Buried in the Backyard

A fascinating documentary recalling the old disaster-preparation featurettes of the 1950s, when Americans gripped by Cold War paranoia constructed elaborate “fallout shelters” designed to offer protection against an expected nuclear strike by the Soviet Union, Buried in the Backyard looks at similar-minded people in a post-9/11 environment. Filmmakers Monica Bigler and Sarah Prior take an ostensibly neutral stance in their interviews with the new breed of survivalists preparing for nuclear attacks by modern-day terrorists, but have shrewdly edited the footage showcasing their subjects' shelters in such a way that the worried citizens come across as unusually paranoid and even, in some cases, downright silly (leaving viewers to wonder whether some of the participants felt bushwhacked in the end). Some could argue that the film's approach should have been more evenhanded, but this offbeat half-hour documentary is unquestionably entertaining. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (E. Hulse)