The Killing of America - 1982

The Killing of America is a 1982 American documentary film directed by Sheldon Renan and Leonard Schrader. The film was premiered in New York City in February 1982 and was recently shown at the 2013 Fantasia Festival.

This timeless shockumentary (made in 1982 and restricted 18+) has never been released, distributed, televised nor made available for sale in the USA. America is the only industrialized nation with a higher murder rate than countries ravaged by civil wars, like Cambodia or Nicaragua. There is an attempted murder every 3 minutes and murder victim every 20 minutes. Japan, England and West Germany with a combined population equal to America have 6,000 murders a year and America has 27,000 a year.

In the first 80 years of the 20th century America has had more than a million murders, more than all her fatalities in all her wars. No place seems safe not even the street; no person feels safe not even the president. Not long ago the American Dream seemed to come true: big cars, big houses, big everything. But not everyone could get an equal share of the dream. Though it seemed impossible they existed side by side - America the beautiful and America the violent. The turning point was November 22, 1963, the day the American Dream of freedom was wedded to the American Nightmare of murder, the day when John Kennedy was assassinated.

Martin Luther King tried to heal the sickness of racial hatred and won the Nobel Prize for urging a violent land to turn away from violence, but the answer he got was more violence. On April 4, 1968 Dr. King was assassinated. The murder of Martin Luther King triggered riots in 125 cities. Police needed the help of 45,000 soldiers as the government fought a war with its own people. Then another series of battle lines was created by the growing hatred of the war in Vietnam.

George Wallace had a good chance to defeat Richard Nixon until one day in Maryland, May 15, 1972. Wounded four times Wallace survived and was confined to a wheelchair for life losing the chance to be elected. Though hard to believe, presidential elections were then being decided by killers.

Robert Kennedy appealed to young and old, black and white, students and workers, and he was trying to end the violence that began with the murder of his brother. On June 14, 1968 he has won the California Primary and after he finished his victory speech he was shot three times and he died in the hospital.

Synopsis

The Killing of America focuses on what the director feels is the decline of the United States. It features interviews from Ed Dorris, a retired sergeant of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, as well as Los Angeles County Coroner Thomas Noguchi. The documentary also shows several interviews with convicted killers such as Sirhan Sirhan as well as footage of murders and news broadcasts.

Cast

• Chuck Riley as Narrator
• Ed Dorris
• Thomas Noguchi
• Sirhan Sirhan
• Elmer Wayne Henley
• Edmund Kemper

Release history

The Killing of America was initially shown in New York City in 1982 at The Public Theater, but did not receive a commercial release in the United States, although it did receive a home video release in Britain. The film received a wide release in Japan, where financial backers reportedly pressured Renan to add footage of peace vigils for John Lennon as a way to make the documentary less depressing. Years later the documentary would receive a 2013 North American release at Fantasia Festival in Canada.

Reception

Critical reception for The Killing of America has been mixed. Allmovie gave the film 2 1/2 stars out of 5, remarking that "Rather than an in-depth study of the reasons for and effects of the rising murder rate in the U.S., the director has chosen to emphasize the violence and the need for gun control to help lower the appalling amount of mayhem that distinguishes the U.S. from its European counterparts." In contrast, in the book The Horror Film Mikita Brottman considered the film to be "one of the more thoughtful and fascinating examples of the mondo genre".