he’s made like The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman. For an example on how many I’ve collected here’s them all… When the Wind Blows- Hamish Hamilton 1982 Hardcover Gentleman Jim- Hamish Hamilton 1980 Hardcover. The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman- Little Brown 1982 Hardcover (American) Ethel & Ernest- Johnathan Cape 1999 Hardcover Fungus the Bogeyman: PLOP UP BOOK- Hamish Hamilton 1982 Hardcover The Bear- Random House 1994 Hardcover (American) The Adventures of Bert- 2001 Farrar, Straus and Giroux Hardcover ( American ) Unlucky Wally: Twenty Years On! 1989 Hamish Hamilton Hardcover The Man- 1992 Random House Hardcover (American) The Complete Father Christmas- FC 1973 FCGOH 1975 complete 1978 Hamish Hamilton Hardcover Fee Fi Fo Fum- 1966 Coward Mc-Cann Hardcover UG: Boy Genius of The Stone Age- 2001 Alfred A. Knopf Hardcover (American) Cor! And that’s all of my books by Raymond, I own. Quite a lot of UK ones, I’m collecting more, soon! THANK YOU FOR THIS VIDEO!

I always thought the son acted like that to his parents because the son knew that nuclear war meant death, no survival. So he thought there was no point in worrying about getting things together

It's so weird this was hit with copyright because I swear there's videos that use more footage and there's the whole damn movie on here

This really is a horrifying story.. even then, my artistic brain can't help but appreciate all the details that were added that help give it more dimension. And your interpretation of it is really great too. Great deep dive, I'm glad I stumbled across this video today, thank you for the hard work.

THE PROTECT AND SURVIVE THING REMINDS ME OF THE ANALOG HORROR THING THAT SAYS: “If you see a person that looks identical to you, run away and hide.”

I HAVE seen this movie, actually...as a child, no less! I'm an 80s kid, and in a pre-Simpsons, pre-Akira world, the people responsible for tv programming in Western countries still thought that a movie or show being animated automatically meant that it was kids' stuff. They put this on during the afternoon, when they'd usually show kid-friendly cartoons. I don't remember if this was before or after the Chernobyl disaster, but it was sorta around that time. Needless to say, it seriously f*cked me up.

I'm convinced a lot of the advice in those old nuclear survival instruction booklets were just a placebo, the people writing them knew full well none of it would actually help people ride out a nuclear attack. Like, telling kids to hide under their school desk? Staying inside for only a couple weeks? It had to have been just to keep people calm

This whole film weirdly reminds me of a quote from a DnD campaign book, *Storm King's Thunder*. It's on one of the first pages of the book, showing a Storm Giant and a fire giant fighting, with the sky full of lightning, the ground crumbling to rubble and smaller folk running for their lives. The quote on the bottom of the page is "Nobody wins when giants fight."

I have seen this movie, as a child. It gives you real perspective, as it should. This is why I am nowadays horrified that people really seem to glorify and almost hope for a war.

I saw this in Primary School in the 90s as well as reading the comic book. Its always stayed with me, as has the memory of a classroom of 8-9 year olds pretending that they are not crying and failing pretty miserably. If I remember rightly though, the teacher sacked off the rest of the lessons we were supposed to do and just let us play/draw/have fun for the rest of the day.

I've seen this movie with my parents who grew up in the 80s, it's utterly heartbreaking. They're so sweet, it just ruins you When she said she had collected the rainwater I screamed "NO!" at the screen, and by the time it got to the paper bags I was in tears.

Them wrapping themselves in what are essentially body bags, not knowing their purpose, is so haunting to me. It shows their complete trust in their government that they follow what is just a hunch George has that they have no real evidence backing up, and it’s just so sad that they are basically preparing their own corpse’s preservation.

At first I was intrigued by the thumbnail and after a moment I realized that I have in fact seen this movie and wanted to close the video, but your narration, editing and and additional information about the book where so good that I watched it til the end. Very well made. Thank you for this!

