There's a book called "The Greatest Films Ever Made" by the Editors of Entertainment Weekly. They gave me the honor of being named the 6th Best Documentary of all time. Yet, I like the Atomic Cafe better than my own title ("The Voyager Odyssey" if you must know. This documentaries captures everything I remember about growing up in the 50's. It begins with the Trinity Test and takes the viewer through the effect that the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki had not only on the Japanese, but on the Americans and Soviet Union as well. Told using Public Domaine US Propaganda Films and Army Training Films (one even starring Joseph Cotton) it documents the paranoia and insanity of that period. In one memorable shot troops are shown entering a hot zone immediately after an atomic explosion, while their colonel assures them it's safe. What it doesn't tell is that in the early days of the Cold War, the Russians were rather impotent. While we built the DEW (Distant Early Warning) line of radar stations in the arctic, expecting hundreds of Soviet Bear Bombers to travel over the pole through Canada to blast our country to smithereens, it turns out the Soviets only had four working bombers. How did they convince us otherwise. At the 1954 Mayday festivities, they flew their four bear bombers past the American deligation, continued out of eye shot, then flew them past the officials again and again. We were faked out and spent billions. This is documentary telling of the most difficult type since there is no narration. Is it a better documentary than my "Voyager Odyssey"? That's a matter of opinion. I just am not about to give back my award. 9/10
Review of The Atomic Cafe
