The Killing Of America (Killing Of America (DVD))

Name: DavidJay

Hello doyoo user, You have to be logged in to use these functions... Login or register Close window

Send message to member

Product:	Killing Of America (DVD)
Date:	06/08/08 (25 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Uncompromising, thought-provoking meld of exploitation and propaganda.

Disadvantages: Morally disturbing, apparently uncertain of its audience at times.

Co-written by Leonard Schrader, this deeply unsettling, morally ambiguous shockumentary melange of genuine - and genuinely disturbing - documentary footage and social commentary serves almost as a justification for the actions of Travis Bickle in brother Paul Schrader's Taxi Driver. A bleak, uncompromising film that, despite sharing generic traits (and several sequences) with the likes of Faces Of Death, True Gore and what not, has more in common with Herman, Kumar and Monaghan's impassioned, thoughtful 1995 British production Executions. Like the latter, The Killing Of America parades its grotesqueries (sundry assassinations, beatings, slaughters...) in the service of a core political message - a message which, in this instance, is almost as disturbing as the carnage onscreen. The film almost seems to call for vigilante justice, and a reactionary, right-wing tone informs most every scene. It is, however, a fascinating picture in its own right, a strange, curious meld of the exploitation film and the protest film, albeit one which falls well short of being a classic of either genre.

Summary: Fascinating but deeply flawed and distressing for reasons other than those intended.