1:38 I think the cover art is so interesting the fact that they have literally turned their backs on the danger behind them says so much about the characters typically “turning your back” on something means to reject it which could be applied here saying that they reject the idea that their government would let this happen but it could also mean that they are ignoring it they have literally turned away from the truth of what is happening to them and their small town and as the problem gets bigger it slowly sneaks up on them and they will not be ready when it finally arrives

The most terrifying example I can think of from radiation is the case of, I believe this is his name, Hisashi Ouchi, wendigoon has a video about it. Basically he suffered a freak accident at a nuclear power plant in Japan and his body decomposed while he lived through the whole thing

I saw the first version of this video floating around my recommendations, but avoided it because i had thought the thumbnail was of a spooky ghost child of some sort. Still, the thumbnail stuck with me. But I just watched (and loved!) your review of What Remains of Edith Finch- and as soon as the thumbnail was shown, I put two and two together and immediately went to watch this one. This really is a harrowing story. Even hearing it recounted secondhand gave me a deep sense of dread and connection with the material. I keep rewriting this comment trying to better put into words, but in the end I’m just speechless. This is a wonderful video, thank you for reediting so it remains available.

love the fact that op is appreciative of the artistic choices that made the film slightly different than the book. its not wrong, just had different goals.

Seeing such sweet character designs utterlly devistated is heartbreaking. I should not be watching this late at night, but its too late to stop now

This horrified me beyond belief when I originally watched it. I’m a Brit who lives in the countryside. Everywhere in this film looks exactly like my home. I have an extremely negative relationship with all of my grandparents, but the old couple still struck a chord. Amazing video dude, shook me so much my cockatiel was worried.

This is one of my favorite yt videos ever! I come back to watch it every once in a while and it made me buy the graphic novel- thank you

Thats the most terrifying and sad thing I've ever seen. No sugar coating, no ending before the hardest parts, but fading into death.

That's awful they took down the original. Was very well put together.

Oh man wasn’t in the right head space to learn about this movie. In a long term relationship with a kid on the way. This and Threads just an existential nightmare, one of my biggest fears. The thought of having to look at my partner or my future child in the face and tell them its alright in this situation fills me with a sense of dread as heavy as cement. Don’t know if I’d have the strength.

I’m gonna be honest, I’m a true crime listener, and I’m never too phased by the stories. However, this was genuinely a terrifying story to hear about, and I’m honestly scared, despite having not finished the entire movie yet. Thank you for making this video, it’s interesting, and I invokes anxiety, as well as other emotions. Also, thank you for adding 24:26 , it was honestly a nice and funny pause from the concern, fear and anxiety that this video gives. ❤❤❤

I cried so hard after this. I usally don't cry at movies unless animals die (for some reason) but this movie really took and impact on me and not gonna lie, made me look at me and my life in a totally different Point of view.

I started watching this video to put on for background noise while working on an art project. Now, I’d NEVER heard of this. As you started talking about how it was based off a graphic novel, i paused the video and went to go read it myself. Finished the whole thing in 20 minutes. Never before has anything affected me like that comic. I feel like someone’s grabbed me and shaken me very hard, and I’m stuck with that after-effect impact buzz for longer than I’d like. I’ve been on the verge of tears since I finished it. I go back to the video, unpause, and try to open my art program again - and I just can’t. How can I go back to business as usual after that, paired with seeing what I just watched in motion on my screen, in little handcrafted sets and voice acting? The pit in my stomach is unlike anything as i watch the movie play out, because now I KNOW exactly what’s going to happen. This is an excellent video, and your narration and presentation is wonderful. I just wanted to share my own experience as I’m watching. I’m gonna be thinking about this story for days after this. Thank you for sharing it.

I know that this does the theme a great service of being a poster boy for how disastrous nuclear fallout is but I cannot help myself from giggling every time you showed the clip of the husband calling his wife a stupid bitch

once he got to the scene where he talks about the patches Around their eyes, the Grandpa sounded just like my Grandpa who's dead. I can't stop crying.

Thank you for doing this marvelous showcase of When The Wind Blows. I've never heard of this before, but my god!! What an incredibly powerful art piece!! It's beautiful and disturbing, incredibly impactful and the way both the comic and movie portray the feeling and atmosphere of events is brilliant.

Howdy! So this is a re upload of my latest video which was manually claimed and blocked, re-edited to use as little footage from When The Wind Blows as possible, so fingers crossed it stays up this time and anyone who only got to watch half can finish it, and thanks so much to anyone who watched the original or if you’re here for round 2 💙

The ending of this movie has to be one of the eeriest things I’ve seen. The lack of color, the way the bags are animated, their voices. It genuinely creeps me out a little bit

The official term for “things that feel like are protecting you but really arent” like the guidebook in this story is “Security Theatre”. It’s also really tragic that Jim (James) is so knowledgeable on war but also so naive at the same time. He knows all of this info and war groups, but not who’s in charge. Not even who the enemy country is or what the situation is abroad. If he did take the threat more seriously, they probably would’ve stocked more in advance and wouldve stayed in the cellar. There’s no guarantee they wouldve survived but at least they would have had some sort of chance.

