When the Wind Blows

There have been enough post-holocaust nuclear winter films nearly to constitute a genre, but there has never been anything quite like veteran animator Murakami's version of Raymond Briggs' cartoon book. Jim and Hilda Bloggs are living out an unexceptional retirement, when the unthinkable happens. Happily prattling about their World War II adventures in the blitz, they duly follow the government brochure advice and build a shelter with doors and cushions, then go about their business as their hair falls out and the dust rains down. The animation is at its best - and the film most effective - during sequences of their reminiscences, when the daily round of their past lives is seen as a delight in the ordinary and in a history which is not just forgotten but literally obliterated. But their slow degradation is almost unbearably moving. The only note of hope is that it might just get through to some people who have a say in such matters. Jim and Hilda are worth preserving.