Peter watkins fascinating, if sometimes slowmoving, exercise in you are there filmmaking brings the past to vivid life. Very extensive and impressive film version of the bloodily suppressed. Fim ini disutradarai oleh peter watkins dan termasuk film. They voice their own thoughts and feelings concerning the social and political reforms. A journalist for versailles television broadcasts a soothing and official view of events while a commune television is set up to provide the perspectives of the paris rebels. A war drama film who merger between documentary and reportage and fiction which. Peter watkins somehow manages to create a realistic reenactment of the commune in paris just after the siege of the prussians and the exile of the bourgeoisies using only an abandoned warehouse and a few hundred locals. Commune, a 5 hour 45 minute epic reconstruction of the 1871 paris. Covering the breadth of peter watkins extraordinary body of work this programme presents the radical filmmakers most well known films. The closer i get to the end the more i rewrite the. Following the humiliating defeat of france in the francoprussian war, the reign of napoleon iii collapsed in the resulting public foment. When he tackles a historical moment of such magnitude as the paris commune of 1871, watkins provokes, disturbs, jostles. Peter watkins s approach to history is to make its representation coincide with reflection on it, to film, together with the reenactment, the idea what history means for us today.
Noted filmmaker and media critic peter watkins directs this mammoth sixhourlong look at the legendary paris commune of 1871. He made it in days in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of. I live daily with it, with the questions it raises, with the proposals that come with it. In the mid60s he was commissioned by bbctv to make two featurelength docudramas incorporating a quasinewsreel style and nonprofessional actors. The anarchist cinema of peter watkins perspectives on. Jeremy child, olivier espitaliernoel, george mcbean, robert oates, michael aspel, peter graham, eliane annie adalto, pierre barbieux, bernard bombeau. The second of these, the war game 1966, graphically portrayed the. At 67, peter watkins remains a restless radical, creating films that. With a small film crew and a cast of amatuers, watkins recreates the paris commune. Whilst the premise is interesting the entire films swiftly disappears under peter watkins intellectual pretensions.
The universal clock refers to the synchronisation and the global movement of the televisions in the. What looks likely to be the final film from the director of the war game returns in style to watkins first feature, the provocative and committed culloden. Il film dalla durata di ben 5 ore e 45 minuti, ricostruisce linsurrezione parigina avvenuta nel 1871. In this war drama blurring the lines between documentary and fiction, the working class and the bourgeoisie of 19th century paris are interviewed and covered on television, before and during a tragic workers class revolt. An intellectually challenging and tremendously moving experience, as history replayed among its contemporary ruins. Jul 03, 2003 centered on the story of the paris commune, the workingclass insurgency that briefly ruled the french capital in 1871, peter watkins s film is at once a provocative account of a neglected episode. This epic chronicle of the paris commune of 1871 is an attempt to challenge existing notions of documentary film, as well as the notions of neutrality and ob. During this epic, we witness the rise and eventual fall of the commune. On a stagelike set, more than 200 actors interpret characters of the 1871 paris commune, especially the popincourt neighborhood in the xith arrondissement. Early in 1999, one of the major art centres in paris the musee dorsay.
For peter watkins, to make a film is to question his own work as a filmmaker. Screening introduced by professor emmanuelle saada. It is certain, peter, that your film, your project, is a part of my personal evolution. The film is directed by geoff bowie and produced by the national film board of canada. Peter watkins celebrity profile check out the latest peter watkins photo gallery, biography, pics, pictures, interviews, news, forums and blogs at rotten tomatoes. The second of these, the war game 1966, graphically portrayed the nightmare. A historical reenactment in the style of a documentary, the film received much acclaim from critics for its political themes and watkins direction. Director peter watkins uses amateur actors and very limited sets to portray the rise and collapse of the communards in the most tedious manner possible. Publication date 2000 language french addeddate 20151230.
Peter watkins began his career in advertising as an assistant producer and turned to amateur filmmaking in the late 1950s. The filming took place in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of paris that was outfitted to resemble the 11th arrondissement, one of the poorest workingclass districts at. With eliane annie adalto, pierre barbieux, bernard bombeau, maylis bouffartigue. A film that feels both highly conceptualized and truly freestyle. Centered on the story of the paris commune, the workingclass insurgency that briefly ruled the french capital in 1871, peter watkins s film is at. This deliberately breaks the illusion, but it deepens the directors engagement with history and memory.