21 / BD 29 Punishment Park

Discuss releases by Eureka and Masters of Cinema and the films on them.
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Pinback
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:50 pm

21 / BD 29 Punishment Park

#1 Post by Pinback » Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:22 pm

Punishment Park

Image Image

Both controversial and relentless in its depiction of suppression and brutality, Punishment Park was heavily attacked by the mainstream press and permitted only the barest of releases in 1971. However, like Haskell Wexler’s Medium Cool (1969) and Robert Kramer’s Ice (1969), Peter Watkins’ film has established itself as one of the key, yet rarely seen, radical films of the late 1960s/early 1970s. Giving voice to the disaffected youth of America that had lived through the campus riots at Berkeley, the trial of the Chicago Seven, and who were witnessing the escalation of the Vietnam War, Punishment Park was named by Rolling Stone as one of their top ten films of 1971 and has earned many admirers in the four decades since its release.

Set in a detention camp in an America of the near-future, Punishment Park’s pseudo-documentary style (continuing Watkins’ subversive innovations with Culloden and The War Game) places a British film crew amongst a group of young students and minor dissidents who have opted to spend three days in ‘Bear Mountain Punishment Park’. The detainees, rather than accept lengthy jail sentences for their ‘crimes’, gamble their freedom on an attempt to reach an American flag — on foot and without water — through the searing heat of the desert. The pursuit of Group 637 — a lethal, one-sided game of cat-and-mouse with a squad of heavily armed police and National Guardsmen — is contrasted with the corrupt trial of Group 638 by a quasi-judicial tribunal.

Unlike Easy Rider’s mythologising of American counter-culture, Punishment Park’s uncompromising stance, and its uneasy parallels with Guantanamo Bay, retain a powerful and prescient message in the post-9/11 present. Rarely seen in the UK, The Masters of Cinema Series is proud to celebrate Punishment Park’s 40th anniversary with its first ever release on Blu-ray.

Special Features

DUAL FORMAT RELEASE INCLUDING BLU-RAY AND DVD VERSIONS OF THE FILM

• Newly restored high-definition transfer (shot on 16mm, Punishment Park has been remastered from a new 35mm print struck from the restored 35mm blow-up negative held in Paris)
• 30-minute video introduction by Peter Watkins
• Full-length audio commentary by Dr. Joseph A. Gomez (author of the 1979 book Peter Watkins)
• Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
• 40-page booklet with two essays and reprints

leo goldsmith
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:13 pm
Location: Kings County
Contact:

#2 Post by leo goldsmith » Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:35 pm

peerpee wrote:Just this at the moment. Hopefully more in 2006:
I've been lucky enough to see around half of his work this last year, and Edvard Munch, particularly, is an absolute revelation.
Wow. This is fantastic news! I'm so please that I'm almost tempted to resort to emoticons to express my excitement. Almost.

Martha
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: all up in thurr

#3 Post by Martha » Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:55 pm

"Punishment Park" is a pseudo-documentary purporting to be a film crews's news coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of hippies, draft dodgers, and anti-establishment types across the desert in a type of capture the flag game. The soldiers vow not to interfere with the rebels' progress and merely shepherd them along to their destination. At that point, having obtained their goal, they will be released. The film crew's coverage is meant to insure that the military's intentions are honorable. As the representatives of the 60's counter-culture get nearer to passing this arbitrary test, the soldiers become increasingly hostile, attempting to force the hippies out of their pacifist behavior. A lot of this film appears improvised and in several scene real tempers seem to flare as some of the "acting" got overaggressive. This is a interesting exercise in situational ethics. The cinema-veritie style, hand-held camera, and ambiguous demands of the director - would the actors be able to maintain their roles given the hazing they were taking - pushed some to the brink. The cast's emotions are clearly on the surface. Unfortunately this film has gone completely underground and is next to impossible to find. It would offer a captivating document of the distrust that existed between soldiers willfully serving in the military and those persons who opposed the war peacefully.

User avatar
Gordon
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am

#4 Post by Gordon » Sun Apr 17, 2005 6:58 pm

Great, great news.

Watkins is one of the truly overlooked and underappreciated filmmakers alive today and Punishment Park is an amazing, shocking landmark film.

Here is a review of the French DVD: Punishment Park

It's a pretty good edition. I hope that the MoC edition also contains Diary of an Unknown Soldier and Forgotten Faces, as they have to be seen by modern audiences.

