(NR) USA – 1 hr 31 min
1971 · d. Peter Watkins
Starring Patrick Boland, Kent Foreman, Carmen Argenziano
As the Vietnam War escalates and Kent State erupts into violence, Nixon authorizes the detention of “risks to internal security.” A British film crew records a group of arrested dissidents offered an opportunity to avoid prison—to be pursued across the California desert by the National Guard in a terrifying training exercise. Or so it would seem. Shot in a visceral style using non-professional actors drawn from real activist groups, this incendiary faux-documentary sparked controversy upon its release and remains an experience like no other.
Film historian Samm Deighan (The Legacy of World War II in European Art House Cinema, Eros + Massacre podcast) will join us to discuss her new book, Revolution in 35mm: Political Violence and Resistance in Cinema from the Arthouse to the Grindhouse, 1960–1990, for sale on site.
