History Film / PunishmentPark

One of these unusual measures the so-called "Punishment Park" game, taking place in the Californian desert, which is offered to some of the people otherwise facing a long prison sentence. The rules of Punishment Park is simple: If you can survive for three days while crossing 53 miles of the scorching desert, with no food or water, and reach an flagpole on the other side, while being hunted by National Guardsmen and law enforcement, your sentence will be commuted. If you fail by being "arrested", you are going straight back to jail.

* KangarooCourt: Essentially what the "emergency tribunals" are. They are exclusively made up of authoritarian right-wing politicians and military officers, and other associated {{Corrupt Hick}}s, [[HangingJudge who are all openly unsympathetic to the accused and determined to find them guilty no matter what]].

* SmartPeopleSpeakTheQueensEnglish: Darkly parodied. The story is primarily populated by Americans, who range from left-wing intellectuals to {{CorruptHick}}s. However, the film (presumably a documentary) itself is narrated in its entirety by an upper-class English male voice, in an ironic juxtaposition to the brutalities taking places on-screen.

* MetaCasting: A large chunk of the cast are not portrayed by trained actors. Many of the arrested left-wing protesters are portrayed by actual anti-war protesters and many of the soldiers are portrayed by actual conservatives, and there was little to no rehearsal involved. Peter Watkins relayed that he at most gave the cast the general idea about what any given scene was about, and asked them to [[{{Improv}} ad-lib their lines]] based on their personal ideology.

* MetaCasting: A large chunk of the cast are not portrayed by trained actors. Many of the arrested left-wing protesters are portrayed by actual anti-war protesters and many of the soldiers are portrayed by actual conservatives, and there was little to no rehearsal involved. Peter Watkins relayed that he at most gave the cast the general idea about what any given scene would contain, and asked them to [[{{Improv}} ad-lib their lines]] based on their personal ideology.

* GreaterScopeVillain: [[PresidentEvil Richard Nixon]] is never directly seen, but his oppressive power grab is directly responsible for all the suffering the film portrays.* KangarooCourt: Essentially what the "emergency tribunals" are. They are exclusively made up of authoritarian right-wing politicians and military officers, and other associated {{Corrupt Hick}}s, [[HangingJudge who are all openly unsympathetic to the accused and determined to find them guilty no matter what]].

Much of America's radical left wing, mostly university students, are rounded up and arrested en mass, with their resistance towards the war being the official excuse. With prisons and courtrooms being filled with loads of people ending up on the wrong side of this governmental overreach, special "[[KangarooCourt emergency tribunals]]" are set up, and are essentially given free range to dole out more unusual forms of punishment to lighten the load of the prison system.

* KangarooCourt: Essentially what the "emergency tribunals" are. They are exclusively made up of authoritarian right-wing politicians and military officers, and other associated {{Corrupt Hick}}s, [[HangingJudge who are all openly unsympathetic to the accused and determined to find them guilty no matter what]].
* OppressiveStatesOfAmerica: Part of the premise is Nixon turning the US into this, complete with {{Kangaroo Court}}s and cruel forms of punishment. It is done under a pretense of securing law and order in American, but it is blatantly clear that the real goal is the iron-fisted elimination of any and all kinds of progressive and reformist political movements.

One of these unusual measures the so-called "Punishment Park" game, taking place in the Californian desert, which is offered to some of the people otherwise facing a long prison sentence. The rules of Punishment Park is simple: If you can survive for three days while crossing 53 miles of the scorching desert, with no food or water, and reach an flagpole on the other side, while being hunted by National Guardsmen and law enforcement, your sentence will be commuted.

* KangarooCourt: Essentially what the "emergency tribunals" are. They are exclusively made up of authoritarian right-wing politicians and military officers, and other associated {{Corrupt Hick}}s, who are all openly unsympathetic to the accused and determined to find them guilty no matter what.

* KangarooCourt: Essentially what the "emergency tribunals" are. They are exclusively made up of right-wing politicians, military officers, and other associated {{Corrupt Hick}}s, who are all openly unsympathetic to the accused and determined to find them guilty no matter what.

''Punishment Park'' is a 1971 {{Dystopia}}n FauxDocumentary written and directed by Peter Watkins (of ''Film/TheWarGame'' fame).

Much of America's radical left wing, mostly university students, are rounded up and arrested en mass, with their resistance towards the war being the official excuse. With prisons and courtrooms being filled with loads of people ending up on the wrong side of this governmental overreach, special "[KangarooCourt emergency tribunals]]" are set up, and are essentially given free range to dole out more unusual forms of punishment to lighten the load of the prison system.