Peter Watkins' THE WAR GAME

Watkins is so great

I haven't seen any yet but I'm interested. where to start? I fancy La Commune and The Freethinker (but neither seem ideal starting points).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vF_WR7SiC0A

if you havent seen the war game, jed, it's up on google video...RIGHT NOW.

its in my WI queue

Definitely start with the earlier stuff. Not that La Commune isn't fantastic. I haven't seen the Freethinker.

cheers, i have la commune downloaded from KG so i'll start (and maybe end) there.

or the war game, thanks strongo.

Edvard Munch => awesome

word

The War Game is truly amazing, yes. I did not realise that he directed Privilege - intending to watch it sometime next week with a friend, so this new piece of information has made me all the more excited.

Yeah when I saw Edvard Munch all I could think is how it should be the formal template for every costume/historical drama from now on

just watched the war game again last night, followed by threads. (as one does.) my preference for...formal unity (?) makes me prefer threads but watkins' moxy seems pretty undimmed after all these years.

Yeah when I saw Edvard Munch all I could think is how it should be the formal template for every costume/historical drama from now on

― A41 (admrl), Sunday, 14 August 2011 00:17 (4 minutes ago) Bookmark

really caught myself thinking of it as a contemporaneous docu at times

as it SHOULD BE =)

what about the battle of culloden

The Battle of Culloden
1964 NR 72 minutes

Peter Watkins's documentary-style drama imagines that a news crew is present at the 1746 Battle of Culloden -- the last conflict fought on British soil to date -- which ended the war between British loyalists and the Jacobite Highlanders of Scotland. As an off-camera narrator, Watkins interviews combatants and bystanders, reconstructing the events that led up to the bloody uprising, as well as the battle's devastating consequences.

i think culloden might be my fave, dunno

i saw an ok one about a strike in holland (iirc) at the ica a few years ago, but it was like the day after 7/7 and i felt fucked up

crosspost to that other thread, but 'as i always tell my students', the war game won best doc at the oscars so

the docu-style of culloden is really amazing, anyone know of anything else historical at all similar?

This thread has inspired me to watch Culloden...at work

entirety of 'punishment park' is on youtube, i recommend it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv6JIcmWNr0

Saw Privilege last night. It's no less of a mess than it must have been back then, but it's still definitely worth seeing

http://breakfastintheruins.blogspot.com/2010/02/privilege-peter-watkins-1967.html

love this guy. his anger is white hot.

he's retired i guess -- hasn't made a movie in 11–12 years.

seeing his paris commune film was/is one the highlights of filmgoing for me.

Was trying to find mark s' review of Priviledge: he didn't like it either (I've not seen it)

It seemed like a precursor to Children of Men minus any sci-fi future element.

Its SF flick-doc really...

That's a nice blog post as his 'finally in my hands' turns to 'this is wack and flawed'.

lol@ this:

(about the funniest moment in the film for modern viewers is when the narrator casually announces that the Labour and Conservative parties recently decided to merge, having discovered an essential lack of difference between their policies and seen no reason why they should subject the public to ‘disruptive expressions of political difference’).

saw E Munch for the first time yesterday; wow

it would be fun to make a short parody of it, tho

but speaking of short, has the 210-min version ever been seen since the '70s?

Yep, there's a Region 2 DVD of it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Edvard-Munch-Masters-Cinema-DVD/dp/B000UM1GC4

Still haven't seen Priveledge but how AMAZING is La Commune?

A: Very.

finished watching his munch film last night, which was fantastic. and if i read the credits right, the actor playing strindberg was actually a descendant of his which might explain the amazing likeness.

Huh, the last time I posted in this thread I hadn't yet watched Privilege - it's now a firm favourite.

Guess I'll have to check in in another four years and tell you all how I've loved the Munch film for ages.

Hearts and Minds is the only Vietnam War doc I've ever liked

lol wrong thread it was a peter davies joint!

Peter Watkins is a fine filmmaker but he has a persecution complex. He keeps a scrapbook of bad reviews from 50 years ago that he totes to screenings.

Great piece on the passing of the guy.

https://www.e-flux.com/notes/6783417/letters-for-peter-watkins

Thanks for that xyzzzz. Just putting here the link it contains to Watkins' own website, now maintained by his family:

http://pwatkins.mnsi.net/seventies.htm

Nice, will look through.

Reckon (more my hope) his work will really speak to more people in future

Opened in London 45 years ago:

https://scontent-lhr8-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/629255621_10162477213321526_6343755687136357027_n.jpg?_nc_cat=101&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=raOjPPs45s8Q7kNvwEYI4dD&_nc_oc=AdlrugHcJIVuhtm7B3F2W0CTYD4HrfDS4w9P92us_ovsrTZx_djmyxed2WlgPS3mPPGUvCyanKQjs24pziRKLg29&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-lhr8-2.xx&_nc_gid=jrk8t5bv3hA70a29K03zKQ&oh=00_AftSpa13CuKLa7C82LY7K9KgD0XZpGox-sd1tnPp8Vur9w&oe=6990B1A2

Season at the BFI

https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::permalink=peter-watkins&BOparam::WScontent::loadArticle::context_id=

Watched Evening Land. Quite similar to Fassbinder's Third Generation, with the usual Watkins qualifiers...a bit fuller work through on the politics of the 'terrorists' (Watkins taking a clear side) a bit more and really hits on so much of what is going on today in our present day...

Just saw this random headline in the FT. This film is miles ahead of that. You know the answer

https://www.ft.com/content/ff77bb63-b1a3-4c9f-81ba-09eced8700e3?syn-25a6b1a6=1