This is the documentary about the “Atomic Age”. The beginnings of the Atomic bomb testing, deployment and how it changed the lifestyle of the country. It includes all of the newsreels and propaganda films of the era. My question after watching it was after dropping the two bombs on Japan, why was more testing needed? Purposely putting soldiers and civilians in harms way telling everyone there’s nothing to worry about.

Testing in the middle of the Pacific around the Bikini islands, the wind shifted unexpectedly and other inhabited islands were affected. Of course the Army sent a response crew to take care of the natives all the while explaining how there were only minor injuries while the film was showing sores and rashes but everyone is fine except for any future illnesses they might encounter and quote, “the 236 natives appear to be well and happy” as a medic is pulling hair out of a guys deformed head.  Nothing to worry about except in Japan where they threw out and brought fish back from market that had radiation, but I’m sure people were fine.

A military exercise outside Las Vegas that sent troops into an area just after the bomb blast to see how fast troops could get in and secure the area if they had to. Watch the military telling troops there was nothing to worry about and watching those troops running toward a mushroom cloud. What’s worse, who knows how many of those troops died years later from the fallout they received?

One odd thing (among many) was that there was an MP (Military Police) standing next to the interviewee while he was telling the reporter what he went through and showing his radiation detector and then the news report how the wind shifted and now Saint George was going to get some fallout, but there was nothing to worry about. The winds shifted again? Darn the weather.

Earlier a news conference reporting about the senseless execution of the Rosenbergs and how Ethel Rosenberg was still alive after her first electrocution and needed two more was really sad.

It’s edited showing newsreels and the propaganda films put out back then showing what we know now is the silliness of bomb shelters and radiation suits for kids, it also shows the ignorance of the government wanting to test something they knew nothing about on innocent soldiers and civilians and telling everyone there was nothing to worry about.

The cover of the Atomic Cafe listed on Amazon says it’s a comic horror film. Yeah, kind of. It’s comical in that we really lived like that and it’s a horror film from what the government was trying to convince us of. What was a little sickening was how the politicians and others said God was on our side including all of the pastors and reverends interviewed.

I had to watch this for the history class I’m taking and was going to leave the link but it’s behind a user id, so probably shouldn’t. It’s available at Amazon and probably most public libraries. I checked and it’s definitely in all of the Las Vegas libraries.

Update: Found on Youtube and Google Video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOUtZOqgSG8
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1126269724766604475#

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