Punishment Park

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Punishment Park

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Punishment Park

Carmen Argenziano, Gladys Golden, Katherine Quittner, Kent Foreman, Luke Johnson

Call it a pseudo-documentary, an outrageous piece of propaganda, perhaps even a paranoid fantasy, but one description that definitely does not apply to Punishment Park is "light entertainment." Brit d...( read more  read more... )irector Peter Watkins offers a chilling scenario, set in the early '70s, in which, according to an edict called the McCarran Act (which did exist, albeit in different form), the U.S. government has the right to detain (without bail, evidence, or anything resembling a fair trial) anyone who "probably will engage in certain future acts of sabotage." The detainees, most of them '60s radicals, are offered a choice between long prison sentences or three days in "Punishment Park," a scorching stretch of the Southern California desert; should they choose the latter, they will be released upon reaching an American flag planted many miles away, all the while avoiding capture (or, more likely, death) at the hands of a bunch of gung-ho cops, National Guardsmen, and other law enforcement types. The film alternates between the "tribunals" where the radicals' fates are decided (and where the shrill hectoring and sloganeering--on both sides--come fast and furious) and the grim scenes in the desert. And although Watkins clearly takes the side of the prisoners (as does the fictional film crew on hand to document the proceedings), no one emerges entirely unscathed: the politicians, "average" Americans, and others holding forth at the tribunals are all right-wing blockheads ("more spank and less Spock" would have taught those whippersnappers a lesson, says one), the cops and guardsmen are all trigger-happy jerks, and the young radicals are mostly callow, rhetoric-spouting stereotypes. Violent, provocative, and convincingly shot in cinema verite style, Punishment Park will leave many viewers muttering that it can't happen here. Opponents of the Patriot Act and its perceived attack on civil liberties, however, will likely take another view. --Sam Graham

Id: 9705575

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Punishment Park Recent Reviews
  • columbiatch
    January 15, 2008
    columbiatch
    Watkin's faux documentary style makes excellent use of montage to manipulate the audience. He depicts the victims in the film as stereotypical hippies/pacifists while the interrogators are outrageous caricatures of McCarthyist self-righteous pricks. Half of the film consist of th...( read more)e interrogation of these people, who exchange trite statements like "War is immoral, poverty is immoral, racism is immoral, police brutality is immoral, oppression is immoral...". While the film still is somewhat relevant, it's more intended to shock and provoke than to provide much insight into the nature of dissent/violence.
  • RThornhill
    December 19, 2009
    RThornhill
    recommended by jimbotende.
  • anngrebenn
    June 30, 2009
    anngrebenn
    fresh, triling, mind-waking - yet, can't recover the predictability and pathos - an unpleasant, yet essential watch and genre.
  • Phonex
    June 14, 2009
    Phonex
    http://www.mnsi.net/~pwatkins/punishment.htm
  • jmankas
    December 10, 2008
    jmankas
    Not only a powerfull metaphor to late 60's american government, but also, to today's society, in some ways.
  • engrymfilm
    December 6, 2008
    engrymfilm
    Could have used some....GORE
  • victoriasilverwolf
    October 28, 2008
    victoriasilverwolf
    Very much of its time -- the days of protest against the War in Vietname -- yet somehow timeless.
  • Soundsofmadness
    October 17, 2008
    Soundsofmadness
    No thankyou - Not interested
  • Milkypoo
    June 21, 2008
    Milkypoo
    this doesnt look good
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