This Is America Part 2 (1980)

For the uninitiated, the "mondo film" is a faux documentary of strange and unusual footage shot around the world. Often times the footage itself is authentic, but the narration is made up to explain what's happening on screen. Just as often, entire scenes are staged for the sake of the shot. Grotesque and shocking scenes alternate with lighthearted or sexually graphic scenes to provide juxtaposition. While a film full of heavy stuff is difficult for most audiences to sit through, a heaping dose of female nudity makes it a lot easier to endure. Gualtiero Jacopetti and Franco Prosperi's "Mondo Cane" (1962) is arguably the most famous mondo film ever made. It was a huge success and spawned scores of imitators who cashed in on the trend shooting even harsher, more brutal footage. The films made by Alfredo and Angelo Castiglioni took the genre as far as it could go, digging deep into primitive man's most bizarre practices and repulsing most of their audiences in the process. There's a reason most of their films are unavailable here in the states, and the ones that are available are heavily censored. Soon, the camera's lens turned on America's seedy underbelly. Whatever we lacked in the grotesque, we made up for in depravity, absurdity and violence. This first movie in this series, 1977's "This is America", is among the greatest mondo films ever made. It was shockingly dark and violent with just the right amount of absurdity mixed in. It's sequel, "This is America Part 2" (1980), doesn't even come close to touching it.

If you're looking for skin, there's plenty of it to be found here. We're treated to a topless car wash, nude female wrestling, topless foxy boxing, strip clubs, swinger clubs, orgies and an erotic bakery with close up shots of middle aged women chomping on the heads of foot long chocolate penis-shaped cakes. There's even footage of Jello Biafra's mayoral candidacy paired with Dead Kennedy's playing his "campaign song" "California Uber Alles". The dark, more serious scenes are few and far between on this installment. There's an obviously staged execution by electric chair, footage of the mole people who live under New York's streets living off of roasted rats and a brief expose about the living conditions of fast food chickens. None of the really "heavy" stuff hits until the final 30 minutes, but at that point we've been beaten about the head with so many exposed breasts that the darker footage seems completely out of place. In order for these sort of films to be effective, the ratio of absurd and shocking should be closer to 60/40. In the case of this movie, it's an easy 90/10.

I was expecting a lot more from this. Still well worth watching and leaps and bounds above other films in this genre, but nowhere near as good as the first movie. I'll go into the 3rd with lowered expectations.

3/5