Disco and Atomic War

2009

1 hr. 20 min.

Documentary

List

92%

13 Reviews

Tomatometer

94%

500+ Ratings

Audience Score

People grow up in the Soviet Union.

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Audience Member

I saw it and I want to see it again! It's amazing documentary of real life (idiotism) in Soviet Union!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/22/23

Full Review

Audience Member

One of the best documentaries I have seen. Both informative and humorously amusing.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/21/23

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Audience Member

Just a reminder to all of us who was growing up behind the iron curtain. Painfully entertaining and truthful. P.S. Soviet occupied Estonia in 80's still lived better than my family in Moscow.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/08/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Disco and Atomic War is an entertaining and intriguing documentary about a lesser known aspect of the later years of the Soviet Union. It focuses on how people in Northern Estonia were able to peek out from behind the Iron Curtain through Finnish television and radio, which enables the people to learn about things such as, well, Disco. The way the information is presented is entertaining. They use clips of television shows and commercials of the time and tell amusing stories of the inhabitants of Tallinn (the capital of Estonia, located in the North), and of the powers that be, who tried to somehow control the "westernizing" of the local people. The stories are somewhat absurd, and provide some fun humor into this documentary, a genre of movie which usually isn't all that "entertaining". The effects of the subject matter, tv and radio, on the fall of the Soviet Union is blown a bit out of proportion, but that is normal for a documentary. This is an excellent film about a topic, that is not as well known, even by the younger people in Estonia, who weren't alive at the time. Final rating: 9/10

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

01/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Wonderful Finnish/Estonian documentary about the Cold War broadcasting wars in the 1980s between Finland and Estonia (then part of the USSR). Separated by a narrow body of water, Estonians could pick up Finnish broadcasts with appropriate adjustments to their television receivers. By this means, they were able to view such TV classics of Dallas and Knight Rider. They were also exposed to Western opulence and the disco craze. There was an element of hide and seek between the authorities and the underground Western broadcast Estonian culture. The cultural influence of this soft revolution is chronicled in humorous detail as kids talked to their watches in front of foreign cars ala Knight Rider and people read about the latest episode of Dallas at small village gatherings for those who did not have access to the broadcast.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

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Jaak Kilmi

Director

Gerda Viira

Urve

Oskar Vuks

Jaak

Toomas Pool

Toomas

Jaan-Joosep Puusaag

Actor

Einar Kotka

Actor

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Keith Uhlich

Time Out

The fancifulness of this whimsical documentary wears out its welcome, and you often wish the film would treat its subject with a bit more seriousness.

Rated: 3/5

Feb 24, 2023

Full Review

Stephen Holden

New York Times

A playful compendium of archival footage, dramatic reconstructions with a surreal comic edge and solemn talking heads.

Rated: 3.5/5

Nov 12, 2010

Full Review

V.A. Musetto

New York Post

It's the true story of how the Soviet government that ruled Estonia into the 1980s began to lose control when somebody discovered they could illegally tap into Western TV from neighboring Finland.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 12, 2010

Full Review

Vladan Petkovic

Cineuropa

The film is fantastically entertaining and thoroughly informative, a real treat for viewers of all preferences.

Aug 10, 2020

Full Review

Shelagh Rowan-Legg

That Shelf

The film uses Kimli's personal story and his family's almost daily risk of arrest in an irreverent manner to look at the larger story of the USSR's hopeless attempt to control the hearts and minds of its citizens.

May 18, 2018

Full Review

Ethan Alter

NYC Film Critic

Don't be completely deceived by the film's light touch; Disco and Atomic War still makes a number of salient points.

Rated: 3.5/4

Nov 19, 2010

Full Review

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Synopsis

People grow up in the Soviet Union.

Director: Jaak Kilmi
Screenwriter: Kiur Aarma, Jaak Kilmi
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: Estonian
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017

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