THE DAMNED: DON’T YOU WISH THAT WE WERE DEAD Review

4

Film Pulse Score

Damned-doc
  • Save
Release Date: May 20, 2016 (VOD Platforms)
Director: Wes Orshoski
MPAA Rating: NR
Run Time: 110 Minutes

Many people know bands like The Sex Pistols and The Clash kicked off punk rock in the late ’70s, but only those truly familiar with the genre are familiar with The Damned, a band equally as influential but consistently overlooked. In director Wes Orshoski’s new documentary, The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead, the spotlight finally gets shined on this band that’s still performing shows nearly 40 years later.

The film jumps back and forth between the history of the band, featuring talking-head style interviews and archival footage, and where the band is at now, splintered into two halves due to a fallout between members.

Although I was familiar with the group’s music, I knew little about their history, so I was looking forward to learning more about their inception, but the structure of the film actually made it somewhat difficult to follow. Because there were so many changes in the lineup, with members leaving and returning from year to year, it became hard to track the timeline of the band, and the fact that the present day-interviews referenced things that happened later on in their career exacerbated the messiness of the narrative.

Far too much of the film was dedicated to where the members are at now, with several failed attempts at gleaming information from them on why the various breakups and firings occurred. Much of this is done by employing hidden-camera techniques, which prove to be uninteresting and unneeded.

the-damned
  • Save

The sections that track the history of the band are far more interesting, however, with an exploration of the early days of punk. There were traits that set The Damned apart from the other bands coming out of England during that time, such as the fact that they actually valued musicianship and took a much more theatrical, lighthearted approach to their performances and songs, eschewing the harsh political rhetoric for partying and having a good time. They also happened to be the first English punk band to come to the United States, ushering in the genre on our shores.

As a punk rock fan from early in my youth, I appreciate a film being made about The Damned, but this documentary is far too standard and bloated to recommend to anyone but the most die-hard fans. With an overabundance of contemporary drama between the members, which is totally unnecessary, The Damned: Don’t You Wish That We Were Dead misses the mark.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.