Watkins' official website: Watkins
Last edited by Gordon on Sun Apr 17, 2005 7:49 pm, edited 2 times in total.

User avatar
zedz
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 7:24 pm

#5 Post by zedz » Sun Apr 17, 2005 7:14 pm

This is a film I've been wanting to see for a long time (and I came very close to springing for the French Watkins box). Stunning cover, by the way.

User avatar
colinr0380
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 4:30 pm
Location: Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, UK

#6 Post by colinr0380 » Mon Apr 18, 2005 4:03 am

Gordon McMurphy wrote: It's a pretty good edition. I hope that the MoC edition also contains Diary of an Unknown Soldier and Forgotten Faces, as they have to be seen by modern audiences.
I think they are both extras on the respective BFI DVDs of Culloden and The War Game.

User avatar
ben d banana
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 8:53 pm
Location: Oh Where, Oh Where?

#7 Post by ben d banana » Sat Apr 23, 2005 1:02 pm

Edvard Munch started its first of four nights in Vancouver last night. It was phenomenal, and appropriately enough, alienated a sizeable chunk of the audience, with numerous walkouts. I've really never seen anything like it, esp in terms of editing (much more like a mosaic as opposed to any standard), as well as the performances and how they are captured (the only comparison i can think of is The Office, was Watkins' style an inspiration?). I've never really felt much of an attachment to the traditional visual arts, but this film brought them to life and had me enthralled.

On the other hand, the crowd was appalling, numerous late arrivals, more walkouts, a loud yawn drew laughter, the douchebag behind me, along w/ tapping his foot on the back of my seat, delivered this insight a good 2/3's or more of the way through, "They are gloomy". In this case, I don't think it would've been terribly out of line to start a fight in the theater ("Film starts riot") but I didn't want to miss the rest. All that and the lights came up fairly early in the credit sequence, which if you've seen the film, you'll know commences minutes before the ultimate conclusion. The remaining 3/4's of the crowd, most of whom couldn't leave soon enough, was whittled down to maybe 1/8 (seriously, six or seven people) by the time it was actually over.

To get back on topic, based on this, my first Watkins experience, MoC has me again with their upcoming Punishment Park and future Watkins releases, esp given the quality of their previous titles and excellent service.

leo goldsmith
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:13 pm
Location: Kings County
Contact:

#8 Post by leo goldsmith » Sat Apr 23, 2005 2:54 pm

ben d banana wrote:MoC has me again with their upcoming Punishment Park and future Watkins releases
Are they (or you, peerpee) planning more Watkins releases? I'd be very, very excited to see more of his films available, especially Privilege and The Gladiators (but really anything). He is a filmmaker that needs to be reclaimed and even (sorry for the dirty word) canonized by the critical and dvd-releasing community.

Also, not to get gossipy, but presumably MoC is in touch with Watkins? What is the extent of his participation in this release? I had heard that he has (again) announced his retirement from films after the problems with La commune -- has this made him inaccessible? I did a fairly substantial project on Watkins last year (that I hope to revive at some point), and I wanted to get in touch with him, but I was unsure how amenable or interested he would be.

peerpee
not perpee
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm

#9 Post by peerpee » Sat Apr 23, 2005 4:36 pm

Can't hurt if you approach him.

leo goldsmith
Joined: Mon Nov 08, 2004 1:13 pm
Location: Kings County
Contact:

#10 Post by leo goldsmith » Sat Apr 23, 2005 5:11 pm

True enough, but I also didn't think I had sufficient need to approach him at the time. His website is quite exhaustive and was able to answer nearly all my questions. Perhaps if/when I start writing on his films again, I'll have some specific questions that I'll need to ask him directly.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

#11 Post by What A Disgrace » Tue May 03, 2005 8:44 am

...so how will it compare to this one?

DVDTalk Review

User avatar
Buttery Jeb
Just in it for the game.
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 10:55 pm

#12 Post by Buttery Jeb » Tue May 03, 2005 10:28 am

Damn Disgrace! A friend snagged me this as a surprise early birthday present last night, and I spent all evening going pouring through it to discuss here.

According to an insert with the disc, the same company also plans on releasing "The Gladiators" (a.k.a. "The Peace Game") and "Edvard Munch" in the near future. Happy day!

