The more things change, the more they stay the same.

We’ve heard it before, right?

Well, sometimes we see a classic movie from the past that seems to make that tidy little phrase come together in a way that we, and the director, did not expect.

And so it is with Stanley Kubrick’s 1964 masterpiece, “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb”.  Its true genius is that it was mocking the unchanging nature of war and politics in decades, and centuries, that were not yet come to pass.  This timelessness is the hallmark of many creations with staying power.  Consider a great book with timeless themes of power and darkness or a work of art that speaks to our sensibilities about love, sex, and enduring creativity.

And then, there’s the simple and complex motif of war…

In Kubrick’s world, as the bombing planes are set on their course for destruction inside Soviet Russia under Attack Plan R, a small group of D.C. insiders waits. And hopes.  And prays.  And so do the Soviets.  The world has no idea what is about to hit it.  Literally.

And neither do we!

Will the blunder of so few be the destruction of so many?  Do we love the bomb for its scare power, even when that fright is turned back on us?  I guess in this scenario, war is easy to make but hard to take.

Strangelove’s cast reads like a who’s who of Hollywood, and for this alone it is worth 95 minutes of your time.  Peter Sellers is of course impeccable in his three roles as Strangelove, President Muffley, and Captain Mandrake.  George C. Scott’s caricatured General Turgidson can make us bristle with horror at who may be at the helm of our weapons, or thankful for modern-day screening procedures.  Slim Pickens, Stirling Hayden, and James Earl Jones round out the bitter romp as men trapped in an unintended massacre, either by psychosis or duty.

As we are taken on this comical, nail-biting journey with the U.S. and Russian brass, we are swept away into a world that could very well be ours today.  Sure, the pieces have moved around the board a little and the hardware has changed, becoming somewhat more sophisticated, but what Stranglelove asks us, even if unintentionally, is “Does it matter what weapons we use if human nature stays the same?”

Watch Dr. Strangelove for yourself and decide if times have changed.  If you decide times have indeed changed, the next question you must ask is: for better or for worse?

-josh