The Atomic Cafe
Directed by Pierce Rafferty, Kevin Rafferty, & Jayne Loader
USA | 1982 | Documentary | 88 min
Film Source: Kino Lorber
Sponsor: John Douglas
*Screening will be followed by Q&A with director Pierce Rafferty
Hilarious and horrifying, often at the same time, this blackly comic documentary about the dawn of the Atomic Age is as timely as ever. Originally released in 1982, during a period when the Reagan administration was aggressively ramping up the U.S. nuclear arsenal, The Atomic Cafe is a collage of government propaganda films, newsreels, advertisements and civil defense “social guidance” films from the 1940s and ’50s. From a campy ad extolling the benefits of fallout shelters to an Army propaganda film meant to convince soldiers to approach a nuclear blast site with just a helmet and rifle for protection, The Atomic Cafe suggests that the satirical humor of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove wasn’t that far removed from reality. With nuclear overtures from North Korea and covert Russian operations to thwart American democracy prominent in 2018 headlines, the lessons of the 1950s have never felt more relevant. ~LB