I think American Hardcore is a good movie to show to people that doesn't have a clue about the roots of hardcore. Mainly here in Brazil, where emocore is kinda dominating the punk/hc scene and the youngest guys thinks Green Day invented hardcore (no joke, I'm serious) and a great injustice was repaired, giving Bad Brains the status they always deserved: one of the most influent bands and co-founders of the style.
These were the pro's, now the con's: WHERE IS DK, DRI, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES ON THIS DOCUMENTARY??????? Three of the most seminal bands of the scene (these three between the few ones that stills in activity today) were poorly mentioned, the rising of Bay Area Thrash Metal (heavily influenced by HC) was also ignored and the European bands (that also influenced American bands) were neglected. As far as I know, the scene wasn't just restricted to LA-DC-Boston, and the documentary just ended in a blank note... For those who doesn't know hardcore history, looks like it disappeared in 1986 and had no influence at all on the music produced today.
About the political side, sincerely I don't believe 15/16 years old junkies (as the people describe themselves on the documentary) have such political consciousness as they proudly stated; it looked more like angry kids having fun with music, celebrating/living their own lifestyle than a left-wing organized movement (of course there were exceptions)...
The chronology looked chaotic to me, although the good footage and some good stories of the past.
The veredict is: good, but not that good...
PS: I watched American Hardcore right after Dogtown and Z-Boys (a documentary that should be used as template by filmmakers), and I was wandering that Stacy Peralta, Craig Stecyk and Glen Friedman should have been the producers/directors of AHC. Not only for their skills as filmmakers, but because of the involvement of them with the scene (check the book "Fuck You Heroes" produced by Glen Friedman, where he portraits the birth of modern skateboarding at Dogtown, in parallel with the LA hardcore - i.e. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies first gigs and rehearsals), back when hardcore punk and skateboarding were very closer.
These were the pro's, now the con's: WHERE IS DK, DRI, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES ON THIS DOCUMENTARY??????? Three of the most seminal bands of the scene (these three between the few ones that stills in activity today) were poorly mentioned, the rising of Bay Area Thrash Metal (heavily influenced by HC) was also ignored and the European bands (that also influenced American bands) were neglected. As far as I know, the scene wasn't just restricted to LA-DC-Boston, and the documentary just ended in a blank note... For those who doesn't know hardcore history, looks like it disappeared in 1986 and had no influence at all on the music produced today.
About the political side, sincerely I don't believe 15/16 years old junkies (as the people describe themselves on the documentary) have such political consciousness as they proudly stated; it looked more like angry kids having fun with music, celebrating/living their own lifestyle than a left-wing organized movement (of course there were exceptions)...
The chronology looked chaotic to me, although the good footage and some good stories of the past.
The veredict is: good, but not that good...
PS: I watched American Hardcore right after Dogtown and Z-Boys (a documentary that should be used as template by filmmakers), and I was wandering that Stacy Peralta, Craig Stecyk and Glen Friedman should have been the producers/directors of AHC. Not only for their skills as filmmakers, but because of the involvement of them with the scene (check the book "Fuck You Heroes" produced by Glen Friedman, where he portraits the birth of modern skateboarding at Dogtown, in parallel with the LA hardcore - i.e. Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Suicidal Tendencies first gigs and rehearsals), back when hardcore punk and skateboarding were very closer.