Skatopia 88 Acres of Anarchy (House, Powers, 2010) Reviewed by Thomas StierUSA

Skatetopia is a piece of land in Ohio that has turned into an awesome skateboarding wasteland run by Brewce Martin.

Chaos, Skateboarding, Punk, and hillbilly culture are the centerpiece of this documentary about Skatetopia. The directors bring you into this world of outcasts and skateboarders with no holding back. From the opening shots of kids thrashing up the skate bowl, to the anarchistic fires that seem to flame up in a instant, the audience feels the dirt under there fingernails and the hedonsitic freedom running through there veins.

This american wastelands leader is Brewce Bowen. The movie shows Bruce as not only the leader of Skatetopia but the sometimes violent and dictator of it.

The filmmakers show us clips of skateboarding and cars set on fire. Skatetopia seems like a refuge for young skateboarders. Or maybe a cult. Teenagers and young adults get there head shaved or get mohawks, they are forced to work at Skatetopia if they stay there long term. Sometimes the kids seem like their slaving away for Brewce Martin’s vision of the place. At one point in the film there is a huge skate punk party. There are bands playing heavy rock and punk, Martin tells everybody they have to get in the mosh pit. This is obviously not a place for the soft or gentle. There’s hundreds of people there partying all night, some skaters some locals looking for a good time in Skatetopia. By the morning there are people sleeping anywhere and everywhere. Brewce Martin gets on a megaphone and tries to wake everybody in the morning and go skate. This act pretty much sums up Skatetopia and Brewce Martin.

The movie begins to take focus on Brewce Martin. Skatetopia is continually being changed and torn apart. We are exposed to Martin’s financial problems. He is in constant debt and always working doing everything he can to keep Skatetopia afloat. At 40 years old we can tell the Brewce Martin has lived a rough life, but somehow he has the optimism and energy of a 16 year old. Martin has even more setbacks. He is abruptly sent to jail. The audience peeks inside his relationship with his girlfriend in an emotional scene where Martin’s 20 something girlfriend and their child are visiting Brewce in jail. His girlfriend accuses him of cheating, and he seems almost amused by this with an emotionally shallow grin on his face. We can tell that Brewce Martin is a 16 year old rebellious skateboarder trapped in a 40 year old mans body.

Skatetopia is the kind of place skateboarders dream about, but the film shows that skatetopia is as much of a dream as it is a nightmare.