Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator

What is the worst thing that could happen to someone who has tons of money, never been told no, and has enough hubris leaking out of their butt to start a Greek tragedy fire?

As a follow up to my reflection of the 1990s in my last post, and continuing with this long trail of documentaries featuring tragic and bizarre events/people, I present to you, Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator. 

Directed by Helen Stickler in 2002, this documentary delves into mid 1980s professional skate culture, explaining the conditions that could cause a horrific crime such as the rape and murder of Jessica Bergsten in 1991 by pro-skateboarder, Mark "Gator" Rogowski.

Stickler paints a picture of a young man thrown into fame in a niche culture, where his persona as an arrogant teen was praised and rewarded. After climbing to fame in the late 1980s as a vert skateboarder, Rogowski's behavior moved from typical teen antics to erratic manic behavior in addition to alcoholism. Street style skateboarding over took vert skating, and Rogowski had trouble catching up. After Rogowski and his girlfriend Brandi broke up, he lashed out on an old friend of hers, Jessica Bergsten; a woman he considered responsible for Brandi leaving him.  

Rogowski phones in his interview from prison as he serves a life sentence.  Since California law prohibits live interviews with inmates serving a life sentence, Rogowski's current appearance is left a mystery, save a couple candid shots near the end of the film, taken in prison at undisclosed dates. Stickler inundates the audience with images of Rogowski in his twenties: cocky, attractive, talented, funny, charismatic. Then every once in a while we are ripped back to reality, hearing Rogowski's voice crackling through the phone, haggard by regret. A major theme in this film is that nothing lasts forever, and it is particularly poignant to see the vestiges of Rogowski's fame, youth, and vitality remain only in old footage, while he currently has virtually no identity.  

This film is an excellent time capsule of the late 80s. It presents the neon punk attitude of the time, and injects it with a serious reality check.



Keep watching at the end of the credits, it shows the transcripts of police interviews with Gator, and a taped interview at a skating event.