Love it or hate it, House of Dynamite is a film fuelling nuclear war fears. It's far from the first

Shortly after its premiere, Kathryn Bigelow’s nuclear warning film House of Dynamite earned a curious distinction. Instead of Oscar nominations or accolades, it was a warning: according to Bloomberg, it came in the form of an internal memo from the Pentagon.

The document, dated Oct. 16, was meant to “address false assumptions, provide correct facts and a better understanding” than what Bigelow’s film depicts. A film that centres on America’s hypothetical response to an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) rocketing towards the United States with less than 20 minutes warning.

In Bigelow’s movie, which she and screenwriter Noah Oppenheim say was made with extensive guidance from scientists and previous administration members, the government's reaction did not exactly paint a pretty picture.

At one point, a defence secretary (played by Jared Harris) is shocked to find their missile defence systems — which stand as really the only contingency plan at their disposal — have success rates barely above 60 per cent.  

“So it’s a f--king coin toss?” he laments. “That’s what $50 billion buys us?”

As stated in the memo itself, the Pentagon’s response was written to brief staff confronted with worries similar to those expressed by Harris’s character.

“The fictional interceptors in the movie miss their target and we understand this is intended to be a compelling part of the drama intended for the entertainment of the audience,” the memo reads, accoring to Bloomberg, before saying results from real-world testing “tell a vastly different story.”

CBC News has not seen the memo.

The Pentagon argued that current systems offer up to 100 per cent effectiveness in taking down ICBMs, though experts in the space have refuted their refutations. U.S. Sen. Edward J. Markey wrote an op-ed in response to the film, saying it exposed a “brutal truth” that the United States’ current long-range missile defence system is ineffectual in neutralizing a nuclear attack. 

Nuclear physicist Laura Grego told Bloomberg that the situation depicted in House of Dynamite is likely far simpler than the host of problems the government would have to respond to in a real exchange — meaning what officials struggle to contend with in the film is actually close to a best-case scenario.

International affairs expert and Atlantic writer Tom Nichols wrote an article in response, arguing the Pentagon’s 100 per cent effectiveness claim was a fallacious number derived from cherry-picked and misleading data. The real number, he said, is likely even lower than what's shown in Bigelow’s film.

The movie also comes in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to invest trillions in the Golden Dome military defence project, and shortly before Trump announced plans to resume nuclear testing, decades after the country held their last test. 

For their part, the film’s creators have rebuffed government complaints. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Bigelow said the strong response is a sign they achieved their main goal in making House of Dynamite. 

“In a perfect world, culture has the potential to drive policy,” she said. “And if there’s dialogue around the proliferation of nuclear weapons, that is music to my ears, certainly.”