The Decline of Western Civilization Part III

As lack of, and, declining access to mental-health care and social/housing and programs due to current pandemic(s), the issue of the street-kid, while they may have become less visible, certainly has gotten no better.

The current pandemic (not to mention the ongoing fentanyl one) have shifted focus and goals of the current programs and they have either been reduced or completely decimated.

Sadly, like at the end, they talk of the kids who died between post-production of this and release, kids on the streets are dropping in record numbers due to unreliable drug sources and just overall compassion being down to the point of non-existant.

I love Spheeris, and highly recommend this, or better yet, Suburbia : the ultimate fictional look into too real problems. Both that and this film still are incredibly relevant and don't feel any less watchable due to the movement of pop-culture. The names of the styles have changed ; the faces and the kids are still the same.

I'm a big fan of the Decline series and Spheeris has always had a great grip on the lifestyle and passion behind rock and roll as the focal point of the trilogy. While Decline III is undoubtedly the most depressing of the series, it is probably also the best.

While the other two movies were mostly about musicians and aspiring musicians, Decline III is more about the followers of musicians and their devotion to the lifestyle of the punk movement. This film is much more about homelessness than music and attempts to show why some young people are drawn to the nomadic life of a punk. The people Spheeris interviews all seem lost but they share a deep bond with each other as well as a pessimistic life view brought on by traumas of their childhoods that include abuse and degradation.

What Spheeris does successfully is showing how beautiful the souls of these people are. In many ways, you can see the punks in this film as anti-heroes who stand for positive values like inclusion, equality, free thought and non-violence, despite society's desire to paint them as violent troublemakers. She gets down into the muck with them, spending a lot of time asking real questions and showing their daily way of life, all the time showing how the punk lifestyle is less about music than philosophy.

There are also some great, high-energy musical performances that rival the ones shown in the other Decline films in terms of power. Spheeris found a lost generation of kids who were deemed disposable by their parents and society and showed us how smart and gentle they are under a tough exterior.

Before seeing this movie, i heard a bit of hype that it was the bell tolling the end of Punk. Now, i wouldn't attribute it with that kind of importance, but in defense of that statement, the music of the bands depicted in this installment of the "Decline of Western Civilization" series, pales in comparison to the music of the bands featured in the first of the series, (i.e. the Germs, the Circle Jerks). But, it must be said that this movie is more about the lives of a handful of homeless punks in LA. It is a touching film, despite Penelope Spheeris' constantly embarrassing and exploitive interviewing techniques. The punks in the film are too interesting to be exploited to the point of their own embarrassment, however, but i couldn't help but want to see their lives documented by a better, more trustworthy director.

I remember seeing the theatrical trailer for this film in the theaters around seven years ago. It probably only lasted in the theaters out here for about a week and then the film disappeared entirely. I even recall finding an interview with Penelopy Spheres in a magazine somewhere around that time too. I guess I was pretty eager to see the film, but missed it. Anyhow after seeing the film for the first time today, I must say I was a bit disappointed. It seemed as if everything that was weak about the first film (namely the lame outsider questions) was all that remained in the third. How could the same film maker who made Suburbia and the first Decline be so far out of touch? I mean, she made it look like the only group doing shows in '97 was Naked Aggression. At one point in the movie she asks a kid what speed is, and then she turns around asks the same dude if his mom used to smoke it or shoot it. Whaaat? I thought you didn't even know what a tweaker was. Bascialy the the movie goes on like this, "Where are your parents? Do they like your hair? What's that in your ear? Let's interview a cop. Where do you see your self in 5 years? What's tweak? Doesn't that make you sad? Why don't you get a job?" It looked a lot like the only thing the director was really attracted to was the appearance of her subject, and in the end, even though the people in this film are are real, you kind of have to wonder how accurate this movie really is.

It's a small but significant crime that this didnt receive diddly squat in distribution at the time it was made; I shouldve been able to rent this from my local Blockbuster like 40 times in high school (or at least as with Decline 2 get it on eBay - the first one I got through bootleg from I can't remember where). I just dont see why an indie distributor wouldn't take this as seriously as any other documentary about marginalized people (yes, including the final title card that all profits will go to the homeless and childhood abuse victims).

This could be criticized as not as organized as the first Decline, like there are a few points where it comes close to a home movie (albeit, what a home, or lack thereof), and it may be repetitive in its points and I may have liked to have seen a few more people from the "old days" (Flea and the former lead singer of Black Flag make appearances). But I dont care. It's a Decline doc!

It's an essential document of young people, often genuinely abused and neglected since, well, they're not living on the streets just for kicks, and some talk about being force fed alcohol as babies and being beaten and neglected - and a sadness covers a lot of this. I don't think Spheeris intended that necessarily, but she also doesn't try for anything for effect inasmuch that her approach to camera and cutting or how she asks questions sensationalizes these kids. It creates empathy because, hey, this could have been me or you or anyone else. The humanity is unvarnished, exciting, and distressing. A particularly eerie highlight, so to speak, are parts of an interview she has with a junkie who is... What that looks like.

"Where are you going to be five years from now?" "Drunk!"

PS: look for a Dudes movie poster on one of the walls at the party scene.