Steven Berkoff ? You remember him use to play one of the interceptor pilots on Gerry Anderson's UFO from 1970 which was probably Berkoff's level . For some strange reason unknown to everyone outside the film industry he became relatively well known in the 1980s after trying to kill James Bond , John Rambo and Axel Foley . After playing a series of communist villains in Hollywood movies Berkoff moved back to Britain and reinvented himself as .... Berkoff , a violent psychotic thespian maniac who when not suing Julie Burchill inflicted murder upon every film scene he appeared in whilst mutilating the senses of everyone unfortunate to have seen his performances . With the 1994 film DECADENCE we get a double whammy as Berkoff not only performs but directs too
It's obvious Berkoff's roots are in theater because this is not a cinematic film - it's a filmed play with all the production values of a school play . The director tries to compensate for this with passion , you see passion according to Berkoff involves putting on silly voices and casting Joan Collins in multi-pivotal roles along with himself . Let me see now a film starring Steven Berkoff and Joan Collins will have people rushing out to the video stores ? No doubt they did because people would be renting videos of Hollywood blockbusters involving explosions , car chases and aliens
DECADENCE supposedly shows the class conflict of British society . You'd think someone who made a career out of playing communist villains might have had a bit of insight in to Marxist concepts like historical determinism , of the differences between social structures , etc but no this is about Berkoff the thespian luvvie who feels the need to school the audience on ... well Berkoff , nothing more and nothing less . You want to know what's wrong with the proles ? Berkoff will show you . You want to know what's wrong with the bourgeoisie ? Berkoff will show . You want to know why British film started moving to a more commercial trans -Atlantic market ? Believe me Berkoff will show you with DECADENCE one of the most hideous narcissistic vanity projects of the 1990s and whatever he's trying to do he's failed . If you're thinking of watching it due to Joan Collins talking dirty she's already done that with THE STUD which was GONE WITH THE WIND compared to this and if you're wanting to watch this as a deconstruction of Marxist class theory Uncle Joe Stalin beat Berkoff to it and despite mass murder , purges and famine I doubt if Stalin was guilty of inflicting so much cruel torture on cinema audiences as Berroff has here
