Rat

Quite the dismal little film. It concerns a couple, who are blonde hair and blue eyed like everyone else in this Scandinavian future, who decide to get hitched just as the unnamed country they live in goes to war with another no-name country. The man of the couple, John Johnson (Anton Vrdoljak) gets shoved around and beaten down just about as much as any man can in a film, and yet still maintains his iron will and sunny disposition. I won't spoil the end, but it's pretty nihilistic. Watch it ONLY if you're in a good mood.

I watched this film without knowing what it was going to be about. It's thrown together with an American B movie 'This Is Not A Test' in a collection that I picked up at the local library for killing some time. The two films both deal with the horrors of the atomic weapon era. The story has been pointed out by others here so I won't summarize that, but it was quite an interesting contrast to see the two back to back. Atomic War Bride is made with many implicit and explicit allusions to the European intellectual and literary traditions, while addressing the new issue of atomic weapons of mass destruction, that was going to soon become one of the earliest strong signs of globalization. I don't mean to get into 'This Is Not A Test' here, but the point is that those traces of intellectual thought make a serious difference between these two films. While the American one is not much more than a basic and crude take on the questions of authority and irony, this one covers a wide range of issues about the relationship between the individual and the society, the relationship between the individual and the state, questions of violence and love, absurdity, freedom and group psychology, and more. All in all, I guess, this is a nice little film that makes you think again and again, without necessarily claiming to be an intellectual film. It is, after all, an absurd comedy about war and the question of optimism against the harsh realities of the human nature. I found it well worth the watch.

Saw 12/14/2018. The film follows the adventures of a nearly married couple as the bombs start falling. After their interrupted wedding, here and there attempts at humor, but the point of the "jokes" is so predictable as to doom any comedic effect . And while not funny enough to make me laugh, those unsuccessful efforts come at the cost of any intended tears as we contemplate the nuclear annihilation of John Johnson, his titular inchoate spouse, and the world. Only marginally interesting because of the time of release, before the real life nuclear crises of Berlin in 1961 and Cuba the year after that. Much better: 1963's "Ladybug Ladybug" because it carries has the real sting of truth about it; and from 1962, "This Is Not a Test", offering a Sartrean take on nuclear war.

The outbreak of war disrupts a young couple's nuptial plans. This Yugoslavian black comedy blends near slapstick farce (such as the distribution of the anti-radiation suits or the camouflage lessons) with irony (pealing church-bells don't mean peace, they mean annihilation of the enemy), and political satire. Similar to Dr. Strangelove, the final punchline is the bomb going off. The scene in which the government announces that they have installed cameras on the war-heads so citizens can see the faces of the enemy just before the missiles hit is particularly inspired. Not surprisingly, rather than inciting blood-lust, personifying the enemy triggers the peace movement. The film is not subtle: war is a foolish, cruel, and unnecessary past-time driven from the elites regardless of the feelings of the people. This must have seemed an odd message to Western viewers, considering the film was made behind the 'Iron Curtain', where dissent and pacifism was routinely suppressed (or so we were told). Although there is certainly some timelessness to the message, 'War' (a translation of the original Serbo-Croatian title 'Rat') seems dated and almost quaint now, but is worth watching by anyone interested in political films of the era (from either side of the Curtain). The production values are quite impressive and if the scenes of military mobilisation were done using stock footage, the blending is seamless. I watched a reasonably well-done English-subtitled version on-line (called 'Atomic War Bride'). All in all, a novel example of cold-war era 'Atomic Bomb Cinema'.

Atomic War Bride (1960)

** (out of 4)

John (Antun Vrdoljak) marries Maria (Ewa Krzyzewska) but what should be the start of a beautiful life is anything but that when their country ends up in a possible atmoic war. Pretty soon the couple have their lives ripped apart as their future becomes very unclear.

ATOMIC WAR BRIDE was filmed in Croatia and to call it a rather bleak movie would be an understatement. If you're looking for some corny or campy then you're certainly not going to find it here as the movie is very dark, very bleak and it certainly doesn't end on a cute note. With all of that being said, the movie certainly has its heart in the right place but at the same time the end results aren't all that great.

I think the biggest problem is that the filmmakers just didn't have enough money to pull off what I'm sure they wanted to. Considered the budget you have to tip your hat to director Veljko Bulajic as he certainly built up a nice atmosphere and I also thought he managed to tell the story quite well. There's no doubt that the film gets its message across and there are a few good moments scattered throughout and that includes the ending.

I thought the two leads were good enough for this type of film. The screenplay gets off the right messages thrown across the screen but at the same time there's really nothing new or fresh done here.