I have just started my Peter Watkins season.
First up was Punishment Park. Recently released on DVD, this extremely controversial film by Watkins, putting the slightly silly premise aside is an extremely realistic and well done film, shot as a pseudo documentary - considering the small budget, use of non/amateur actors for most parts and the style in which it was shot. Its a very political film, and they are shot from both sides, and I think that Watkins was damning both the militant counter-culture (violence breeding violence) and the 'establishment'. As the film progresses and violence increases on both sides after a number of incidents, its a remarkable film, and I can see why it caused such a storm when it was released back in 1971. However what is equally interesting is the examination of the group at the special tribunal, in whcih they try (sometimes) to justify themselves. Its a remarkable insight into the views and expressions of the time, as the detainees try and argue and the tribunal argues back.
Reviewers [upon the release of the DVD] have comented on how many similar aspects of the film are emerging again due to the War on Terror/Iraq and the legislation that has been passed. On the surface there are certain similarities between the world that Watkins established in the introduction and what is/has happening now. One thing that springs to my mind is that the lines between the 'Establishment' and the 'counter culture' are far more blurred and both are less militant in their actions and stances, perhaps even less ideologized in their beliefs now than in 1970/1. I would even venture that today's counter-culture is more willing to work within the rules of 'the game' than it was then. Still its a film that shows how both sides can be condemned and that society and law and order can be reduced to a simple, brutal game that can't be beaten.
8.9/10.