Punishment Park

“I suspect that Watkins cautionary fable is really a wildly sincere desire to find his own ultimate punishment”. The New York Times

1970. THE WAR in Vietnam is escalating. President Nixon has decided on a secret bombing campaign of Cambodia. There is massive public protest in the United States and elsewhere. Nixon declares a state of national emergency, and - we presuppose in the film - activates the 1950 Internal Security Act (the McCarran Act), which authorizes Federal authorities, without reference to Congress, to detain persons judged to be “a risk to internal security”.

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Judge: Are you familiar with Saint Thomas Aquinas?

James Arthur Kohler. Pacifist. Age 20: Yes, I am.

Judge: I think he had this to say about a just war.

He laid down a proviso for a just war, he said this: That war must be decided upon legitimate authority and, secondly, that its objective must be to vindicate justice and that, thirdly, it must be waged with a just intent.

This was during the 12th Century, before this present time.

He understood what a just war meant.

Can't you understand that the policy in Indochina is even justified by a 12th Century philosopher?

James Arthur Kohler: Those provisos came from Saint Augustine originally, and Saint Augustine had a fourth proviso which shows

the total absurdity of considering any war just:

That a war must be waged under the control of a loving disposition, that no man is fit to inflict punishment

until he has banished hate from his heart.

Giudice: Ha letto San Tommaso d'Aquino?

James Arthur Kohler. Pacifista. Età, 20 anni: Si.

Giudice: Ha scritto ciò su una guerra giusta.

Ha messo queste condizioni a una guerra giusta: Innanzi tutto, un'autorità legittima deve deciderne.

secondo: il suo obiettivo deve essere difendere la giustizia, e terzo, deve muoversi con un'intenzione giusta.

Lo ha scritto nel XII° secolo prima della nostra epoca.

Sapeva cos'era una guerra giusta.

Non capite che la nostra politica in Indocina è persino giustificata da un filosofo del XII° secolo.

James Arthur Kohler: E' Sant'Agostino che, per primo, ha messo questa condizione.

Ma dimostrava in seguito l'assurdità della possibilità di una guerra giusta.

Per lui, la guerra deve essere condotta con un cuore pieno d'amore, nessun uomo può infliggere punizioni prima d'aver bandito l'odio dal suo cuore.

Peter Watkins, Punishment Park, 1970