Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove with Peter Kramer

A rogue American general launches a bomber attack on the Soviet Union, and the US president, working with the Soviet premier, tries to prevent a global catastrophe. This is the story of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). The film is one of the key artistic expressions of the Cold War era.

Made at a time when future nuclear war between the United States and the Soviet Union was a real possibility, in some people’s eyes even a near-certainty, Dr. Strangelove is menacing, exhilarating, thrilling, insightful and very funny. Its re-release in 2019 comes at a time when the threat of nuclear weapons is back on the political agenda.

The screening is being introduced by Peter Krämer, the author of the BFI Film Classic on Dr. Strangelove. He will outline the film’s complex production history and highlight the deeply disturbing connections it establishes between Cold War America and Nazi Germany. There will be an opportunity to discuss the film and the lessons that might be learnt from it with Peter after the screening.