The Atomic Cafe (1982)

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nTitle: The Atomic Café (1982)

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nDirectors: Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, Pierce Rafferty

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nReview:

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nIf you knew your country had just blown approximately 80,000npeople away, would you be parading on the streets all happy and jolly about it?nI know I wouldn’t. No matter what my political views might be, I would not benhappy and jolly with such knowledge. I’d probably be depressed for a long timenat how crazy the world we live in is. Yet this is exactly what happened duringn1945, when knowledge spread that the U.S. had “won the war” by blowing thenpeople of Hiroshima away Americans where ecstatic, jumping and dancing on thenstreets as if the best thing in their lives had just happened. Where all thesenpeople nuts? 80,000 lives where blinked away in a matter of seconds and yournfreaking ecstatic? I mean, no matter what the Japanese did to the U.S.; it’snstill thousands upon thousands of innocent people being blown away, innocent peoplenpaying for the actions of their countries military. The bombing ofnHiroshima didn’t kill the government officials who were at war with the U.S.,nthat atomic monstrosity blew away innocent men, women and children who probablynnever picked up a gun in their lives; effectively burning them to a crisp in anmatter of seconds. This to me is one of the darkest days in human history,nalong side Hitler and his holocaust; what happened in Hiroshimanand Nagasaki isnone of the greatest horrors humanity has ever known!
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nThe Atomic Café is an amazing documentary that shows us how afternsuch a brutal show of force every country and their mother wanted an atomicnbomb! It shows us how after the Russians got a hold of atomic weapons as well, atomicnparanoia spread through an entire generation, taking over theirnminds for a very long time. Such was the aura breathed in the United Statesnduring the late 40’s and early 50’s. This paranoia is what The Atomic Café capturesnso well. The documentary expertly gathers military films that prepared theirnsoldiers for an atomic attack; news footage that informed movie goers that the United Statesnhad just won the war! It shows us news paper articles from that time and radionshows; T.V. commercials that would sell people the idea of living in an Atomicnneighborhood where all the houses had their own underground nuclear shelter! Thennuclear paranoia was not only mass hysteria, it was also extremely profitable. ThenAtomic Paranoia took over the world, they made songs about the atomic bomb, evennalcoholic drinks where named after the bomb.

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nThe film shows us how the bombing of Nagasakinand Hiroshima weren’tnenough to satiate the hunger of knowledge for this new terrifying weapon, ohnno, we had to know more! So what did the U.S. do? They blew up ancouple more atomic bombs in different parts of the world to find out thendestructive capabilities of this new atomic monster. But of course, the majoritynof these tests didn’t take place in the vicinity of the United States, their new weapons were tested nearnJapan and in the Marshall Islandsnwhere the largest Nuclear test ever was conducted, this test was called ‘CastlenBravo’. Watch this documentary and you’ll see news footage that actually callsnthe nuclear blast ‘a beautiful site’ to behold. Want to see how the United States military convinces the natives of Bikini Islandnto get the hell out of their little island because they want to tests atomicnweapons on it? Look no further then the military films gathered in The Atomic Café.nI can completely relate to this, the U.S.nmilitary actually tested their weapons in a small island next to Puerto Riconcalled Vieques; that is until the people of Puerto Riconand Vieques kicked them out, people where dying of cancer left and right!  

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nSee how the government prepared children to react when annuclear blast hit U.S.nshores! They even created a cartoon character called ‘Bert the Turtle’ thatnsang a song that taught kids to duck and cover! As if this would help at thenhour of a nuclear blast! Ducking and covering would only get you charred to ancrisp in this position, nothing else. This is really an outstanding documentary;nit is chilling because it is real. I cant recommend it enough As some of younmany know, I’m a humanist, and things like war and nuclear weapons simply makenno sense to me. Seeing all these people in such a state of paranoia simply madenme feel sorry for them, seeing the government manipulate and openly lie to themnmade me feel even worse. Ever seen a government tell people not to worry sonmuch about a nuclear explosion? Because in a nuclear explosion on 15% of thenpopulation would die? That worrying so much over so little makes no sense? Suchnthings where said to Americans by their government during those nuclear scarendays. Hell, I couldn’t believe it when I saw the footage of a nuclear testnwhere they actually had soldiers walk towards the nuclear blast! How freakingnstupid where those guys? Guineanpigs for sure!

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nWe don’t have such worries during our times, but who knowsnwhen our governments might decide to start up another nuclear paranoia? Thenpeople of Japannactually lived through a post-apocalyptic time thanks to the bombs, this isnsomething that is still reflected in the films they make. The best example isnof course, Gojira (1954) a film that completely mirrors how the Japanese people feltnabout the bombs and atomic power. The creature known as Godzilla embodiesneverything that they feared about Americans and their atomic weapons! Godzilla was ancreature that destroyed Japannwith its atomic breath, I’m sure that this is no coincidence. Thankfully, there are a couple of treaties innthe works to make nuclear testing illegal, but unfortunately they aren’tnin effect yet. Believe it or not countries don’t want to sign these treaties! Inguess that would make them look all weak or vulnerable? This of course means that anyncountry with ‘weapons of mass distruction’ is still capable and willing to blow us the hellnaway as we comfortably eat our dinners in our living rooms, watching Mad MaxnBeyond Thunderdome (1985). Heaven help us, and don’t forget to “duck and cover”;nwhich will do absolutely nothing to save you, have a nice day.

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nRating: 5 out of 5 

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