| The Atomic Café | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster |
|
| Directed by | Jayne Loader Kevin Rafferty Pierce Rafferty |
| Produced by | Jayne Loader Kevin Rafferty Pierce Rafferty |
| Editing by | Jayne Loader Kevin Rafferty |
| Studio | The Archives Project |
| Distributed by | Libra Films Journeyman Pictures |
| Release date(s) | March 17, 1982 (New York City) |
| Running time | 86 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The Atomic Cafe is an American documentary film produced and directed by Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty, and Pierce Rafferty.[1]
Contents |
The film covers the beginnings of the era of nuclear warfare, created from a broad range of archival film from the 1940s, 1950s and early 1960s - including newsreel clips, television news footage, U.S. government-produced films (including military training films), advertisements, television and radio programs. News footage reflected the prevailing understandings of the media and public. A quote which illustrates how the producers used archival footage to illustrate the absurdity of the government's public nuclear propaganda of the time:
Though the topic of atomic holocaust is a grave matter, the film approaches it with black humor. Much of the humor derives from the modern audience's reaction to the old training films, such as the Duck and Cover film shown in schools. A quote to illustrate what can be perceived as black humor culled from the archives:
The film was produced over a five-year period through the collaborative efforts of three directors: Jayne Loader, and brothers Kevin and Pierce Rafferty. For this film, the Rafferty brothers and Loader formed the production company "Archives Project Inc." The filmmakers opted not to use narration, and instead they deployed carefully constructed sequences of film clips to make their points. Jayne Loader has referred to The Atomic Cafe as a compilation verite, meaning that it is a compilation film with no "Voice of God" narration and no new footage added by the filmmakers.[2] The soundtrack utilizes atomic-themed songs from the Cold War era to underscore the themes of the film.[3]
One of the filmmakers, Kevin Rafferty, was later befriended by a young Michael Moore who was seeking advice on how to make his first film Roger & Me. Rafferty ended up becoming the cinematographer on the film and acting as a filmmaking mentor to Moore - who has acknowledged the influence on his own filmmaking. According to Moore, in an interview with Amy Goodman, aired most recently on labor day, September 6, 2010 and Chapter Two of Stupid White Men, Rafferty is the nephew of George Bush.[4]
The film cost only $300,000 to make. The group did receive some financial support from outside sources, including the Film Fund; a Washington, D.C. based non-profit.[5] Grants comprised a very nominal amount of the team’s budget, and the film was largely funded by the filmmakers themselves. Jayne Loader stated in an interview, “Had we relied on grants, we would have starved" [6] Pierce Rafferty helped to support the team and the film financially by working as a consultant and researcher on several other documentary films including El Salvador—Another Vietnam, With Babies and Banners, and The Life and Times of Rosie the Riveter.[7] The Rafferty brothers had also received an inheritance that they used to support the team during the five years it took to make the film [8] About 75% of the film is made up of government materials that were in the public domain. Many reviews of the film are quick to point out large amount of old tax money behind the film, an irony not lost on the filmmakers. Though they could use those public domain materials for free, they had to make copies of the film at their own expense. This along with the newsreel and commercial stock footage that comprises the other 25% of the film (along with the music royalties) represents the bulk of the trio’s expenditures.[9]
The film was released on March 17, 1982 in New York City, New York. In August 1982, a tie-in companion book of the same name, written by Kevin Rafferty, was released by Bantam Books, ISBN 0-55301-462-5.[10]
20th Anniversary Edition of the film was released in DVD format in Region 1 on March 26, 2002 by New Video Group.[11]
In 1995, an adult educational CD-ROM companion to The Atomic Cafe with many of the clips and other materials from the film, plus additional clips from declassified films, audio, photographs, and text files that archive the history, technology, and culture of the Nuclear Age, was released by Public Shelter; a web site based company Jayne Loader and her husband Eric Schwaab began. The Public Shelter CD-ROM release only sold 500 copies and failed to find a publisher.[12]
When the film was released, film critic Roger Ebert discussed the style and methods the filmmakers used, writing, "The makers of The Atomic Cafe sifted through thousands of feet of Army films, newsreels, government propaganda films and old television broadcasts to come up with the material in their film, which is presented without any narration, as a record of some of the ways in which the bomb entered American folklore. There are songs, speeches politicians, and frightening documentary footage of guinea-pig American troops shielding themselves from an atomic blast and then exposing themselves to radiation neither they nor their officers understood."[13]
Critic Vincent Canby praised the film, calling the film "a devastating collage-film that examines official and unofficial United States attitudes toward the atomic age" and a film that "deserves national attention."[14]
More recently, critic Glenn Erickson discussed the editorial message of the film's producers: "The makers of The Atomic Cafe clearly have a message to get across, and to achieve that goal they use the inherent absurdity of their source material in creative ways. But they're careful to make sure they leave them essentially untransformed. When we see Nixon and J. Edgar Hoover posing with a strip of microfilm, we know we're watching a newsreel. The content isn't cheated. Except in wrapup montages, narration from one source isn't used over another. When raw footage is available, candid moments are seen of speechmakers (including President Truman) when they don't know the cameras are rolling. Caught laughing incongruously before a solemn report on an atom threat, Truman comes off not as callous, but human.
The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 100% of critics gave the film a positive review, based on 14 reviews."[15]
A vinyl LP record of the film's soundtrack was released in 1982 by Rounder Records. Some of the credits for the record, include: co-produced by Charles Wolfe, The Archives Project (Jayne Loader, Kevin Rafferty and Pierce Rafferty), album cover artwork by Dennis Pohl, cover design by Mel Green, and booklet text by Charles Wolfe.[16]