Punishment Park

KILL ALL HIPPIES.

Punishment Park is an anti-establishment film directed by Brit director Peter Watkins. Like Watkin's 'The War Game', Punishment Park takes a 'what if?' situation and attempts to create it as convincingly as possible. Here, the 'what if?' is what if the US government had established a prison camp in the desert where anti-US protesters were forced to tackle the desert wilderness as punishment. Similar to 'Battle Royale', the outcasts are cast out onto an unknown terrain, but this time their target is a US flag 50 miles away, and they have 3 days to reach it.

The victims are all hippies and rebels, black and white, mostly young. The film shows a 1st group who are being given trials, and a second group who are forced into the desert. Of course, the trials are unfair and biased, led by a jury of right wingers and supposed experts to back up their ideals. These include community leaders, businessmen and psychologists. All of the cast are played by non-actors, or people with little acting experience, and the whole film is told in a faux documentary manner.

The film mixes narrative sequences with interviews (invented), in which various sides get to expend their own views. So we see the hippies condemning the brutality of the state and considering their own pacific ways, the jurors who lay the blame on the youths and the police overseeing the experiment with indifference but a trigger happy state of mind. The film is not a rounded portrait of all sides-Watkins portrays the protesters as sane minded individuals who are rightfully angry at their government, while the jurors and the police appear heartless and hypocritical.

During the trials the protesters (or the filmmakers) are give a platform to air their views on America at that time- focusing on everything from the rich-poor divide to the environment to racial tensions. In fact, a lot of the issues raised in the film are still extremely pertinent today, perhaps even more so. With the spectre of Vietnam towering over the film, it is easy to compare the situation with the US invasion of Iraq.

The film is excellently shot the vivid heat waves of the desert captured in the cinematography, and the documentary shooting style feels authentic. Our lecturer pointed out some issues the film raised about documentary passivity, as the fake camera crew are confronted with some moral dilemmas. It reminded me a little of Oliver Stone's 'Natural Born Killers', where a killing spree across the desert is tracked by a camera crew.

I thought this was a very interesting film. It was passionate about the issues raised in the film, an engaging watch and still carries some weight today.

7.5/10