Decadence: Decline of the Western World
Decadence: Decline of the Western World
| 01 December 2011 (USA)
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All civilisations rise and fall. For 300 years, the Judeo-Christian West has been the world's pre-eminent civilisation. So, where is the West on the timeline? Many have theorised about the fall of the western world but now we appear to have the evidence. Negative birth rates, ageing populations, debt-laden economies and immigration - the West consumes without consequence, loves without longevity and lives without meaning. Decadence, a simple powerful essay-style documentary, asks if the West has peaked? And due for a new renaissance or a final dark age

Reviews
Odelecol

Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

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FirstWitch

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

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Abbigail Bush

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

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Kaydan Christian

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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fung0

'Decadence' is an excellent documentary that deserves a bit more attention. I caught it by accident on the Smithsonian Channel, of all places, and it hooked me right away.Director and host Pria Viswalingam takes viewers on an tour of the various ways in which Western society has become dysfunctional. This includes the breakdown of the traditional family, the new role of sex, the runaway power of corporations, and, ultimately, our loss of spirituality and corresponding shift to mindless materialism.The tale is told with lots of excellent location photography, and some really worthwhile interviews with people you haven't seen a million times before. I particularly liked how Viswalingam inserts himself as a silent background presence in some of the 'candid' scenes of everyday life. It's a clever bit of technique.This is not to say that I agreed with everything Viswalingam has to say. For instance, I totally disagree with his conclusion: that Western civilization is falling, and will inevitably do so catastrophically. Unlike Viswalingam, I see the decline of irrational belief systems as a positive thing; I view today's social disorder as a healthy and probably rather brief phase, presaging the emergence of a far more mature, truly global civilization.Nonetheless, I enjoyed all of Viswalingam's examples, and I found his philosophical observations to be deep and thought-provoking. Rather than reinforcing my own views, this film forced me to reconsider them, to examine our world in a new light. I therefore recommend 'Decadence' highly to anyone interested in understanding the state of the world today.There's so much packed into 'Decadence' that I'd gladly watch it several more times, if not for one final complaint. At $30 on the creators' Web site, the DVD is horribly overpriced - and just for good measure, it's only available in Australia! But keep an eye on those obscure specialty channels. This film is well worth tracking down.

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