The Filth and the Fury is an irreverent, shocking portrait of the most notorious rock group of all time.
As England's main claim to fame in the punk realm, and igniters of the torch in 1976, the Sex Pistols history has often been told. In fact, director Julien Temple attempted to tell it as early as 1980 with his fabulously loose documentary The Great Rock 'N' Roll Swindle. The Filth and the Fury is a worthy successor to that punk classic. Julien Temple revisits his own history with this film, in fact he oftens uses clips from his previous feature in this film as illustrations. There is quite a difference in tone, however. Swindle had a looseness and an air of glibness about it, despite its well known ending, and its docuemntation of the end of the Pistols. Fury is a more grown up feature, as all involved are well into their 40's now, there is a different feel to the interviews and perspecitve of this film. The Filth and the Fury is a proper documentary, it states the facts, talks to those involved, and presents its version of history. All surviving members of the Pistols are interviewed once again, this time, ironically silhouetted in black, as though we don't know who they are. Strangely I think this non-anonymity may have nurtured the most genuine moment in the film. At one point the Pistols are being interviewed regarding the demise of their infamous bass player cum junkie, Sid Vicious. While describing the horror to Temple, Johnny Rotten, hard-arse of the decade, begins to cry and genuine emotion floods the screen as he painfully explains that no matter how they may have reacted in the past, that John (Sid's real name), was his mate and it was Rotten who brought him on in the first place. For those of us who couldn't have been there, I was merely a sparkle in my parents' eyes, this is an eye-opening history lesson, and for anyone interested in Punk Rock, there are certainly worse places to start. Temple's ability to provide context is wonderful and gives the film a full flavor similarly themed punk docs lack. When into account with the combination of the NF's rise, the garbage strikes, the skyrocketing unemployment rates, the viewer realizes that this movement was not an option, for these poor kids from the council flats, it was an obligation.
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