Punishment Park

Synopsis: A bunch of dirty, pink-o hippies are PUNISHED...in a park! Now honestly, the decision to film this as a straight documentary was a pretty inspired choice and the "acting" here is, in most cases, surprisingly effective and true to real life. My biggest problem is that it's so overtly one-sided (obviously) that the hippy protagonists become slightly different variations on the same one-note character. Even if you agree with some of their politics, they're surprisingly hard to "root for".

What this film really wants to say is that the government is satanically evil, cops are violent pigs, and the middle class are all callous, mindless drones. Instead it ends up displaying the infantile, self-righteous victim-mentality of the radical left that spawned it. This is a rabble-rousing dissident-propaganda film revealing the American hippie movement at its very stupidest.

In this terrific and much too little-seen mockumentary, real people (real people who hadn't acted before, I mean) pretend to be characters with the same beliefs as themselves and yell eloquently at other people/characters with starkly opposing views. As a time capsule, it's highly fascinating, and whether or not you buy Watkins' near-future scenario (which is presumably meant to be heightened or allegorical anyway), there's no denying the immense power of his completely riveting film-making.

The acting and dialogue is terrible. The players are all non-actors, largely improvising their material, and it shows. One could argue that this film doesn't take sides, but that's only because there's no good side to take. The right are cartoonish overblown portrayals. The left are childish, arrogant obnoxious brats spewing meaningless pseudo-revolutionary pablum. A simplistic, paranoid, and didactic viewpoint. This doesn't inspire debate, it simply reinforces stereotypes.

Punishment park while not perfect was certainly revolutionary/ahead of its time and the parallels to modern day USA are striking. Watkins does a good job of presenting a unique scenario in which he conveys the feelings (although exaggerated) of all sides involved. The scenario itself is a bit implausible, but then again this isn't a real documentary. The scenario is merely set dressing for the thoughts and feelings of the characters which are the main take away of the movie.

The direct point of reference here for Watkins, at the time the film was made and released, is obviously the Vietnam War and more specifically the authoritarian way in which anti-war sentiment was 'handled' by the U.S. Federal Government (see in particular the Kent State shootings). But Watkins also seemingly knew what was to come - including, importantly, the role of the media - in firstly the post-9/11 world and more recently in the post-truth miasma in which we are currently immersed.

A study of the psychology of and relations between three groups, those who "resist", those who repress and those who report, this is more complex and less one-dimensional than it is given credit for being. Of course, it's clear with whom the filmmaker's sympathies lie, but the radicals are putting forward their own views, not reading lines, and so his own position is still rather open, and much opportunity is given to reflect on the thought processes of those who are affronted by their protest.

Perhaps the closest thing in film to a "social sci-fi" classic like The Handmaid's Tale or The Sheep Look Up. Much as in The War Game, Watkins uses audio collage to suggest what you can't see.

With a filming style literally decades ahead of its time, this incredible film deserved to have been seen by so many more people.

Surprising that a movie siding w noxious 60's activists& spending 1/2 its time letting them pontificate their consistently glib opinions works so well. It helps that the film keeps cutting 2 a parallel storyline involving the "park", where the outcome is never quite clear. More impressive is how there's never a false moment in this faux doc despite the perhaps far-fetched (Gitmo?) set-up. The "actors" all seem 2 be real libs & cons brought 2gether in2 a room & told 2 argue their specific beliefs

-1 for blacks -1 for women talking

bu senaryo batı medeniyeti dışında bir ülkede çekilseydi kafama yatardı. ha demiyorum amerikan polisi melektir, candır. elbette kendi halkına yaptığı çok büyük şeytanlıkları var amerikanın. ama gidip bunu kör göze parmak şeklinde solcuların 31 çekerek izleyeceği şekilde anlatırsan siktir git derim. komünist propagandası yapıldığı yerler ayrı bir cringe idi. filmcilik açısından eleştirtecek olursam standart bir melgesel gibi çekilmiş işte.

Parque da Punição estreava há 50 anos no Melbourne Film Festival. FUCK THE POLICE. Conto preciso sobre a dinâmica das instituições opressivas desde tempos imemoriais. BlurayRip no MakingOff.

