The park where the punishment fails to fit the crime

I just had one of the most intense movie-watching experiences of my life, and I don’t think I was adequately prepared for it.

It was a lazy afternoon and my friend “Y” and I were lounging around, thoroughly enjoying our shared summer of unemployment. We were watching “Next” on MTV, that ridiculous “dating-reality-show” menagerie of popped-collar jocks and vacant-eyed Stacys (our word for empty-headed, fake-tan-sporting bimbos, no offense to anyone named Stacy, it just seemed like an accurate description). After the show, I suggested popping in one of my Netflix movies. It was either “The Hunger,” starring David Bowie, Susan Sarandon, and some hot lesbian vampire action, (I ask you, is there any other kind?); “Kontroll,” a movie that takes place entirely underground in the Budapest subway system; or “Punishment Park.” Y had already seen the first two. “Punishment Park” it was.

Holy shit. I was not prepared for this film. Here’s a brief description from IMDb:

"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.

The film was released in 1971 at the height of domestic discontent with the war in Vietnam. Director Peter Watkins, a Brit, was obviously influenced by the tragedy at Kent State, the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, and the U.S. government’s active suppression of dissent and prosecution of draft dodgers and student protestors. The film itself is a potent and uncompromising vision of what-could-have-been (or, for that matter, what-could-be). Watkins juxtaposes two stories: the trial of eight activists before a “civilian tribunal” (inspired by the real-life trial of the Chicago Seven), and the journey of a similar group of activists and pacifists through Punishment Park, a 50-mile stretch of stark and brutal California desert. The prisoners are told that once they reach the American flag at the end of the park, they will be free. However, if they are captured by the pursuing law enforcement and army officials, they will be sent to jail to serve 20 and 30 year sentences.

If you have any animosity toward cops, “Punishment Park” will no doubt piss you the fuck off.

The movie was difficult to watch for other reasons too, and had the effect of making me madder and madder as it went on. I kept thinking about its application to the present, how it should be required viewing for everyone who continues to insist that the war in Iraq is essential to the security of our nation, for everyone who insists that the erosion of our civil rights is essential to the fight against terrorism, and for everyone who automatically characterizes opposing and dissenting viewpoints as giving comfort to our enemies. Also, “Punishment Park” would appeal to anyone who harbors fear about our country’s direction, who sees this recent spate of chest-puffing and saber-rattling as unnerving, and who knows that this has happened before and can happen again.

There’s nothing funny about this movie. It’s brutal, it’s uncomfortable, and it’ll make you think (or, in Y’s case, it’ll make you depressed as all hell). There are no heroes or redeeming characters. The activists are overcome and outdone by righteous fury and the law enforcement officials and civilian tribunalists are simultaneously myopic and blind. The end of the movie is far from happy; I’m sure the end to our present domestic and foreign conflicts is sure to be as well.

I’m sorry this isn’t a very upbeat or positive post, but there are times when upbeat or positive things aren’t readily accessible. I’m a journalist (or strive to be), and I want to be objective about things. But the abuse of power is something that I can’t see both sides of. “Punishment Park” is a remarkable portrayal of what can happen when that abuse reaches new and upsetting heights. Check it out, but don’t blame me if it freaks you out. Blame the terrorists if it makes you feel better.