Sputnik Mania

Fifty years after the Soviet Union made history by launching Sputnik into space, the reverberations of that historical event are still echoing around the world. Produced to coincide with the 50th anniversary of this defining moment in human history, this documentary from filmmaker David Hoffman ...more

At first glance, Sputnik Mania seems somewhat similar to The Atomic Cafe (1982), offering a frequently humorous, eye-opening, and sobering look at 1950s America, its fears, and its political delusions. But that earlier movie -- fine as it was -- at some level functioned as a snarky and highly ideological laugh-fest over '50s Americana, with some more-than-implied barbs at the contemporary Reagan administration's confrontational nuclear policy; and as a consequence, it is as dated today as the ...more