-BJ

User avatar
Gordon
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am

#13 Post by Gordon » Tue May 03, 2005 5:52 pm

Oh, joy!

peerpee
not perpee
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm

#14 Post by peerpee » Sun May 15, 2005 5:56 pm


User avatar
Andre Jurieu
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:38 pm
Location: Back in Milan (Ind.)

#15 Post by Andre Jurieu » Sun May 15, 2005 7:09 pm

Hate to sound like a curmudgeon, but is there any significant difference between MoC's edition and the Canadian edition? I'm asking because I was originally thinking of picking up both editions, but now I'm re-thinking my position. I can see that your introduction from Watkins is listed at 30 minutes while the Canadian version is listed at 28 minutes, and that their booklet is only 22 pages, while yours is 32 pages. I'm just wondering if there is an significant difference in content, since it appears that the source of the transfers are the same and both include the same commentary track.

peerpee
not perpee
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm

#16 Post by peerpee » Sun May 15, 2005 9:32 pm

You curmudgeon you! :)

It's the same Watkins intro.

Our booklet will be more extensive, but this will probably be one for the packaging tarts/completists.

If you're NTSC-native, I'd probably advise to get the NTSC version (unless you're *really* into our packaging) :)

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

#17 Post by What A Disgrace » Sun May 15, 2005 10:23 pm

I think I'm buying this one.

User avatar
Steven H
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:30 pm
Location: NC

#18 Post by Steven H » Sun May 15, 2005 11:48 pm

It's only a few dollars difference. I think I'll go with the MoC. Heck, you never know; maybe those few dollars will help Humanity and Paper Balloons come out sooner (I won't mention this again... must learn the art of patience). Really looking forward to this.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

#19 Post by What A Disgrace » Fri Jun 17, 2005 5:54 pm

The boxart is now yellow.

peerpee
not perpee
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm

#20 Post by peerpee » Sat Jul 09, 2005 1:35 am

PUNISHMENT PARK is wrapped and at the pressing plant. It will definitely be out in October.

User avatar
Gordon
Joined: Thu Nov 11, 2004 8:03 am

#21 Post by Gordon » Sat Jul 09, 2005 3:28 am

This will be one of the best releases of 2005 for me.

Will there be more Watkins from MoC, peerpee? What about Privilege? That is long overdue on DVD.

User avatar
What A Disgrace
Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2004 10:34 pm
Contact:

#22 Post by What A Disgrace » Sat Jul 09, 2005 9:01 am

peerpee wrote:PUNISHMENT PARK is wrapped and at the pressing plant. It will definitely be out in October.
Has a final release date been decided?

User avatar
Galen Young
Joined: Fri Nov 12, 2004 8:46 pm

#23 Post by Galen Young » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:44 pm

Alex Cox wrote a nice article about Peter Watkins a couple of days ago, in case anyone is interested.

I picked up a copy of the Project X release. What an amazing film! White hot topicality -- it feels like it could have been made just yesterday.

peerpee
not perpee
Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 3:41 pm

#24 Post by peerpee » Mon Jul 11, 2005 1:49 pm

Release date is October 3, 2005

Reviews of the UK theatrical re-release from this last weekend:

THE GUIDE (GUARDIAN) - FILM OF THE WEEK - "A lost classic whose time has come."

THE TELEGRAPH [Sukhdev Sandhu] - "It's unlikely that any film released in 2005 will rival Punishment Park... Peter Watkins is a remarkable director, whose visionary films deserve - no, need - to be far better-known: this stupendous, earth-scorching missive is one of his very finest."

TIMEOUT - CRITICS CHOICE - "this is fascinating, gut-wrenching and thought-provoking filmmaking."

THE OBSERVER [Mark Kermode] - "It's raw and angry and not a little hysterical...there's no faulting Watkins's convictions."

THE GUARDIAN [Peter Bradshaw] - "Peter Watkins's dystopian nightmare still grips, imagining hippies and radicals getting tortured for quasi-judicial sport by the National Guard ... satire of the most intimately powerful sort."

User avatar
Billy Liar
Joined: Sun Jun 26, 2005 8:03 am

#25 Post by Billy Liar » Wed Jul 13, 2005 2:40 pm

Just watched this at the cinema in Leeds, it's a powerful and still relevant today. Coming out of the cinema and seeing Police all over the place with HUGE guns was surreal in the extreme. Turns out that those London bombers come from the very streets that I walk.

With all this in mind the movie has left a huge imprint on me.

Post Reply