NekoHomey Purely Joyful Movie!

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Joakim Thiesen (thefilmmann) Peter Watkins is arguably one of the most underrated and under appreciated filmmakers of all time. His documentary approach to fictional filmmaking is both unique and challenging in a way many modern audiences may have become unaccustomed too.Listen here: http://moccast.blogspot.no/2013/03/episode-one-punishment-park.htmlWatkins career never saw him become a mainstream director, his one studio production 1967's Privilege was not a commercial success although it did not stop Watkins from making several more films.In this first episode of the Masters of Cinema Cast Joakim and I will be discussing the Blu Ray re- release of his 1971 film Punishment Park.It is a film that could hardly be described as easy going wearing its political heart well and truly on its sleeve. It is possibly the most angry of Watkins films too, the 60's had come and gone and the cultural and sociological revolution many had anticipated had failed to materialise. Vietnam was still raging and even the Apollo moon landings were now barley making the news.Yet Punishment Park is not merely a relic of its time. Even today it is still frightening pertinent and in the wake of the War on Terror and the blurring of the lines of morality remains as powerful now as it was on its release.http://moccast.blogspot.no/2013/03/episode-one-punishment-park.html

OldAle1 I saw Peter Watkin's Culloden and The War Game a few months before this and was very impressed. The technique is essentially the same, or at least very similar, in this film detailing on the one hand a trial of dissidents in California in the (apparently) near future, and on the other the attempts of a group of convicted "criminals" to slog through 50 miles of desert to win their freedom in a government-run "punishment park" as an alternative to prison. Watkins films everything in a documentary style, which causes for more than a little awkwardness or required strong suspension of disbelief: how is it that the camera crew is with the group of starving and parched prisoners over 2 days without either offering help or sharing in their misery? And that's merely the most obvious example. But questionable storytelling aside, this packs a punch; no question you have to be interested in political film-making to really get involved, but the film really isn't like anything else of its era: it pulls no punches, offers no simple solutions. The leftist political figures are certainly painted broadly at times, but they aren't all alike; the right-wing government functionaries seem a little more cartoonish, but even they are allowed to show at least a little humanity. Overall, the film gives much to think about and leaves an indelible taste.....8/10 DVD rental

videozombi Punishment Park is a good film in a sense, but it's so heavily laden with ridiculous and over stated arguments that it's hard to watch. I realize that realistically, the arguments portrayed in this movie are the arguments that people opposed to the government make. As are the arguments made by the government officials and police officers in the film. At the same time, it's very frustrating to watch because of that.One comment in the film I think perfectly describes my feeling. When facing the tribunal, one of the prisoners says "how is using LSD the same as starting wars and killing children". The answer is simple to anyone with a functioning brain, you can answer with a question with a question. How many people die from drug abuse every year? How many people have died because someone got them to use a "harmless, mind freeing" drug? I feel the same frustration with the movie from the opposite angle. The tribunal members are always ranting on about freedom and independence, yet the draft and incidents like the Kent State shootings represent the very anti-thesis of freedom. If your fighting a war thats supposed to be just (I believe it was) how can you possibly justify it with unjust actions?It's things like this throughout the movie that I find make it nearly impossible to watch. Another reviewer here likened the movie to a Clockwork Orange, I would agree. This film has that same, you agree with both sides but your torn because how can we have civilized society without the right to self defense, without the rule of law and punishment for breaking that law? How can we be free if we're constantly shackled by the same laws that protect us? Can there ever be a balance? I think Punishment Park convey's that about as well as Clockwork albeit in a very different style and feel. So why am I rating it six stars and not higher? Simply because of that style and feel. It seems to lack any real conclusion to whats presented and it fails to feel finished, or refined. It feels instead like watching footage of the Oka stand-off or the LA riots (both of which I watched live as a side note), your frustrated, annoyed, angry and sometimes just bored. Your left with the feeling that nothing has really been stated, nothing has been achieved or resolved and that everyone involved is just plain nuts. The people calling for freedom are the same ones locking people up for protesting. The people calling for an end to tyranny are the same people calling for tobacco and gun bans. Those calling for non-violence are grasping at the nearest knife, and those fighting wars for liberty are the ones burning books.It's all just a mess of conflicting ideals coming out of the mouths of people who have a fantastic ability to double talk, and an even greater ability to fight with each other. It's not a horrible movie, but it's far from great and it's not the "protest" film people make it out to be. It's rather an unfinished work that compares to something great in idea but lacks the conviction to finish what it starts...at least with any effect. That said, I can now be berated by all of those who love free thought and the right to self expression. Simply because they love this movie and I don't *insert sarcastic wink here*.

Andy Carloff (punkersluta) The strong points in the film were clear for the beginning and middle part of the film. It showed how a very violent, reactive authority might react to resistance. Filmed in the fashion of a documentary, the director captures what would have happened if the United States enacted martial law. Volunteering for "punishment park," a training ground for cops where you're bullied and harassed, would offer you an out to this dire scenario. It switches between the court trials for those facing accusations, those who are in the park escaping police attention, the training of officers preparing to handle these prisoners, the judges in their leisure time, among many other things. It was a very strong, deeply moving film.The only fault I had with this was its realism. Officers are often seen holding their pistols like they were seven years old with a plastic toy (i.e. a 90 degree bent elbow when pointing a gun in someone's face, or the way one cop just makes it look like it's hard to kick someone when they're down, etc., etc..). It starts out as an honest and interesting attempt to capture a very critical state of political affairs. By the end of the film, the viewer is slowly reminded again and again of the prejudices of the director and the producers. The antagonist characters in the story start out as genuine, real human beings and then slowly progress into "stereotypical, objectifiable forces of evil" by the very end. The mistakes they make are stupid, the force they demonstrate is unreal and unlike the way real police act, the judges during this court hearing are shown making stupid and unreal mistakes, among many other things.The realness of the movie started to fall apart when it became evident that this was just another blank-check attempt to make government look bad. And that's coming from an Anarchist. The scenes at the end started to get hokey, unreal, and a thousand times over-dramatic. Still, for the earlier part of it, it promises some very moving storyline.