so… Gangsters was a wild ride, but it has indeed come to an end. Between that and Sleepers we’ve got a fairly large gap in the schedule, which will be filled next week with two new series – Edward Woodward starring in 1990 and the return of kiwi sillines with the premier of Wellington Paranormal.
What of this week though?
Well, Plan A was the Open University programme dedicated to Gangsters, however time and technology did not permit that to happen – so I’m going to indulge in screening one film from one of my favorite directors – Peter Watkins, Punishment Park
- “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 scenes real tempers seem to flare as some of the “acting” got overaggressive. This is a interesting exercise in situational ethics. The cinéma vérité 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. —Dick Rockwell <[email protected]>
- 2000 – Knights of God
- 2030 – Punishment Park
- 2200 – Urban Gothic (Turn on)
- 2230 – Living in Your Car
- 2300 – Jupiter moon – 4 or 5 episodes
Punishment Park gets my vote.
Also, I’m very pleased to see that Wellington Paranormal has been added to next week’s schedule, as it’s a show that I’ve been meaning to get around to watching for some time now.
a fine choice sir.
Wellington Paranormal did look fairly interesting from what i remember seeing of it, i’ve only got the first series for now, i’ll see how it goes after that
I also could like to see Punishment Park please.
its definitely looking like its gonna be Punishment Park – they’re both great, but i do have a soft sport for that one. when Knights of god and Living in your car finish i might screen Priviledge then