The Decline of Western Civilization Part III

Los Angeles at the end of the nineties. The documentary follows punk kids living on the street: between fifteen and twenty, runaways or thrown out, squatting in abandoned buildings and living by panhandling. There is concert footage between the sections, but the film is not about concerts. Penelope Spheeris directs. It is the third and last part of the series. Read together the three form a record of decline. The first, in 1981, showed the Los Angeles punk scene through its energy. The second, in 1988, covered heavy metal and that scene's obsession with fame. This one follows not what is left of the music but its listeners, and finds homelessness rather than music. Spheeris does not stay behind the camera. She talks to the kids directly, asks questions, and stays with some of them for a long time. Most of the stories involve domestic violence, alcohol and the failure of the child protection system. The most shattering thing is how they talk about the future: most do not expect to live long and say so calmly. Who it is for: viewers who follow subculture documentary and films that address social questions head on. Who it is not for: it is bleak and proposes no solution, and the technical quality is poor with sound that is sometimes unintelligible.