The Atomic Cafe.

Time for my next documentary for 'real life month' on my journey to learn how to review documentaries, enjoy!

The Atomic Cafe is what is known as a 'Poetic Documentary'. The film has no Voice of God (basically the fancy name for narration in documentaries) and no new footage from the three filmmakers, their entire point is made by the archive footage itself - luckily for them then, well over half the footage in this film is in the public domain, (basically they got it for free). The critical response was overwhelmingly positive, with praise for the filmmakers dedication and the style they chose and the film has won many awards in its time.

The Atomic Cafe, despite being a documentary, is somewhere between a science fiction film and a horror movie - with moments of a spy thriller and a comedy thrown in for good measure. Although know this, this is never a film not for the faint of heart, the atom bomb does some truly horrible things and the film doesn't shy away from them. The film also comes with a lot of thrills too, although you take it with a pinch of salt, because you know what the atom bomb does, seeing those huge scale explosions is just something else. There is an odd beauty to the whole thing which makes you feel disgusting for feeling so.

The Atomic Cafe is a roughly twenty year slice of A-Bomb history, starting at the end of the second World War, first with some brief tests of the bomb, then with the nuking of Hiroshima. This first half of the film is a very different beast to the second. The first half uses a lot of opposition in its clips, balancing the atrocities the Nuke causes with Americans celebration for 'peace', like their is something to be happy about. The first half is dark and shocking and fills you with disgust at the Americans. After Japan finally surrenders, after two nukes have been dropped, the film moves into the aftermath, with the dark tone of the piece still lingering in the air. Much of the aftermath is dedicated to further nuclear tests, which feel straight out of a science fiction film. The second half, which moves into Cold War territory, is oddly the light hearted, comic relief half of the movie with nearly all of the second half made up of goofy American propaganda films. I mean even the impending threat of full nuclear war plays out more like a comicbook villain plot than any real life threat with how it is presented in these clips, America's rising paranoia do nothing to raise any of the tension. Much of the closing part of the film is a nuclear race, will Russia or America build the H-Bomb first? Then leading into dramatised, fictitious America Propaganda films on what they claim would happen if America was nuked and taken over by Russia.

The Atomic Cafe is a beautiful film, whether it be the truly incredible explosions or just the slice of fifties life, due to it being almost a different world, all the hokeyness of the American Propaganda broadcasts gives the whole documentary a real sense of style.

It is in the use of the footage that makes this documentary so good, not only does each scene accompany the next in some way - there is a logical narrative progression and timeline, although this is archive footage the whole unit works like any other film. I mean there are times when they stack two pieces of footage together to play off of one another but for the most part this documentary due to being made up of archive footage of the time is like living through the events, not just a retelling and in many ways, it's what makes it more the harrowing when you see the devastation these bombs create.

Really, in the end, I'm literally in two halves over the film, because the first half is just incredible filmmaking. We feel sorry for the Japanese, just by carefully selected clips and just from carefully selected clips America comes across either as a joke, or a monster - these are just news reports and military propaganda clips, but when stacked in a certain order, even they can have an emotional effect. I mean even when it shows America might feel guilty, there is never a sense of sorry, and when the documentary stoops to showing the American's admitting their guilt, they balance this footage with the American's using the Japanese like Guinea Pigs to see the extent of the atomic bombs damage. Even when America is willing to evacuate people, it is only because they are about to nuke their homes. Even despite the history and who is right or wrong, a documentary should be subjective right? Well firstly, not always but secondly I can't really complain when a documentary manages to pick sides when the filmmakers themselves never get involved in the thing, it is fairly easy to throw a load of clips together but it shows genuine talent and skill to carefully select and order clips to tell your version of events. None of this footage, as far as I am aware, has been tampered with which makes it even more special, this is a labour of love, and I love the documentary for that.

But then the second half happens - I mean the stakes should really raise when the focus becomes the Cold War, right? And those hilarious, goofy fifties propaganda films should be enjoyable right? Not when you come from the dark and serious first half, no. In this half all we ever really learn about Russia and their threat is through American Propaganda movies, reducing Russia to a one dimensional comicbook villain, which is probably the intended point the documentary is trying to make...but I just found it pulled me out of the film a little, after seeing so much harrowing stuff on the attacks on Japan in the first half, to nearly the whole second half being made up of goofy American propaganda I think broke the balance a little, it's a tone shift so sudden and violent it leaves you with cinema whiplash. It's still enjoyable, but nowhere near as impacting as the first half was.

So do I recommend it? Although the bias is oddly heavy for something where the filmmakers aren't even participating physically in the thing and the pacing is a little off, this is nonetheless a key part of our history that we should all know about, and I can honestly think of worse ways to learn about it than this documentary.

Think About It!

-Locke