Punishment Park (1971)

Synopsis: Shot in a documentary style, PUNISHMENT PARK appeared in 1971 and tackled some pertinent issues of the day. The film is shot from the point of view of a TV news crew who have been hired to cover a... Shot in a documentary style, PUNISHMENT PARK appeared in 1971 and tackled some pertinent issues of the day. The film is shot from the point of view of a TV news crew who have been hired to cover a bizarre "game" taking place between a group of soldiers and various imprisoned antiestablishment figures. The unwashed hippies and outcasts are ushered across a barren desert by the soldiers, who promise to release them when their destination--an American flag that lies 90 miles away--is reached. But the intense heat and increasingly aggressive attitudes of the soldiers lead to some violent confrontations, and the rumors that continue to dog PUNISHMENT PARK suggest that some of these skirmishes weren't scripted or acted out--these were real emotions that uncontrollably spilled into the actors' characters as they grappled with the difficult conditions. PUNISHMENT PARK resembles the controversial Stanford prison experiment, which was also conducted in 1971. Researchers at Stanford University asked volunteers to take the roles of guards and prisoners in an artificial prison environment so they could study their behavior; things quickly spiraled out of control and the experiment was terminated. PUNISHMENT PARK doesn't end prematurely but plays itself out, and the result is a powerful piece of work that lingers long in the memory, although it's sometimes frighteningly easy to forget that it isn't a documentary. Previous versions of director Peter Watkins's (THE WAR GAME) film have either been banned or heavily censored in the U.S., but this release is the full, unexpurgated version. [More]

Director: Peter Watkins

Director: Peter Watkins