DISCO AND ATOMIC WAR (Jaak Kilmi, Estonia/Finland). 78 minutes. Subtitled.
Friday (April 30), 9:15 pm, ROM Saturday (May 1), 2 pm, Cumberland 2. Rating: NNNN
Many of us have fond memories of 80s TV, but you might say that for the citizens of Estonia, watching Knight Rider was life altering. Director Jaak Kilmi recalls that era in Disco And Atomic War, a witty, insightful and thoroughly entertaining political thriller about how the Iron Curtain did battle with contraband Western-tinged airwaves from Finland.
[rssbreak]
Kilmi chronicles how every Soviet attempt to censor pop culture on television was met with an Estonian insurgency, like locals making pirate antennas out of a thermometer. All the while, the director draws on his personal childhood memories for some context, with hilarious dramatizations of how the Cold War played out in Estonia.
