Pandemic lessons from a Cold War classic

With the coronavirus pandemic exacerbating world governments’ servicing of over $253 trillion in worldwide debt, leaders around the globe are making incredibly difficult decisions as they balance saving lives from the virus and avoiding a global economic collapse.

Viewers who want to watch a film that displays the trials of leadership in a similar no-win situation should consider going old school and giving the 1964 classic Fail Safe a watch (available on Amazon Prime).

Fail Safe is director Sidney Lumet’s (12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, and Network) critically acclaimed Cold War thriller. The film begins with America’s early invader detection system picking up a UFO that could possibly be a Soviet bomber or a missile. Several bomber squadrons scramble to their designated “fail safe” points, where they will await their next orders. “Fail safe” is an engineering term referring to a point in a system where, if something fails, other safeguards can minimize the chance of a complete breakdown.

As you might guess, though, something goes wrong. While the original threat proves harmless, one of the bomber squadrons mistakenly gets an order to go past their fail safe coordinates. Their mission: Fly to Moscow and drop an atomic payload.

The defense system makes it extremely difficult to call back the orders. Therefore, the president (Henry Fonda) faces an agonizing decision: What will he do if the bombers successfully reach their target? One of his advisors, Professor Groeteschele (played by a young Walter Matthau), argues the U.S. should launch a full-scale strike on the Soviets, as he believes they would surrender. The president’s other choice would be to drop a hydrogen bomb on New York City to even the score and thereby avoid the possibility of a global nuclear conflict.

The tension in the film is terrific, the acting performances compelling, and viewers will find themselves fully engaged all the way to the film’s difficult conclusion.

While the parallels to our current situation are not exactly equivalent, the basic concept is: World leaders will have to make difficult decisions with respect to COVID-19. These choices will be hard and may soon get even harder. But no scenario comes without suffering.

In a culture that does not view suffering as a natural consequence of living in a fallen world, many consider the no-good-answer scenario unacceptable. As a result, criticism for leaders everywhere abounds.

In Romans, Paul instructs everyone to be subject to their governing authorities. His words are even more important to heed now. Fail Safe will most likely remind viewers how hard it is to be a leader on the world stage, especially when a pandemic offers no simple choices. Viewers will hopefully also recognize that the best thing we can do for our leaders, as Paul encourages in 1 Timothy, is pray for them.