DVD Review: Repo Man

Ah the '80s. It seems you can't throw a rock these days without hitting a compilation package or a radio station that's cashing in on people's nostalgia for those fun-loving days. Funny hair, exaggerated retro-'50s-styled clothes, and British synthesiser bands made up of people with posh accents, are the features of every Tuesday "'80s Night" at clubs across North America.

You'll never hear any mention of neutron bombs, Ronald Reagan, Contras, or Oliver North at one of those gatherings. The truth and nostalgia don't share the same room very well. No one talks about Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands Islands. You don't hear anything about the hopelessness and cynicism that was so pervasive among punks who really believed they had "No Future"

If any of the kids dancing to Culture Club, The Human League, or Flock of Seagulls today knows what the word nihilism means, they're sure doing a good job of disguising it. Thankfully, for those of us who actually lived through the period, more than just bad dance music has survived.

Focus Features, a division of Universal Films, has just re-released an antidote to the saccharine sounds sugar coating the decade in the form of the cult classic Repo Man. Starring Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, the movie captures the undercurrents of anxiety and paranoia that were omnipresent among the punk/new wave counter culture.

Estevez plays Otto, a young directionless punk who's drifting through a series of dead-end jobs and relationships. Drifting into repossession work after a chance encounter with Bud (Harry Dean Stanton) earns him some quick cash, he quickly becomes enamoured of the lifestyle.

He discovers there's not much difference between repossessing cars and his previous lifestyle except now most of it's legal. Stealing, high-speed chases, and the potential for violence are just what the doctor ordered for this guy. He's found a place where he fits in and a certain level of job satisfaction. What more could a young man ask for?

As Bud, Otto's mentor and entrée into the world of repossession, Harry Dean Stanton offers up a depiction of the American Dream perverted brought to life. He glories in making his living off the people who can't afford to live the life advertised by Reagan and his cronies but think they're entitled too.

Fueled on speed, cheap booze, and cigarettes he dreams of earning enough money on the backs of other people's failure to open his own repossession yard. His Repo-Man's Code of conduct — never break into a vehicle, never damage a vehicle, and never allow a vehicle to be damaged through neglect — is reflective of the high value the times placed on material goods as opposed to people.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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