Dr. Strangelove (film)
Status: Finished first viewing on 01/08/2022
Rating: 8.5/10.0
Spoilers
It was a good time to watch this, because I’ve recently read the Precipice and very recently watched Don’t Look Up. Dr. Strangelove tracks the immediate aftermath following the insane General Ripper ordering a massive unprovoked nuclear strike on Russia. The film offers three narratives:
- The flight crew on one of the bombers ordered to carry out the attack;
- General Ripper’s interactions with his immediate subordinate, Captain Mandrake; and
- President Muffley’s interactions with his advisors and the Russian government.
The Flight Crew
This narrative was the saddest. The bomber crew is dedicated, capable, and well-intentioned. I wanted them to refuse to follow orders, like Vasily Arkhipov. But I didn’t blame them for sticking with their mission, and even respected them for it. When the plane is attacked and possibly about to crash, I felt an internal tension. I definitely wanted the plane to crash, but also wanted the crew to survive. It was an intense sequence.
General Ripper and Captain Mandrake
These were my favorite scenes. Captain Mandrake was the hero of the story, and I was rooting for him. His feeble efforts to gently sway General Ripper were very funny. His cleverness in cracking the prefix and getting the message to the president is encouraging. Captain Mandrake gives us hope, which makes the rest of the story more devastating.
President Muffley
Most of the film’s most iconic scenes are in this thread. I have read that President Muffley is supposed to be weak. This is tragic, because he is so reasonable. In a game of chicken, the reasonable person the weakest. His exchanges with both General Turgidson, the Russian ambassador, and the Russian president are all funny. I enjoyed how thoughtful the explanations for everyone’s incentives were, especially the Russian development of the doomsday device.
Dr. Strangelove was also funny, but more absurd. My understanding is that a lot of his dialogue and behavior was improvised by Peter Sellers, so I’m not sure if there is much meaning to any of it (e.g. “Mein Fuhrer, I can walk”). I enjoyed the shocking weirdness of it all, and I guess that’s all there is to it.
Comparison to Don’t Look Up
Like Don’t Look Up, this film tackles humanity’s limitations in confronting existential risk. This movie is much much better. Here are some reasons:
- The choices of the characters in Dr. Strangelove are explained by their incentives. It is the situation that is absurd, despite being realistic. In Don’t Look Up, it is the characters that are absurd, often unrealistically so.
- The commentary in Dr. Strangelove is focused, clear, and well-supported. “The doctrine of mutually-assured destruction should not provide us full peace of mind.” The implications are useful. We should subject our procedures to extreme scrutiny and work towards non-proliferation. The commentary in Don’t Look Up is muddled, and the implications are probably nihilistic.
- Captain Mandrake is a better hero than Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence). Captain Mandrake is responsive to his circumstances, solutions-oriented, and improves the chances of success. Dibiasky just rants, acts self-righteously, and becomes nihilistic.
- Dr. Strangelove has better emotional range. It is funnier, more disturbing, more thrilling, and ultimately more thought-provoking.