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By Dawn's Early Light (1990)

Rate: 7
Viewed: 8/25

ByDawn
8/25: Fail Safe or By Dawn's Early Light?

It's pretty close, but I give the slight edge to the latter. No matter what, they're both way better than Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. At the same time, I'm surprised that Jack Sholder directed this. Who can forget his infamous horror movie called A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge?

What got my attention quickly is the seriousness of the situation. I was thinking the only way to make things easier on everybody was not to have nuclear weapons in the first place. When China launched one against Russia, I didn't believe it. Why would they do that? Both are communist countries all the same. However, it turns out that they weren't getting along until 1991 when the Cold War ended.

Suppose what's shown is going to be part of the plan. Everybody needs to sit down and seriously think about all of the hypotheticals and outline the "what if?"s and the chain of command. Then, what will happen if they've vanished? Where do people turn to for guidance? Why does one person have total control or get to control the situation fully by manipulating others?

All in all, By Dawn's Early Light proves that emotion is a liability and that those who are higher-up can be that stupid.