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Klawans:
In a tent set up in the baking sun, in a place beyond reach of the Constitution, a tribunal judges the supposed enemies of America, then hands them to the National Guard for cruel and unusual treatment. From this bare description, suitable for the TV Guide listing that the film will never have, you might suppose Punishment Park to be a picture about the present "war on terror." When I add that the lighting is harsh and the camera handheld, you might further imagine that the footage is documentary, snatched from today's awful reality.
You would be wrong on both counts. Newly released on DVD by New Yorker Films, Punishment Park is in fact a document of sorts, but from 1971. Its appearance of being raw reportage is an illusion, meticulously created by writer-director Peter Watkins.
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