YMMV / World War III

• Complete Monster: Vladimir Soshkin is a hardline Soviet general who seeks to keep the Warsaw Pact together at any cost. Having made a name for himself crushing demonstrations in East Germany and Czechoslovakia decades prior, Soshkin overthrows Mikhail Gorbachev in a coup, and violently cracks down on peaceful demonstrators across the Eastern bloc, killing thousands. Soshkin blockades West Berlin and the North Atlantic to put Western Europe and West Germany in particular under siege, ordering his units to attack any NATO forces attempting to pass, which subsequently escalates into World War III. Soshkin rejects any attempts at peace overtures, ordering the invasion of West Germany, causing tens of thousands of deaths. As NATO forces turn the tide of the war, and uprisings spread across the entire Eastern bloc, Soshkin decides to initiate a nuclear holocaust and launch the Soviet Union's nuclear arsenal, potentially causing the end of humanity.
• Heartwarming Moments: After bearing witness to a horrific alternate universe where the Cold War turned hot and ended in the total destruction of civilization, the film rewinds the footage back to where it all began. There, the narrator reminds us that, fortunately for all involved, "history... took a different course," and we are treated to footage of the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the peaceful ending of hostilities between East and West.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The idea of an alternate universe where the Cold War not only turned into an actual war but ultimately culminated in the destruction of humanity is just too horrifying to even contemplate.
  • The film's final moments are horrific in their simplicity and finality. Nuclear missiles lift off and fly across the globe through gorgeous open sky, all set to eerily beautiful music. "There is no further historical record of what happens next."

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