I Watched 'Punishment Park' (1971)
This is a genuinely fantastic movie. My "write up" will be all over the place and mainly intended for people that have watched the movie, so spoilers for basically everything, and go watch it if you haven't, it's really something.
From start to finish this film is dripping with both subtle and not so subtle digs at McCarthyism and the warping of constitutional rights in the face of "national security". Really, though, it's a movie that broadly critiques the power structures in modern, especially capitalistic, society. The interlacing of the second group of, what to me appeared to be much more well spoken and vigorous communist elements, between the footage of the first group, who honestly had communists elements, but were also very much your more typical antiwar "counter-culture" types as opposed to hardline "radicals", as they struggle through the park, being brutalized and killed in a game they were never designed to win was a fantastic artistic choice. By the end you can't help but mourn both groups of activists who, for actions ranging from genuine criminal activity to the mere crime of free speech and expression, have been essentially given a death sentence. Especially knowing the fate that is yet to come for group number 2 after seeing the brutalization of group 1.
I think the other side of the revolutionary element, the establishment, was also fantastically portrayed. The board meant to judge and sentence them ranging from politicians to union leaders sitting comfortably in an air conditioned building, driving out to have a buffet like lunch, while juxtaposed to the dying, dehydrated, and heat exhausted activists making their way through Punishment Park is really a gut punch. The "big stick" of the establishment so to speak, that is, the cops, are also fantastically portrayed. They tell the activists that they plan no harm, as long as they give up when caught, and that their goal is to reach the flag at the end of the park. Yet immediately upon releasing the criminals, the cops start training with firearms and planning for violence. The water that they supposedly set up at a point along the activists journey to help ease their dehydration in the sweltering desert heat, simply doesn't exist. And finally, when the few remaining activists finally reach the flag, they are met with a line of cops standing between them and it. They were never designed to win, success was never an option. As well, the activists, some of which take up violence against the police, are used as a tool. They're spun in a way for the police to justify the violent stance they take against all the activists, even the non violent ones. It's a fascinating look at how governments and police forces justify shutting down demonstrations and thought in the real world. For those that have seen the film, that scene at the end with the young national guard boy who seems to accidentally murder one of the last few survivors of the park is truly one of the most incredible bits of acting and writing put to the screen in my opinion. Seriously whoever that actor was did a fucking phenomenal job. Really, almost all the acting in this movie is fantastic.
The last, and what may very well be the most significant, element of the film is the camera. In this film, the camera crew that we see everything through, IS a part of the movie. They are British journalists who have come to document the system of punishment that is Punishment Park. In my view, their representation is two fold: the power of media and the power of the people. Firstly, what the media chooses to (and just as importantly, not to) report on is pivotal to the public culture. Notice how it's not an American news crew, but a British one, that has to come in and document the true horrors of punishment park. Secondly, in many ways we are the camera crew. Throughout the movie, as the actions and sheer violence of the establishment ramps up, the director pleads with the activists to just give up so they won't be killed, and with the cops to stop their rampage of violence. Ultimately, basically none of their pleadings matter. I think in a way this is a glimpse into our power. Whether we agree with their actions or not, individually we can achieve very little when going against established and massive power structures. If you're cynical, perhaps you read this as a reason to be hopeless. The camera crew can't change anything, so why bother. If you're a little more optimistic, perhaps you read this as a further reason to unite the everyman, power through strength.
There is definitely a lot I'm missing here, but these were just my barely fucking literate scattered initial thoughts on the movie lmfao. 9/10, really fantastic.
