Punishment Park (Masters Of Cinema)

Star Review

Peter Watkins’ film was made in 1971 as a response to the growing polarization of political debate in America and in contemporary society generally. Filmed in the wake of the Kent State University shootings in Ohio, in which soldiers of the National Guard opened fire on a lunchtime demonstration, killing four students and wounding nine others, it also takes its cue from the draconian 1950 Internal Security Act, or ‘McCarran Act’ in which conscientious objectors, demonstrators, draft evaders and anti-war militants can be detained because ‘there is reasonable ground to believe they probably will engage in future, possible acts of sabotage’.

In the film (set ‘tomorrow, yesterday or five years from now’) Nixon has declared an ‘Event of Insurrection’ and invoked the act. There’s no jury, and defendents are brought before a tribunal which hears them out, and then gives them the choice of either a lengthy custodial sentence or three days in ‘punishment park’. The punishment is crossing fifty miles of desert on foot and without water to reach an American flag. If the accused reach it, they go free. They are pursued by armed members of the police and the National Guard who use the exercise for ‘necessary training’.

Needless to say, Watkins was given short shrift for having the temerity as an Englishman to make a fim about American political problems and the film was roundly condemned. It was described as ‘extravagantly paranoid’ and as ‘futuristic nonsense’ and it was refused distribution for fear of retribution from the Federal authorities. It opened in an obscure theatre where its run was terminated after four days and it remains unshown on American television.

Through filming a metaphorical situation as if it was actually happening, this is a charged and vital piece of filmmaking which takes its power not only from working in the intersection of fact and fiction but also from the strength of the opinions voiced. The amateur actors improvise from their own political positions in the film and although all the actors prepared backgrounds for their characters, the tribunal and defendants were kept apart until filming began to aid the element of confrontation. A strong and emotive piece of work, one of Watkins’ desires with Punishment Park was that this would actually force the audience to take the problems depicted in the film and seek some solutions that may prevent such a situation actually occurring. Its confrontational nature is a deliberate strategy to circumvent superficial comment merely about the film’s aesthetic qualities – though these are in fact considerable and work fully in service of the argument that Watkins is advancing.

Graeme Hobbs on 2nd August 2005

View all 224 of Graeme Hobbs’s reviews

[ Show Film Description ]

Film Description

Set in an American detention camp and shot in psudo-documentary style, the film places a British film crew amongst a group of young American students and dissidents who have opted to spend three days in 'Bear Mountain Punishment Park'. Controversial in its depiction of suppression and brutality, the film was heavily attacked by the mainstream press and permitted only the barest of releases in 1971. It remains a powerful film with a strong warning about where increasing polarisation in political debate leads, a message that holds increased resonance post 9/11.

[ Show Star Review ]

Watkins’ celebrated and controversial film finally gets an impressive DVD outing; the police state brutality here seems as topical as ever, and more than makes up for ... more >

Watkins’ celebrated and controversial film finally gets an impressive DVD outing; the police state brutality here seems as topical as ever, and more than makes up for those elements of the film that have dated. < less

View all 346 of Barry Forshaw’s reviews

Film Ratings

Average Rating
Log in to place your vote!

DVD Extras

• Newly-restored high-definition transfer
• 30 minute introduction by Peter Watkins
• Full-length audio commentary by Dr Joseph A. Gomez (author of 1979 book Peter Watkins)
• 32 page booklet with essay by Joseph Gomez, the original press kit and a new self-interrogatory interview by Peter Watkins.

Film Details

Technical Details