Bruh. This story is devastating! Thank you for sharing. Very well done.

Sad that the original has been taken down, it was such a great video too

I actually have seen when the wind blows. I saw it in school back in the day. It was shown in my English class and i fell in love with it. I loved the gritty nature of it and its animation style. I immediately bought a dvd to watch it on then. Im not entirely sure why he showed it to us in a school, but while we watched it and took notes, I bought the book and showed it to the teacher. I decided to let him keep the comic before i graduated. Im pretty sure he still has it

This is one of the scariest topics out there and I think you did a great job narrating it and putting in jokes at just the right times. It truly helped me feel a little bit better while watching this really depressing film without dishonouring the message so thank you. :)

great video to start my day off to. super fascinating and upsetting little story, great video as well, you really know how to chew the fat of the scene and bring out the emotions.

this is probably one of the saddest videos ive seen. they even stayed happy when they were rotting from radiation, and the nuclear blast, and they always seemed positive, this is a great story and i would love to watch the movie. it really puts into detail what nuclear war is really like.

What?! Ironically I was just thinking about this video and you pinpointing the moment he realizes he may have misread the handbook and doomed them even though they were doomed either way.

Beautiful retelling and analysis

Your descriptions and diction are exquisite, thank you!

I started tearing up like 20 minutes in and probably should’ve stopped, but for some horrifying reason I felt like I needed to finish their story. The horror comes from the realism

This actually scares me, not because of the visuals but this actually happens and frightens me it’s just the thought of me and my family the thought of never seeing my loved ones. Maybe it’s just the thought of death in general, or the fact that it will never be the same afterward. Like why can’t we all live in peace and come together instead of just killing eachother.

i feel like they both know they're dying but it's a "stiff upper lip" kind of philosophy

I felt like he had an idea and was trying to protect duck. People's faces don't usually decay, and chemical weapons had been used in WW1, so he would have some idea.

There’s a great short story that’s kinda along the lines of this movie It’s called “there will come soft rains” (1950) by Ray Bradbury Set in the future of 2026, It’s about the aftermaths of an atomic annihilation which the “smart house” still carries on the daily tasks despite the house being empty and the city being destroyed. It eventually ends with the house going mad due to a fire, and eventually destroys itself. In the end, the house is in ruins just like everything else. Nothing survives.

not at all gut wrenchingly stressful to know that ensured existence of our countries is being maintained by the longest and most intense game of chicken on earth.

I saw your video in my recommended a while back, and put it in my Watch Later playlist and honestly forgot about it until the other day when the actual movie came up. I decided to give it a watch, and I was NOT prepared for it at all. It was a terrible feeling of knowing what’s going to happen to them, and them having very little clue as to how bad their situation is. I told myself to finish the movie because it felt too important. When it was over, I couldn’t bring myself to do anything else but sit in a silent house taking it all in. I couldn’t watch funny videos to cheer me up, put on music, or say a single word, because it felt inappropriate. This movie is very powerful because no other has ever made me sit in silence to actually think on it. It’s definitely earned a rewatch. Also, your breakdown video was amazing and very detailed, analyzing parts I had completely missed the first go around. As for the cellar, I don’t mean to sound like a doomer, but I don’t think it would have really mattered where they sheltered, because it would only delay the inevitable. Had they not gone outside, who would come for them? They have no adequate supplies, and fallout would linger for quite a long time (especially considering a global scale). But it’s certainly an interesting “what if” scenario!!

One thing that I noticed is that after Jim calls Hilda a Stupid Fool, they argue about Jim not having mannners and Jim wanting Hilda to shut up so he can listen to the instructions on the radio. I listened to the radio version with Peter Sallis in it and, when I listened closely, realised that in the story the radio says for them to stay indoors and no matter what, don't leave your house. If they'd just not argued and listened to the radio, perhaps their sickness could've been prevented. Although, I don't think it would've helped a lot. Their shelter looked pretty inefficient.