Crime and Extreme Punishment

This week we’re delving into the early seventies underground to expose the controversial anti-establishment classic, Punishment Park.
Shown through the lenses of a fictitious British documentary crew, Punishment Park is set in a weird alternate reality seventies where the Nixon administration is taking protestors and draft dodgers off the street and offering them the choice between prison and running a hellish race across the desert in an attempt to earn their freedom.
The film skips between one group of prisoners running the race and another group facing the tribunal before sentencing. Instantly hitting you with a sense of powerlessness and oppression, anyone who has ever felt paranoid about what the government may be capable of should not watch this. The documentary style lends a gritty edge to the piece and the speeches given by the group standing trial are actually rather stirring, especially when they are confronted by the moronic middle class sensibilities of their persecutors.
Admittedly there is a certain lack of character development; each runner/prisoner is massive counter cultural cliché. You’ve got the political singer songwriter, the Ginberg-esque poet, the Black Panther, the feminist and the militant anarchists. I would say the police don’t fare much better, but given the political nature of this movie its fare to assume they were meant to be portrayed as mindless, jack-booted fascists.
The real bravery of this film was its timing. Made and released only a year after the Kent state shootings, in which a number of anti-war demonstrators were mercilessly gunned down by police, director Peter Watkins wasn’t pulling any punches. He accosts the establishment in a way that would be considered controversial even now, and does so with a kind of integrity that can be very rare.
In terms of movies from the counter culture this is better than Easy Rider, it’s just a shame it’s not required viewing.