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Released By: PM Press
Released On: December 15, 2014
Director: Robin Bell
Cast: Mark Andersen, Jenny Toomey, Ian MacKaye, Jello Biafra, Kathleen Hanna, Allison Wolfe
Year: 2014
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The Film:
A wise man once said, "Punk ain't no religious cult, punk means thinking for yourself." and there's no mistake that most self-identifying punks are more thoroughly scrutinized than others for their ability to walk the walk. Indeed, there's not much honour in calling yourself hardcore because you spike your hair when a jock still lives inside your head, and through the years, most punks have put politics and action ahead of the pursuit of a record contract.
Such would seem to be the case with Washington DC's Positive Force, a collection of punk rock activists who claim to have been talking the talk since the mid-80's, rallying punks and punk bands to become more politically active in the interest of community and human decency. Robin Bell's new film talks with Positive Force founders Mark Andersen and Jenny Toomey, as well as a number of other key players about the origins of the collective from the hardcore scene and their interest in changing things for the better; creating awareness of the distribution of wealth in America, and doing their part to help the less fortunate.
Realizing that their location in relation to the White House was a major advantage, the group began organizing protests in the form of sit-ins, percussion-based disturbances, and fundraising events involving the bands of the day, from 7 Seconds and Scream to Fugazi and Rites of Spring. As the group grew, so did the support from the music community, eventually involving Kathleen Hanna and Allison Wolfe of the Riot Grrrl movement, before moving into it's current role in the We Are Family community outreach program.
Most of the key players have stories to share as well, with Ian MacKaye being the predominant contributor to the film as far as interviews go; not surprising as Fugazi was more or less THE Positive Force band at the start of the 90's. Dave Grohl tells his story of his first Positive Force gig with DC's Scream, and Jello Biafra adds his usual witty dialogue as well. Apparently not afraid to look at the ugly side as well, the film also examines the internal conflicts in the group as punk rock exploded with the success of Nirvana, and the resulting fears that certain members were selling out and putting fame ahead of everything else.
With a great message and a wealth of interviews and live footage, Positive Force: More Than A Witness unfortunately falls short of awesomeness for a few reasons, the most identifiable being that of its focus. So much of the film and the "Punk Politics in Action" are limited to the 80s when the hardcore scene was thriving and the group was getting notice from the President of the United States for their actions, and their "Meese Is a Pig" postering campaign was press-worthy. Although the group's current position in the community is more than admirable, one gets the feeling from watching the film that Positive Force's real impact was limited to the latter part of the 80s', with little information on what happened since, barring the interviews from some more recent bands.
The very short running time may have contributed to this; at 69 minutes, there's not much time to get into any complex details, but maybe less live footage...most of which is camcorder quality from the 80's and difficult to watch...would have allowed more thoroughness. By the time the film wraps, very few questions are answered, and the effect of Positive Force seems limited and unimportant.
Video/Audio/Extras:
PM Press brings Positive Force: More Than A Witness to DVD with a 1.78:1 transfer that is acceptable given the source material. Plenty of camcorder-shot live footage, old flyer graphics, and vintage news footage show up here and obviously aren't going to look pretty. The newer interviews look a little better, but the subjects appear to be cooking under some wayyyy too bright lights.
Those same interviews are the main source of problem with the Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track as well, as whoever set the mic levels for the interviews either didn't know what red-lining the signal meant, or didn't care. In any case, the distortion through the majority of them is slightly offputting. The aforementioned live footage doesn't sound great, either, but the audio track is acceptable otherwise.
Wake Up! A Profile of Positive Force (28:11) is the first supplement found on the disc, and as an 80's vintage video promo for the group, does a better job of shining a light on Positive Force than this film does. The live footage of Fugazi in this supplement is a good representation of the group, and it contains a lot of the same faces found in the main feature. Overall, it looks more like Another State of Mind, but it's entertaining.
Green Hair, Grey Hair (27:38) describes more fully Positive Force's work with We Are Family, a DC-based outreach group. Had this been incorporated into the main film, it would've helped to show what the group have been doing in later years to greater effect, and the film would've still only been about 90 minutes.
Punk, Votes, Riots (20:34) is an interesting look at Against Me and their work with Punk Voter, a collective effort to get more people voting, and the criticism that occurs when self-proclaimed anarchists get involved with the elective process.
Extended live footage from 7 Seconds, Fugazi, Anti-Flag and others is also included.
The Final Word:
The interviews make Positive Force: More Than a Witness worth seeing, but it lacks the focus and drive that could've made it awesome. Don't expect to gain too much insight into the group after seeing it.