?????

Incredibly heavy and repetitive but still very good and well-made. It will pull an angry feeling out of you, even as it goes over the same points every 5 minutes.

It's a good concept nicely done, but after a while it becomes repetitive, the surprise element is lost and it seems to me the movie suffers the commercial necessity of having to last around 90 minutes when it doesn't feel like what it tolds actually needs that time to be told. The message certainly is not lost in today's audience, almost everything despite Vietnam aspect and the 70s look matches what a similar title filmed today would show.

I can't tell if this is relevant, or if it's just depicting the default post-war American political narrative, of identity groups in violent opposition. Either way, it lost me once it descended into constant yelling. I hate it when conflict is depicted through people just yelling and screaming at each other. Watkins screeching "you motherfuckers" from behind the camera was the final straw, I just couldn't take it seriously anymore.

"The BBC are just paranoid anyway..." http://illusionpodcast.blogspot.com/2014/06/episode-17.html

Amazingly well done and forever relevant.

The emphasis on the corrupt and violent system is too explicit for me to consider it as art. Art is by nature an ambiguous effort which brings truth fort from its ambiguity.

Grueling and crushing and, most heart-breaking of all, still all too relevant today.

Best panic attack I've ever had

Politik sinemanın ustası Peter Watkins'ten politik sinemanın en keskin ve en usta işi örneklerinden biri. Sinema tarihinin ne iyi mockumentarysi olabilir mi, cidden olabilir.

A brilliant fictional documentary that boils down to the Counterculture vs the Machine. If you can dig those 70s politics (and how gloriously one-sided the movie is) then I think there is a lot to like here. Watkins' impressive filmmaking makes some of it hit really hard.

Haunting. The feeling of being powerless and the failure of communication are timeless and intense topics. I haven't been so at the mercy of a movie and his painful injustice like in this one.

If viewed literally, it certainly suffers from the naivety common to many "dystopian" satires: governments, including of course the US in the present day, do not bother with the pretense of show trials or survival games to eliminate subversive elements, and they certainly don't invite outside TV crews to document their more controversial methods, etc. But it works pretty well metaphorically, and I think the famous Stanford prison experiment is an inspiration.

One of the most poignant and potent political films ever made. We as a people have not changed one bit since this was made.

Sides with the Left, but I don't think it's that far-fetched. People do talk like this, even now. It's a lot of info to put into an hour and a half, meaning you can't go into the kind of detail that would justify either side, really. Pretty gritty movie with good acting, I believe it can encourage conversation, though it won't break any stereotypes so in that sense it could set it back a bit. Still, it's a starting point. You put people in stressful situations and they act accordingly.

Boyle bodoslama dalan politik filmlere su gunun politically correct, saatlerce konusulup hic bir sey soylenmeyen siyasi ortaminda cok ihtiyacimiz var. Amerika hala benzer yerde sayiyor, Turkiye'de zaten benzer vaziyette, vesaire vesaire. Sadece baski daha iyi saklaniyor ki muhafelefet yok olsun.

How much you'll enjoy this depends on how willing you are to spend 90 minutes with a film that is unabashedly didactic and heavy handed. It's very well made and edited, creating a palpable sense of tension and contrasting frustrating trial scenes with the wild despair of Punishment Park. The message is the key though, and that's where it falters, too realistic to observe with distance, too farfetched to view as grim reality, and the very flawed characters are too easy to dismiss.

A dystopian alternative present day USA, where dissidents are treated with disgust and violence by the self proclaimed moral elite. Watkins gets his point across perfectly as he sides with his british camera crew who have the enpleasant job of filming the events that occur in Punishment Park, an alternative given to the "prisoners" who are sentenced to jail in mock trials.

An hour and a half of heavy breathing.

Okay, I'll admit it--I totally fell for it. I thought it was a real documentary. And I was getting outraged, and wondering why didn't we ever hear about this...until I plugged in to Watkins' intro after I'd already watched the film. What an amazingly great cast--I mean, everybody in it (and there must be 50 of 'em). But I think his intrusion into the final part is a liability. The fact though that I was actually prepared to believe it is maybe the scariest reflection on a very scary time.