Monday, September 16, 2013

Atomic Cafe

This documentary really displayed our country at war using extreme technology to kill and basically prove to the Japs and other countries that we are not screwing around; we have the technology to kill millions. Growing up, I was not really aware of the atomic bombs and the America lived so long in fear of other countries hurting them with radioactivity and A-bombs in general. The scene where the child was dressed in an all black suit was really shocking to me, mainly because when I learned about the years from 1945 to the late 1950's, I was never taught that our country was living with the idea that they might get attacked by A-bombs and that they had to take all of these safety precautions.

I noticed that the characters depicted in the film, besides the random females in our society, were mostly just men. A lot of film clips of political leaders, including Lyndon Johnson and Truman, were showed randomly throughout and also just a lot of civilians, workers and others who were living during this time in hopes that A-bombs wouldn't kill them. I also remember watching clips of children getting prepared for any crisis that may occur and what they would have to do in order to protect themselves.

All of these images and videos throughout the film were kind of scary and really made me question what the hell the government was doing during the time. It's obvious that they didn't know little or any about atomic bombs or what to really do if there happened to be a nuclear war. The government really tried to hide their fears and lack of knowledge on the subject by covering it up and using their technology to keep the public and their military calm during this intense situation.

Personally, I enjoyed the documentary because it gave me a whole new outlook on what life was like for Americans back during that time. While watching it, I thought a lot about calling up my grandparents and asking them if they remember anything about that time and what it was actually like. I appreciated the film makers collection of all of these old newspapers, films and television/radio news stories from that era and putting it all together to make a fantastic, and beautifully made film. It's interesting to me that people are silent about that time and how we are still not told much on how to survive it now-a-days. I mean, where do we go and what do we do IF a nuclear war actually happens? I guess I would have to take cover under a desk at school.



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