Atomic Cafe

The Atomic Cafe is a super interesting film about atomic bombs and the United States. It was directed by Jayne Loader and Kevin Rafferty and was released in 1982. All the footage is archival footage. There is no "Voice of God" narrator. The whole story is told through archival footage and the way it is edited. There is one highly suggestive element to the movie and that is the music. There is a score to the movie and I don't know if it is original or not, but it manipulates my thinking.

The film shows all kinds of old videos about what to do if a nuclear bomb is detonated near you. Videos such as Burt the Turtle who promoted the "duck and cover" method. The documentary also shows lots and lots of detonations of nuclear weapons, all which were stunning. All this footage gives a clear picture of what it was like to live in the 1950's with the nuclear bomb scare.

I really liked this documentary. I found it very interesting. I couldn't believe that the U.S. evacuated a tribe from an island so they could ignite a nuclear weapon for an experiment. It seems to me that now days that would be considered unethical. I also couldn't believe that the U.S. let soldiers watch a detonation of an atomic weapon from a "safe distance," then they all started walking towards it.

If you are interested, here is the complete movie, The Atomic Cafe.