[yasr_overall_rating]
A documentary chronicling the rise and fall of the punk movement with rare interview footage of Sid Vicious and Nancy Spungen. Also concert and news footage.
Back in 1978, Lech Kowalski – the ultimate groupie who happened to be armed with a 16mm camera – embarked on a journey. He followed The Sex Pistols on their only seven-city U.S. tour. It was ultimately their last one, after which the band broke up, and Sid and Nancy tragically died. Non-invasive, filled with music but not much insight, “D.O.A.” serves as a curiosity, a rare glimpse at some legendary footage, without much context or depth.
An actual rite of passage opens the documentary, juxtaposed against female fingers, putting on an LP – the last such flourish in an otherwise-basic doc. Kowalski then delves deep into a Los Angeles punk rock club, a Sex Pistols gig, taking the viewer along for the tour and the U.S. audience’s reaction to it. The energy is palpable before Johnny Rotten even begins to wail, “I wanna be anarchy,” fist up in the air, the man an embodiment of said anarchy. Hearing the terrified U.S. audience’s feedback is exhilarating (those clothes!), folks both shocked and aroused by the punk provocateurs. My favorite line comes about halfway through the film, when Sid Vicious is asked, “What’s your impression of America, at this point?” by an eager journalist, and simply replies, “A load of shit.”
Issues of authority are discussed. Interviews with folks opposing the movement, while amusing in their all-too-British uptightness, halt the doc’s momentum, like the one with the elderly Mary Whitehouse, an “anti-smut crusader,” who says, “I’m not shocked by punk. I’m shamed by it.”
On the other hand, the doc could have used more interviews like the one with an intoxicated Sid – who wears a swastika T-shirt – and Nancy, months before their death. Toppled on top of each other, barely comprehensible, they smoke cigarettes and try not to pass out. Nancy asks the camera guy, “Should we kiss for you?” She makes Sid a cup of coffee. Later, she undresses and makes out with him, after snapping at him for spilling coffee and cigarettes on her. True artist geniuses, ladies, and gents.
Kowalski’s doc is chock-full of legendary live performances by The Sex Pistols, and lesser-known bands, such as Sham 69, the female-led X-Ray Spex, The Dead Boys, Generation X (later famous for giving rise to the one and only Billy Idol) and, well, the less said about Terry and the Idiots, the better.
Shot mostly on grainy 16mm film in bars and clubs, “D.O.A.” portrays a moment in time, with all of its fashion and anarchist movements. It shows how authority viewed it as a threat, and was, in return, regarded as such itself (“neo-punk” bands like The Prodigy still sing anti-establishment ballads). But at the end of the day, that’s all it is, a musical snapshot, without much cultural resonance, significance or any deeper glimpses at the band itself. Yes, it’s raw and grimy. Yes, it’s seeped with a healthy dose of authenticity; unlike watching aging rock stars reminiscing about the good old days, with intermittent archival footage, this is the real deal. One just can’t help but wish that the real deal was a little bit more… real.
Now available on Blu-ray & DVD from MVD Entertainment
