Duck and Cover (1952)

Director: Anthony Rizzo
Country: United States

The other day I was reading The Economist which happens to be my favorite and the only newspaper I read every week, and I found an interesting article about what to do in case of a Nuclear Attack. Along with the information provided it cited this goverment-funded propagandistic short-film with a picture of Bert the Turtle which represents the steps to follow in case the real thing occurs, this caught my attention and I went to see it.

The film, which has been inducted in the Library of Congress for its historical importance and whatnot, is a combination of animated images and reenactments portraying people in a nuclear-attack scenario in America, the vibrant America of the 50's where happy white kids used to play baseball and drink CocaCola; adults used to organize picnics at the park; and suburbs were clean and free of illegal aliens. 

This world reminded me of the America in the Norman Rockwell’s beautiful paintings (an artist I also knew about because of reading The Economist), which at that moment its only enemy was the evil Communism but Bert the Turtle was there to help and to educate the public to survive a deathly nuclear attack expected with or without warning and to show you how to prevent serious burnings. 

Before the apocalyptic scenarios of Terminator, 28 Days Later or The Walking Dead we had real scary shit during the Cold-War and its missile crises, now we have North Korean nukes pointing Alaska and Hawaii, so you better Duke and Cover!