Friday, September 19, 2014

Police State (1987, Nick Zedd)

"Police State" is clearly an overt delineation of transgressive auteur Nick Zedd's hatred for cops. It's a bit over-the-top, to say the least, but clearly comes from a real personal disdain on Zedd's part, as well as containing some rather felicitous caricaturizations of the police...

Zedd stars as himself (I would only assume...) who is stopped and hassled by an obnoxious pig while walking down the street. After getting mouthy and refusing to identify himself, he is taken into custody where he is repeatedly taunted and beaten by the sadistic swine.

Like I said, it's purposely 'excessive' in depicting police brutality, though there is an underlying truth to it. The joy the cops take in commanding their helplessly cuffed victim to sit in the chair while another comes in and screams for him to stand on the table over and over again in a perpetual mindfuck torture - as well as the threatening of castration - is an undoubtedly exaggerated, albeit apt, example of unitized police bullying and intimidation tactics. For an 18-minute short, "Police State" is enjoyable and contains a few pertinent messages referring to police abuse.

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