Movies Similar to After the Big One: Nuclear War on the Prairies

Inside Chernobyl's Mega Tomb(2016)

Documentary which follows the construction of a trailblazing 36,000-tonne steel structure to entomb the ruins of the nuclear power plant destroyed in the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

7.5

The Conqueror: Hollywood Fallout(2024)

The story of one of the great environmental disasters to befall the United States, and the terrible movie that helped bring the catastrophe to light.

8.0

Nuclear Now(2023)

With unprecedented access to the nuclear industry in France, Russia, and the United States, Nuclear Now explores the possibility for the global community to overcome the challenges of climate change and energy poverty to reach a brighter future through the power of nuclear energy. Beneath our feet, Uranium atoms in the Earth’s crust hold incredibly concentrated energy. Science unlocked this energy in the mid-20th century, first for bombs and then to power submarines. The United States led the effort to generate electricity from this new source. Yet in the mid-20th century as societies began the transition to nuclear power and away from fossil fuels, a long-term PR campaign to scare the public began, funded in part by coal and oil interests.

7.4

The Atomic Cafe(1982)

A disturbing collection of 1940s and 1950s United States government-issued propaganda films designed to reassure Americans that the atomic bomb was not a threat to their safety.

7.3

Inside Chernobyl with Ben Fogle(2021)

Ben Fogle spends a week living inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, gaining privileged access to the doomed Control Room 4 where the disaster first began to unfold.

7.6

My Winnipeg(2008)

The geographical dead center of North America and the beloved birthplace of Guy Maddin, Winnipeg, is the frosty and mysterious star of Maddin’s film. Fact, fantasy and memory are woven seamlessly together in this work, conjuring a city as delightful as it is fearsome.

6.9

1983: The Brink of Apocalypse(2007)

This programme recalls the events that led up to one of the most dangerous moments in the entire history of the Cold War: a NATO command post exercise, code named Able Archer 83, which caused the USSR to believe that NATO was planning a genuine nuclear attack.

5.0

11 Steps to Survival(1973)

A film demonstrating steps to take in the event of a nuclear attack. Animated drawings show the effects of atomic explosions in the air and at ground level. How wide an area is affected by light and heat flash, radiation and radioactive fall-out are clearly illustrated. How to build or improvise a fall-out shelter, what to stock in it, when to take shelter and how long to stay there are similarly explained. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada for Emergency Planning Canada.

0.0

Nuclear Rescue 911: Broken Arrows & Incidents(2001)

Since 1950, there have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents, known as "Broken Arrows." A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft or loss of the weapon. To date, six nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered.Now, recently declassified documents reveal the history and secrecy surrounding the events known as "Broken Arrows". There have been 32 nuclear weapon accidents since 1950. Six of these nuclear weapons have been lost and never recovered. What does this say about our defense system? What does this mean to our threatened environment? What do we do to rectify these monumental "mistakes"? Using spectacular special effects, newly uncovered and recently declassified footage, filmmaker Peter Kuran explores the accidents, incidents and exercises in the secret world of nuclear weapons.

3.8

Uncovering Fukushima(2022)

It follows a group of investigators as they return to the nuclear zone in Fukushima to uncover the secrets behind the wildlife that has claimed the toxic environment as its own.

0.0

No image

Information Program Within Public Shelters(1963)

This Cold War film "Information Within Public Shelters" (1953) takes place in a fallout shelter, showing how a well-trained staff that provides information to shelter occupants, can keep them busy and calm during nuclear armageddon. This film was produced as the U.S. Government began to shift from promoting privately-owned "family" fallout shelters to the concept of large, public shelters.

0.0

The Man Who Saved the World(2012)

During the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962, Soviet Navy officer Vasily Arkhipov refused to launch a nuclear strike and saved the world from nuclear war and total destruction.

7.0

Containment(2015)

Every nuclear weapon made, every watt of electricity produced from a nuclear power plant leaves a trail of nuclear waste that will last for the next four hundred generations. We face the problem of how to warn the far distant future of the nuclear waste we have buried --but how to do it? How to imagine the far-distant threats to the sites, what kinds of monuments can be built, could stories or legends safeguard our descendants? Filmed at the only American nuclear burial ground, at a nuclear weapons complex and in Fukushima, the film grapples with the ways people are dealing with the present problem and imagining the future. Part observational essay, part graphic novel, this documentary explores the idea that over millennia, nothing stays put.

4.8

100 Years of the Atom(2020)

The exciting story of the splitting of the atom, a scientific breakthrough of incalculable importance that ushered in the nuclear age, has a dark side: the many events in which people were exposed to radiation, both intentionally and by accident.

6.3

The Phenomenon(2020)

This documentary examines unidentified aerial phenomenon. With testimony from high-ranking government officials and NASA Astronauts, Senator Harry Reid says it "makes the incredible credible."

6.3

Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes(2022)

Thirty-six years after the Chernobyl nuclear reactor exploded in Soviet Ukraine, newly uncovered archival footage and recorded interviews with those who were present paint an emotional and gripping portrait of the extent and gravity of the disaster and the lengths to which the Soviet government went to cover up the incident, including the soldiers sent in to “liquidate” the damage. Chernobyl: The Lost Tapes is the full, unvarnished true story of what happened in one of the least understood tragedies of the twentieth century.

7.4

Television Event(2020)

An archive-based feature documentary viewing the dramatic climax of the Cold War through the lens of the ABC network, as it narrowly succeeds in producing the most watched, most controversial made-for-TV movie, THE DAY AFTER (1983). With irreverent humor and sobering apocalyptic vision, this film reveals how a commercial broadcaster seized a moment of unprecedented television viewership, made an emotional connection with an audience of over 100 million and forced an urgent conversation with the US President on how to collectively confront and resolve the most pressing issue of the time - nuclear proliferation.

7.0

Atomic Pilgrimage: Ghost Towns, Nuclear Relics, and Lost Civilizations on the Road to the Trinity Site(2019)

A 40-day, 40-night road trip to the Trinity Site—where the first atomic bomb was detonated in the summer of 1945—covering many other atomic destinations and driving deep into the natural and social history of the American southwest.

10.0

The Neutron Bomb(2022)

We've all heard of the atomic bomb, but in the late 1950s, an idea was conceived of a bomb which would maximize damage to people, but minimize damage to buildings and vital infrastructure: perfect for an occupying army. This is the story of a man and his bomb: a melding of world events and scientific discovery inspire the neutron bomb, one of the most hated nuclear weapons ever invented.

10.0

First Strike(1979)

Dramatization of a devastating nuclear strike against the United States by the Soviet Union, followed by interviews with analysts and military figures. Produced by the United States Air Force.

0.0