Other titles:DEN ATLANTISKE ALLIANCE (Danish title) [Alternative Title]
HET ATLANTISCH BONDGENOOTSCHAP (Dutch title) [Alternative Title]
L'ALLIANCE ATLANTIQUE (French title) [Alternative Title]
DAS ATLANTISCHE BÜNDNIS (German title) [Alternative Title]
Summary: Film describing the work and rôle of NATO and the Atlantic Alliance; made to replace the earlier film NATO TODAY.
Description: This film aims to provide an overview of the functioning of NATO, and its policies of deterrence and détente within the context of peace in Western Europe. The film opens with anti-war protest scenes. A background of long-term European conflict is described. Stills are used to indicate that warfare is still rife in other parts of the world, in contrast to Europe. NATO is described as having been formed in the years following the Second World War as a cross-atlantic alliance to defend Western Europe. The following thirty five years have been characterised by recovery and progress, which the film attests with a montage of scenes with industrial, agricultural and technological contents. Using footage from NATO Headquarters in Brussels the film briefly describes the workings of the North Atlantic Council and the variety of committees operated by NATO. Similar brief descriptions are then provided for the responsibilities of the Supreme Allied Commander Atlantic (SACLANT), Commander-in-Chief, Channel (CINCHAN) and Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR). The “triad of forces” controlled by NATO – conventional non-nuclear, short-range nuclear and long-range nuclear – and their potential for a strategy of “flexible response” is then described. The film then discusses the position of NATO in regard of civilian anti-nuclear protests. An analogy is suggested between those who protested for peace in the 1930s – and the subsequent development of the Second World War – and the contemporary context. Concluding that NATO cannot leave its citizens unprotected, the film also argues that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (CCCP\USSR) is disinterested in unilateral disarmament, remains committed to the workers struggle, demonstrates aggression in Afghanistan and carries out repression in Poland. The film then moves on to describes NATO’s policy of détente. Several initiatives are referenced: the Washington Statement on East-West Relations (1984), Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe resulting in the Helsinki Act (1975), the Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions talks in Vienna about reduction of conventional weaponry, talks in Geneva on reduction in nuclear arms (1981), Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT, 1972) and SALT II (1979), and the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty START talks of 1983. The film ends by describing the purpose of NATO is the ongoing protection of peace that its member nations have enjoyed over the last thirty five years.
Alternative Title:DEN ATLANTISKE ALLIANCE (Danish title) [Alternative Title]
HET ATLANTISCH BONDGENOOTSCHAP (Dutch title) [Alternative Title]
L'ALLIANCE ATLANTIQUE (French title) [Alternative Title]
DAS ATLANTISCHE BÜNDNIS (German title) [Alternative Title]
Colour:Colour
Digitised:Yes
Object_Number:NAT 2079
Sound:Sound
Access Conditions:IWM NATO
Featured Period:
Production Date:1984
Production Country: NATO
Production Details: North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Sponsor)
Roymark Limited (Production company)
