Movie Loner

I’d like to offer up some praise to the Sundance Channel and IFC. If you love lesser-known films like I do these two outlets are invaluable to discovering underground celluloid. I consider myself relatively knowledgeable but I never heard of Punishment Park until I saw it on Sundance. Considering its controversial subject matter I’m not surprised it’s been buried for so long.

In a fractured United States of America government dissidents are dragged before a tribunal. The guilty are then given a choice: serve a mandatory sentence in Federal incarceration or participate in a cruel gauntlet called Punishment Park. Those who select the latter must endure a brutal fifty mile trek through the desert with law enforcement in fast pursuit. At the end of this race awaits an American flag and the promise of freedom.

Following the inmates and cops is a British documentary film crew who conduct interviews with both sides in an attempt to understand this bizarre penalty. A straightforward expose on American crime and punishment gradually turns ugly as the television crew (and us) learn that law enforcement has no intention of allowing the prisoners to reach their destination. In fact, they have no intention of letting the prisoners live.

Punishment Park was directed by British documentarian Peter Watkins. I doubt an American filmmaker could have gotten away with this. Made during the Vietnam era, the film’s depiction of a dystopian society ruled by an unforgiving police state painfully resembles America during the late 60s and early 70s. The characters are given no voice. Pacifism and radicalism are deemed culpable offenses. Also called into question is the responsibility of the media; can and should the press remain impartial after witnessing such atrocities? Is a camera ever really objective? Punishment Park is a searing film that should not be ignored. If you can find it, see it.