War and Peace: At the peak of the Cold War, the short-range missile crisis, neutron bombs could have potentially annihilated Central Europe. 300,000 protesters in Bonn. German Chancellor Schmidt resigns. Why make a film collage about war? "Nothing is more discouraging than not being able to see through a game on which your life hinges."
Alexander Kluge about War and Peace:
There are experiences which move the senses and the heart but which, once robbed of their historical context, are very hard to convey in film in such a way that they remain topical and hold the interest of the audience. One such experience is the missile crisis of 1981-1984.
For our part we had made a considerable effort to film it. Why? Even at the time the majority of the audience didn't ask us to.
pDuring those years I felt physically afraid. To be honest, I didn't believe Germany was going to be bombarded with neutron bombs or in the total destruction of the Fulda basin, i.e. the zone in the middle of Germany into which the missiles of both sides would fall in the event of a Third World War. Inside me I had a defence mechanism against the thought that a Third World War could be the result of the mistakes made
