SCFZ poll: Peter Watkins

[flip]

Polling the films of Peter Watkins

The rules:

- your list can include no more than half* of the Watkins films you've seen, up to a maximum of 8. So if you've seen 6 films, you can vote for 3, and if you've seen 20, you can vote for up to 8.

* If you've seen an odd number, you can round up when deciding the length of your ballot -- e.g if you've seen 7, you can vote for 4, and if you've seen 15, you can vote for the maximum of 8.

- i'll assume ballots are ranked unless you tell me otherwise. unranked ballots are fine.

- deadline for ballots: next Friday, in seven days, whatever day that is

umbugbene created an index on letterboxd of all of our previous polls here: letterboxd.com/umbugbene/list/index-of-all-scfz-director-polls/

[mesnalty]

Seen 6:

1. La Commune
2. Edvard Munch
3. Culloden

[brian d]

seen 5, liked them all, so i should see the rest someday

culloden
the war game
punishment park

[sally]

seen 7

edvard munch
culloden
la commune

[rischka]

edvard munch
punishment park
la commune

[ofrene]

seen 2

The War Game

[St. Gloede]

Seen 9:

La commune (Paris, 1871) (2000)
Privilege (1967)
Aftenlandet / Evening Land (1977)
Punishment Park (1971)
Edvard Munch (1974)

[Curtis, baby]

seen 1

the war game

[greennui]

8.

Edvard Munch
Punishment Park
La commune
Culloden

[Monsieur Arkadin]

Seen 2

Punishment Park

[...]

Culloden
Edvard Munch
La Commune (Paris 1871)
Punishment Park
The Gladiators

[oscarwerner]

seen 6
The War Game
Punishment Park
Edvard Munch

[greennui]

Citing their 1969 Bed-in efforts and Peace Concert, an interviewer asked John Lennon and Yoko Ono, "Is there any one particular incident that got you started in this peace campaign?". John answered, "...the thing that really struck it off was a letter we got from a guy called Peter Watkins who made a film called The War Game. It was a very long letter stating just what's happening – how the media is really controlled, how it's all run, and everything else that people really know deep down. He said 'People in your position have a responsibility to use the media for world peace'. And we sat on the letter for about three weeks thinking 'Well, we're doing our best. All you need is love, man.' That letter just sort of sparked it all off. It was like getting your induction papers for peace!"

[...]

Heh. Not a bad idea, induction letters for peace, and other social progress.

Incidentally, I did a quick rewatch of a couple of Watkins short films to refresh my memory of them and what really stands out for me about Watkins is how his style so well captures his sensibility about people compared to other directors from the era. He has a knack for getting the dynamics of groups interacting and just really gets how individual response is fit to that dynamic or to larger social forces in terms of presentation, even without considering what it is they say or their beliefs. The dialogue can sometimes be more agitprop than natural, but the way he frames people carries his underlying concern and makes it generally work. So many of the more famous directors allow their aesthetic demands to determine their framing, setting up groups to look good on screen and speeches to flow, but "beauty" in that sense has a kind of authoritarian aspect to its control of the screen that can cut against the attitudes they seek to convey. If that makes sense.

[nrh]

i think i've said this before on other threads but my late doc teacher, one of the most thoughtful people i've ever met, always used to show commune in class to her junior year students, who to a person hated it. but there was a quality of putting the work in, the contradictions of the work, that she thought was totally necessary for anyone hoping to work with the form. have always thought about that especially with watkins larger project, flaws in all.

[flip]

The Forgotten Faces

seen two

[flip]

our winner will not surprise anyone who has seen scfz's top films of all time lists - it's an scfz favourite. we actually only got votes for 9 films, so we need nominations for a #10 -- if anyone has seen several watkins films, and likes one that isn't in the top nine below, please post the title here!

results
1. Edvard Munch (1974) — 18 pts
2. La Commune (Paris, 1871) (2000) — 15 pts
3. Punishment Park (1971) — 13 pts
4. Culloden (1964) — 12 pts
5. The War Game (1966) — 7 pts
6. Privilege (1967) — 4 pts
7. Evening Land (1977) — 3 pts
8. The Gladiators (1969) — 1 pt
8. The Forgotten Faces (1961) — 1 pt
10. The Trap (1975) — 0.01 pts

[flip]

we still need a #10 film! any suggestions?

[St. Gloede]

Fällan / The Trap (1975) is a really good film, though not quite great.

Has anyone seen Fritänkaren (1994), it has a similar profile to Edward Munch.

His short The Diary of an Unknown Soldier (1959) has also a decent amount of buzz, and was chosen by TimeOut Magazine as one of the 1,000 greatest films of all time, but I have not yet seen that either.

[flip]

if you've seen the trap, and think it deserves a vote, i'll make that #10 unless other replies come in, thanks for the suggestion!

[...]

I'd go with The Trap over Diary of an Unknown Soldier, the latter of which is fine and more important in some ways perhaps, but comparatively basic in concept in ways that don't really fit Watkins as he developed his methods further.

[flip]

posted to letterboxd:

https://letterboxd.com/fliptrotsky/list ... -poll-304/