It´s probably almost impossible to talk about Sidney Lumet´s “Fail Safe” without comparing it to Stanley Kubrick´s “Dr. Strangelove”. The two movies are just too similar in their premise and plot. Yet they have completely different tones, which makes them easily distinguishable, and both are fantastic in what they are doing. “Dr. Strangelove” is a hilarious and biting satire, while “Fail Safe” is a bleak, grave, and serious political doomsday thriller.

The movie takes place during the Cold War and follows the events after a technical error causes a mistaken order of a nuclear first strike on Moscow. In a race against time, the US president and his advisors try to stop the American bomber, while also trying to convince the Soviet leadership not to retaliate, which would mean full-blown nuclear war.

I love how minimalist the film is. Lumet demonstrates that an excellent script, phenomenal actors, and extremely competent direction is enough to make one of the most nerve-wracking and impactful war films of all time. He creates so much tension and immersion just with beeping monitors, effective closeups, excellent framing, and tight editing, while the committed, dialogue-driven performances of Henry Fonda and Walter Matthau add a lot of gravitas to the movie. The tense, dreadful, and foreboding atmosphere perfectly captures the Cold War paranoia, the fear of total annihilation, and the most frightening aspect of it is how inevitable the tragedy feels from the moment it begins to unfold. The shocking and provocative ending makes you feel utterly defeated. I´m not surprised that the ending is controversial, but you can say what you want, it definitely elicits a strong emotional response and stays in your mind.

Apart from being a fantastic thriller, the movie also is a hard-hitting commentary on the fragility of the system, humanity´s loss of control over their own creations, the consequences of nationalism, egoism, mistrust, and human inadequacy, ethical dilemmas, and the question about guilt. Lumet has a clear and strong message but he also acknowledges the complexity of the subject matter.

All in all, “Fail Safe” is an intense, stressful, pessimistic, and haunting classic that has lost nothing of its power and relevance. I slightly prefer Kubrick´s take on the topic, but Lumet´s film doesn´t need to hide.