Review of The Atomic Cafe (1982) by Michael T — 28 Dec 2003

The Atomic Cafe is a documentary pieced together from other documentaries; government films dealing with nuclear weapons and the Cold War. This gives it a distinct advantage over movies like, say, Bowling for Columbine, since there's little room for factual manipulation. The Atomic Cafe does for it's subject what Reefer Madness did for marijuana- it cheerfully ridicules our misconceptions about nuclear war. Bert the Turtle explains that all you need to do is duck and cover to survive a blast, if you're outside of the blast radius, of course! And if you're worried about that pesky radiation, a different film explains how radiation can't penetrate the skin.

As much as The Atomic Cafe is meant to shock the audience with its portrayal of gross governmental incompetence, the message is somewhat soothing. The patriotic songs on the soundtrack, warnings against enemies of freedom, and other examples of fear and paranoia, you can't help but think of the war on terror/Iraq. There's no need to be afraid of terror or the Bush administration, it's all just history repeating itself.