Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Haven Kaycee It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

john_vance-20806 The older boomers would recall the atmosphere of this era very well.The belief that nuclear weapons were probably going to fall at any time was accepted as a matter of course. Coming out of the carnage and rubble of WW2 perhaps that was to be expected, but the PSAs and political leaders honed that message to suggest it was not much more of a concern than a flock of tornadoes. "Duck and Cover" ads, back yard bomb shelters, Conelrad symbols on the radios (AM of course), public fallout shelters in the bank basements and other related markers were given little thought.Younger folks would get a kick out of the over-simplified logic and ham-handed propaganda and be astonished to think that we took it for granted that nuclear warfare was just a dirty conventional tactic similar to the London Blitz.It is an informative film and very entertaining in its odd way. Worth a watch for interested parties.

dougdoepke The movie's a quirky documentary assembled from news clips from the '40's and '50's, showing how Americans learned to live with The Bomb if not exactly love it. It looks like the clips are selected with the idea of justifying The Bomb's existence, and then soft-pedaling its destructive power. Of course, the black humor lies in showing that destructive power in the leveled cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and then contrasting that with anemic defensive measures like the infamous Duck and Cover. Naturally, some sort of civilian measures became necessary once the Soviets came up with their version of the A- bomb making nuclear war a real possibility.As a result, politicians and the Pentagon had a big challenge convincing the public not to seek nuclear disarmament as one way of dealing the problem. So, we see efforts to demonize our former ally, the Soviets, plus our own disarmament advocates, in pretty crude terms. Then there are efforts to calm public anxiety through counter-measures, such as bomb shelters and gas masks, along with Duck and Cover. Also, there's considerable grim humor in the way commercial culture trivializes the threat by naming drinks and cafés after The Bomb. After all, what would pack a bigger advertising wallop than a few thousand tons of exploding TNT.Anyway, the movie uses irony and black humor to convey a pretty good sense of an anxious period.(In passing-- Even though we've managed to dodge the nuclear bullet for 60-odd years, it's best to keep in mind that fateful day in 1962, when only a Soviet submarine commander's refusal to press the nuclear button stood between us and a real test of Duck and Cover. For confirmation of this little known fact, Google "soviet submarine commander cuban missile crisis", or "vasili arkhipov" for details.)

Julia Forbes I just ran this film for a high school Social Studies class. Part documentary, part propaganda, part satire. I, too, remember "duck and cover" civil defense drills mixed in with fire drills. It is particularly interesting to consider this film in a post-9/11 world and think about the messages in the current news media and our security-phobia today. The more things change...the more they stay the same. I saw this film in 1982 when it was released, and it hasn't lost any of it's impact. It is entertaining, informative and a little frightening. There is an aura innocence as well as something sinister captured at a time in the history of the United States.

johnstonjames there are many famous and great documentaries, 'Harlan County', 'Taxi To The Darkside',etc, that inform us and provide us with valuable knowledge into events and help to deeply impact our thinking. 'Atomic Cafe' isn't that kind of documentary. It doesn't really tell us anything we don't know or provide us with information that isn't already out there. what it is, however, is one of the most entertaining and clever documentaries you could possibly imagine. one IMDb reviewer, who is also a filmmaker, even went as far as to say he liked this better than his own documentary.it's really something when you can take a subject like this and make it into a thing that is screamingly funny, enjoyable fun, without seeming ironically morbid in the process. the film never leaves you with a sour, bitter taste, but with a sense of awe and amusement at the messy predicament mankind has gotten into. everything about it is fascinating, and dare i say, even a little magical. not the bomb necessarily, but just the way the film puts things into it's clever, fun perspective. the film takes a negative subject and turns it into something that is good and cathartic for the viewer. instead of feeling depressed or negative after the film, a viewer is probably more likely to feel strangely elated,empowered, and a bit braver when facing world crisis. i'm not saying we should just laugh at everything bad, but a little humor always helps.the film is done without the help of any kind of narration which leaves the viewer free to make their own conclusions and decide their own feelings on the subject. not that it isn't skillfully done. the montages are excellent, especially the final montage which is timed to Mussorgsky's 'Pictures At An Exhibition'.this is a documentary everyone should see. it helps you cope with the idea of a "bomb"(or bombs), and helps you laugh at the things that seem like mankind's darkest hour. note: this makes a great double feature viewing with either 'Dr. Stangelove' or '5,000 Fingers of Dr.T'.