All Region DVD (NTSC)
Brain Damage Films
Volumes 1-5
Web: http:// www.braindamagefilms.com
Faces
of Death has a lot to answer for ! While Mondo Cane and other shockumentaries
began the craze in unusual documentaries showing confronting and challenging
footage, it was Faces of Death which focused in on torture, mutilation and
death. That being said Faces of Death was mostly faked and hence had a level of
amusement mixed with in the horror. The newer trend in death shockumentaries is
to focus on reality and this is where news and entertainment seem to merge.
Banned
in America offers five volumes covering news footage and home video, it is all
real – none of it is faked. Crime footage, accidents, suicides and lots more.
It is shocking, confronting and very difficult to watch. So far every other
shockumentary I have seen pales in comparison with this series. Each volume is
an unending march of death and destruction, a cavalcade of violence, accidents,
torture, punishment and just about everything in-between.
The
raison d’ętre of this series is to offer the clips, reports and news items
which were censored from TV news. This series certainly does that. The news in
the US, UK and Australia regularly “self censors” and do not show many items;
personally I have been surprised by the amount of news available on the
internet which does not show up in TV coverage. Clearly some of this is due to
the highly violent nature of the footage and this is what is covered in this
series.
What
I do I think about it ? The reality is that crime and violence occurs and since
such footage exists in a truly free media such reports would be available to
the general public (adults, of course). Viewers could then decide what to see
and what not to see. Since this does not occur Banned in America offers us the
opportunity to see a side of the world we would never see anywhere else.
There
is no doubt this is a very dark series and presents a side of the world many of
us might not want to see. For many viewers just getting through the first few
clips will be hard work, never mind five volumes of harrowing content.
The
sort of clips you can expect to see includes politicians blowing off their
heads, suicides such as direct rifles to the face and lots and lots of car
crashes with god knows how much mayhem. But there is more (!), hangings, hands
being cut off, mutilations, medical madness and so on. There is a balance of
footage from Western countries and other locations around the globe- this is
World Cinema with teeth.
The
clips are, of course, in various conditions. They have done the best they can
but with such rare and controversial footage obviously it won’t be in the best
condition. The score is very powerful and certainly also ramps up the effect.
So
should you see it ? Well, it is hard to review a series which is really on the
edge of being a wild journey through the dark side of the news. It is violent,
confronting and shocking; at the same time it offers us the possibility to view
things we have never been able to see before. Whether you should take the risk
and see them for yourself I leave up to you. But for the daring, brace yourself
for a very wild ride.
This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2
(2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.
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