Resan (Swedish for The Journey) is a 1987 documentary film by Peter Watkins, made between the years 1983 and 1985 on several continents, and structured around the theme of nuclear weapons, military spending and poverty. Ordinary people are asked about their awareness of these issues.
With a running time of 14 hours and 33 minutes, Resan is the longest non-experimental film ever made. It was screened at the 1987 Festival of Festivals as well as the "International Forum for New Cinema" of the Berlin Film Festival in 1987, but has rarely been seen since. In February 2007, it was screened at the Mexico City International Festival of Contemporary Cinema (
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As in his earlier work The War Game, Watkins sometimes stages episodes of atomic warfare, emphasizing the lack of protection provided to civilian populations by their governments. The film alternates between real (interviews) and fictionalized (recreations of nuclear attacks) documentary elements, simultaneously reflecting on its own process: a voiceover and title cards regularly prompt viewers to consider the image they’ve just seen, its duration, and how it was edited, creating a film that analyzes itself as it unfolds. Every television network Watkins approached ultimately refused to broadcast it.
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