Disco and Atomic War (2009)
"Disko ja tuumasõda" (original title)

A story about growing up in the Soviet Union. The film tells the story of a strange kind of information war, where a totalitarian regime stands face to face with the heroes of popular ... See full summary »

Director:

Jaak Kilmi

Writers:

Kiur Aarma (creator), Jaak Kilmi (creator)

Stars:

Gerda Viira, Oskar Vuks, Toomas Pool

1 win.

Cast

Credited cast:
Gerda Viira	...	Urve
Oskar Vuks	...	Jaak
Toomas Pool	...	Toomas
Jaan-Joosep Puusaag	...	Joosep
Einar Kotka	...	Young Nikolai
Aleksandr Aug	...	Father of Joosep
Birgit Veemaa	...	Mother of Joosep
Kiur Aarma	...	Narrator (voice)
Jaak Kilmi	...	Narrator (voice)
Alo Kõrve	...	Narrator (voice)
Jaan Tootsen	...	Narrator (voice)
Liina Vahtrik	...	Narrator (voice)
Eduard Toman	...	Narrator (voice)
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Åke Blomqvist	...	Himself (archive footage)
David Hasselhoff	...	Himself / Michael Knight (archive footage)

Storyline

A story about growing up in the Soviet Union. The film tells the story of a strange kind of information war, where a totalitarian regime stands face to face with the heroes of popular culture. And loses. It was a time when it was possible for erotic film star Emmanuelle to bring down the Red Army and MacGyver to outdo an entire school administration. It is a film about our generation, who were unknowingly brought to the front line of the Cold War. Western popular culture had an incomparable role shaping Soviet children's world views in those days. Finnish television was a window to a world of dreams that the authorities could not block in any way. Though Finnish channels were banned, many households found some way to access the forbidden fruit.

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Plot Keywords:

disco | finnish television | television | soviet union | estonia | 

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Taglines:

The story of a totalitarian regime brought down by disco

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Genres:

Documentary

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Details

Country:

Estonia Finland

Language:

Estonian Finnish Russian English

Release Date:

12 November 2010 (USA)

Also Known As:

Disco and Atomic War

Filming Locations:

Estonia

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eetriüksus, Helsinki Filmi Oy

Technical Specs

Runtime:

80 min 80 min

Color:

Black and White Color

Did You Know?

Connections

Features Star Wars (1977)

User Reviews

Better on paper

I chose this entry at the Dallas Int'l Film Fest based on its intriguing description (ok, the "Dallas" connection clinched the deal). The film describes the history of popular western culture as depicted on television as a deliberate use of "soft power" in the cold war. While it was mildly entertaining and reasonably interesting, it was not what you would call compelling viewing or taut storytelling. The narrative did not flow well and there was a substantial amount of somewhat "off-topic" footage and content. We "follow" several children who grew up with the pirated Finnish TV signal, but their tales are disjointed. Some of the footage seems like it was from an era earlier than the time it was meant to depict. The basic tale is interesting from a historical standpoint, but the filmmaker is unsuccessful in translating to the screen what sounds like a great idea on paper. With judicious cuts and editing it would make a great one-hour PBS documentary, but it does not hold up as a feature-length film.