When I first came upon this video not all that long ago, I thought it was contemporary. The urban decay in full force, the sense of everyday violence and menace… But I realized that David Bowie had died a few years ago (2016).
The video starts out with Bowie being menaced, and chased by, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails. The chase occurs in some downtown area, probably New York, that is run down …
But it is the last sequence that takes the video to a new level. This begins at the 3:20 mark. There has been a violent climax, with a taxi cab being shot at by the Reznor character. Bowie is outside the taxi cab, lifting himself off the ground and obviously shaken. He looks up, seeing something new, and unsettling. The music shifts at this point, becoming a kind of ominous drone. And Bowie begins a chant: “God is an American.”
The video cuts to the pavement in front of Bowie. We see strange shadows, that are approaching him. They are difficult to make out but vaguely sinister.