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Age of Rage is an extremely dense whistle-stop tour of the Australian Hardcore Punk scene. Well, “dense” might be an understatement. 

Bombarded by animated imagery overlaying already fast-cutting interview footage, backed by cartoonish sound effects and heavy punk guitars, you are thrown through an informational rollercoaster reminiscent of the intensity of the Hardcore Punk scene itself.

Punk is often painted as a 2D genre- as men picking up instruments for the first time and yelling whilst the audience take the opportunity to engage in violence under the guise of enjoying a “gig”. Age of Rage broke this preconception almost immediately, showing punk as intersectional, deeply caring, and as not just music but community, politics, and an all-encompassing lifestyle.

So whilst Age of Rage often felt rapidly paced and hard to follow, maybe that was the point. Punk advocates for living intensely, at full pelt, and experiencing it all- good and bad. So much about Punk discusses being misunderstood and demanding change, so the fact that Age Of Rage sought to fix society’s perspective of the genre may have been the most punk goal of all.

Sections briefly touched on women, squatters, indigenous people, and skinheads, among others, bringing in personal stories and experiences that helped relate the scene back to the people that built it. Intersectionality was not quarantined in the section focussing on women or indigenous people, but displayed throughout, subtly normalising a more diverse scene. It became clear: the Punk scene is made from a hodge podge community of misfits, where everyone is important, no matter their contribution… even the fascists.

This perspective that everything that formed Hardcore Punk should be viewed nostalgically is both a blessing and a curse. As the credits rolled, audience members, reflecting on their time in the scene, seemed nostalgic for a worse time. Someone proudly pointed out that predators weren’t just in the scene, but were the reason people left home so young and lived so freely- “it’s nothing like now!”- completely disregarding the bleak reality. Another audience member spoke out against the 4 month Victoria Lockdown suggesting that “they can’t tell us what to do!”. It seemed like, at this point, the line between educated political opinion and dissenting for dissenting was slowly disappearing, managing to retrospectively taint the documentary with a nostalgic boomer perspective, one that celebrates suffering. 

That sense of discomfort stepped up a notch when a clip of a band Nazi-saluting and marching on stage passed by with little explaination. It was somewhat startling and completely separated from the less questionable section on the damage Skinheads caused. So whilst it is admirable that both the positive and negative parts of the scene were highlighted, it became hard to tell what was meant to be inspiring and what was someone sharing their personal trauma or numbly accepting cruelty. Almost too blasé, it's a hard line to navigate to try to acknowledge the racism in the history, but dropping clips like that without a outright, clear moment of disgust and condemnation made moments deeply conflicting.

Inspiring lines like “in the face of insurmountable odds I got really good at one thing, which is not giving up” started to become separated from the stories of punks making important political change or escaping their hostile home environments, and I left the cinema trying to convince myself that two things can be true at once. After all, Age of Rage tried to show us that Punk is not a two dimensional genre, and struggling to grapple with its intense complexities is all part of the journey.

Taking it at face value, Age of Rage gives so much for the viewer to consume, with some truly inspiring moments that make you want to start your own band, just out of the love for it. It’s charming, cheeky, honest, and evocative- so as director Jennifer Ross’ first feature length, it’s not too bad at all.

Grab your copy of the Gigwise print magazine here.

More about: Doc n Roll