The clip from Peter Watkins’ Punishment Park screened in class seemed very interesting to me so I watched the full film once I got home.
The film is a mockumentary drama, and through the fictional narrative and the realistic style of cinema verite, it criticizes the social and political issues of the capitalist system of the United States. The contemporary relevance of the film contributes to the realism it aims to achieve and the techniques used in the film also make it seem like an actual documentary of a legitimate event, such as the improvisation of the actors, the hand-held camera, the newsreel interviews. Despite of the documentary like features, the film is still structured as a fictional film.
The film’s approach to realism reminds me of Italian neorealist films. Italian neorealist films are known for their realistic techniques in every stage of the production, for example, changing the script around the situation, using non-professional actors and filming at the actual locations of the events. These techniques are employed to reflect the reality of WW2 and the post-war era. While Punishment Park represents the ideological and moral discourses of the historical events (e.g. Kent State Shooting, Chicago Seven’s Trial) and locates it in the fictional environment, utilizing similar techniques. Therefore, the film exhibits the authentic, brutal reality in the camouflage of a mockumentary.
The narrative of the European documentary filmmakers represents the objective point of view of the audience, witnessing the absurdity of the judicial system of the dystopia, unable to believe that these are references to actual social events.
The form of mockumentary is often used in comedy (e.g. Chris Lilley’s work), yet Watkin was the first to use it to directly criticizes and condemns certain social issues and human conditions, which explains why it was faced with the nation-wide censorship, termed as a ‘political threat’ by the US government.
References:
WATKINS, P., 1976. Punishment Park and Dissent in the West. Literature/Film Quarterly, 4(4), pp. 293-302.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Seven