The Man Who Saved the World

The Man Who Saved the World (2014) is a documentary you can watch online on iFILM — the story of Stanislav Petrov, a Soviet Air Defence lieutenant colonel who on the night of September 26, 1983 decided a nuclear launch alert was a false alarm.

The Soviet early-warning system lit up with five incoming American missiles. Protocol said escalate. Petrov — on duty, unsanctioned — said it was a glitch. He was right. The world didn't find out for two decades, and his career quietly ended.

Director Peter Anthony follows Petrov to the United States, where he meets Kevin Costner, Robert De Niro, Matt Damon, and Ashton Kutcher — a man who saved hundreds of millions of lives, introduced to people who have every reason to be grateful. Watch The Man Who Saved the World online on iFILM.