Review for The Killing of America

The Killing of America is a grim shock documentary in the Mondo style of such films as Faces of Death and Mondo Cane. This has never been available in America, but is now available for us to watch in the UK and there does seem to be an odd feeling to that. If there was ever a time for the USA to watch a documentary like this it would be now. Its look at violence, particularly gun crime, is as relevant today as it was in 1981 when this was made.

Now this is not a happy thing to watch and really should have more of a warning about what you are about to view. I have a strong stomach, but some of the visuals of this documentary were horrible to watch. This was all the worse simply because it is all real. This isn't like Faces of Death which has been confirmed as about 99.9% made up, but this was all real.

The documentary looks at infamous assassinations such as those of John F Kennedy, his brother Robert and Martin Luther King. What is brought up time and time is the assassins were generally normal, everyday, average people. This is what makes watching this documentary at times so difficult to watch.

It looks at the violence caused by the Vietnam War and other social, political turmoil, also the 'sniper' murderers and the horror and fear they created. Many of these killers just wanted to make a name for themselves and this is something that has been an epidemic for America with some serial killers becoming infamous for these horrendous crimes.

These include Charles Manson, David Berkowitz (The Son of Sam), Jim Jones, Ted Bundy and many others. Many of them have no real motive and again the randomness of the murders is frightening.

It ends with the death of John Lennon. Another senseless act, which ripped from the world such an iconic and peace loving man for no apparent reason. Watching the grief of the people of New York is just devastating and reading about how even during the vigil people were still killed makes it even more senseless.

I'm not sure what I feel about this. I enjoyed bits and pieces and it is certainly a thought provoking piece of work. However, I do feel that an updated version would be better and maybe Michael Moore's Bowling for Columbine is that film. I watched, shocked by some of the visuals, but also fascinated by just how these people could think they were doing the right thing or simply acted on impulse… a sick, twisted impulse. Sad to say this is not something that has changed and possibly has gotten worse.

The extras include a Japanese version of the film known as Violence USA, an Audio Commentary by Sheldon Renan as well as an interview with him and with the editor Lee Percy. An interview with Mondo Movie Historian Nick Pinkerton and the Trailer for the film.

The interviews are all fine in general, Renan's interview was great and I enjoyed that a lot more his commentary, which like most solo commentaries is a little flat at times. The interview with Percy was interesting on how it was created and the one with Pinkerton is a great analysis of the style and it's a shame he wasn't given the opportunity to do a commentary himself.

The Japanese version of the film is interesting and although I know there are differences with it being over twenty minutes longer, without watching them side by side I don't think I could tell you what they are. I found the Japanese version a little harder to watch mainly due to there only being a Japanese voice over and no English one available, which is a little odd.

The Killing of America is a hard documentary to watch, but certainly one that deserves to be seen. If you think that America has only gone downhill in recent years, with things like Columbine, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and all the other civil unrest, this is a documentary to show that it has always been like that. I do hope it gets a release over there as they really need to look at how their country treats violence, particularly in regards to gun control and see the horrors of what it can lead to.