THE MIGHTY ATOM REVIEWED
“The Mighty Atom” is a colorful wisp of a documentary. The central figure is a fascinating icon of Jewish life during the early 20th century. Once believed to die as a child, the tiny man grew up to be one of the last great strongmen. His style of entertaining without gaudy theatrics inspires strongmen to this day. Plus, his grandson seems to think that he was a swell guy. Through in a few anecdotes and that’s the whole movie.
While that is enough for documentary fans like me, it’s not going to play to a crowd. The film is short enough to be entertaining, but it runs out of steam. Take away the talking head interviews and you’ve got probably a really amazing 22 minute special. The material is great, it just feels like it belongs to a much larger look at strongmen. I’m kinda shocked that the filmmakers didn’t try to package it for cable.
Still, I enjoyed it immensely and recommend it to fans of classic Americana.
FILM STATS
- 1 hr and 14 mins
- Not Rated
- SDG Films