The Atomic Cafe

Extremely hilarious and horrifying collage of Atomic Age Absurdity. Instead of direct exposition or narration, the filmmakers rely on clever editing of the archival footage and soundtrack to heighten the contrasts and mixed messages that constitute the film's narrative. The absurdity however arises from the sources themselves and is grave enough to slap you across the face. As political satire I'd say it's up there with Dr. Strangelove but plays out more as a retrospective historical commentary.

Completely free of narration, commentary or intertitles, this documentary presents archival footage from the Cold War era expressing nuclear paranoia and the government's feeble attempts to pacify it. Mostly comprised of bits from newsreels and education films, the material is alternately hilarious and horrifying, preying on the public's gullibility and need for a voice of authority, no matter how absurd the message. Thirty years later, the film is still relevant (everyone got their duct tape?).

An incredible snapshot of American life under the threat of atomic bombs, masterfully edited from footage of nuclear tests, TV broadcasts, and nuclear safety movies. Shocking and terrifying, it provides some sorely-needed visual context for this era.

A disturbingly bleak and funny view on the atomic age in America.

A sickening watch. Especially considering how little the US has moved on. The same hypocritical propaganda, just different semantics. The same arguments of "defence", the same engineered paranoia, the same xenophobia, the same racism.

A tongue-in-cheek collection of U.S. propaganda and history of American nationalism through The Cold War. Its humorous editing keeps it from drying out too much. My favorite part is the communist invasion of the small Wisconsin town.

Absolutely fascinating - equal parts satire and documentary. Cleverly edited to be coherent despite the complete lack of narration or context.

Really interesting but just not my cup of tea.

Duck and cover! A red thread or linearity seemed to be missing sometimes, but overal the material is too interesting to be given a low score.

One of the best, most fitting endings of all time.

This scandalous, sobering and shrewd work of "compilation verite" is a dark lampoon of the disturbing propaganda bounding the government's attainment, enhancement and trial of both the atomic and hydrogen bombs. The film is an craftily marshaled patchwork of authorized madness, hauled from a wide-ranging collection of propaganda films initially made to placate the American people by deflating the ramifications of nuclear consequences.

The smattering of archive footage, PSAs, propaganda and whatnot is interesting for people who are fascinated by the time period (read: me), but the directors' use of juxtaposition doesn't always hold the weight that one would hope for, so it's not the most engaging thing I've ever seen.

From the distance of the time looks funny and annoying, From the perspective of what could have been, looks terrifying.

In 1982, with the cold war still looming and the panic mongering of the 40s and 50s fading from the public consciousness this may have been an interesting documentary. In 2012 it's just a rehash of propaganda films that are easily available on the internet with rather threadbare contextualization. It doesn't do much to illuminate the thoughts and politics of the era, only to give a glossy view of the dominant media perspectives.

None of the footage from The Atomic Cafe was original material, but the arrangement of the source material (government propaganda films, television broadcasts, archival military footage, newsreels, etc.) remains true to the character of the concept. Seeing this footage juxtaposed with one another (they span from the 40's to the 60's) puts them in far more context than one could glean from them individually, and the succession of these images clearly illuminates the depravity of the nuclear age.

Great example of a documentary that doesn't need narration or new interviews. It just lets the era speak for itself.

Great material, which is both funny and very very scary.

We should be more careful about our propaganda, as it will be judged in the future with more distance and more reason. The Atomic Cafe shows us what was believable just a few decades ago. Some declaration considered heroic back then and used for propaganda now seem inhuman and cruel.

I remember watching a videotape of this repeatedly when I was a teen. Chilling reminder of how people saw atomic weapons in the 60s.

Warmongering, naivety, arrogance and even frivolity, are words that pop to mind when one tries to describe the American attitudes seen in the TV footage, government-issued military training and civil instructional films, interviews and other archival material making up this painstakingly meticulous montage about the atom bomb. But although not even original narration was added by the makers, their bias shows, especially in the editing (e.g. cutting an interview short to decontextualize a line).

Something truly terrifying.

Fantastic and disturbingly hilarious collection of propaganda. Not to be missed.

Awesome and shocking. It actually hurt to watch this.