Stoked is a DVD documentary that follows the life of Mark “Gator” Rogowski and tells the story how one of the 80s most talented professional skateboarders is now serving 31 years in prison. This DVD features a strong soundtrack with contributions from such Hardcore Punk acts as Black Flag, Agent Orange, and the Dead Kennedys.
This is a great DVD that tells the story of how skating changed, causing Gator’s popularity to dwindle. This caused him to slowly break down mentally as he could not handle the fact that he was not in favour anymore – he tried to reinvent himself with a name change but this caused people to respect him even less. It was not known of the tragic mental state of Gator until the spring of 1991 when he confessed to a violent crime at the age of 24. This DVD will have you glued as it slowly tells you the life story of Gator through its 80 minute duration, talking you through the good times, as well as the bad times.
In the DVD you learn how a lot of the skaters that had fame at the time also went on to have troubled lives involving prison, and the reason for this is that none of them were given any guidance at the time – they were all just suddenly rich and didn’t have a clue how to deal with this fact. There are interviews with big name skaters of the time as well as with Gator himself through telephone calls from prison.
Whether you are a fan of Skateboarding or not, you will be sure to enjoy this as it is not only a great skate DVD with some great footage, but a cracking documentary too. The DVD also contains over 80 minutes of additional footage such as unseen home movies, Gator’s full confession, and interviews with him. This is one hell of a DVD that you can watch over and over without ever managing to tire of it. There is so much to take from this DVD that with every viewing you will find something new and interesting.
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UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.