priviledge (1967)

"I'm a person."
Britain in the near future, and Steven Shorter (Paul Jones) is the biggest pop star in the world, manipulated by his managers to sell anything and everything and eventually used to gain the public's support for a quasi fascistic state. A puppet, he realises how deep he's fallen when enlightened by Vasessa Richie (Jean Shrimpton).
Watkins takes his pseudo documentary style and points it at the manipulation of youth through the media. Unfortunately it failed at the time, possibly due to its plodding pace, but the message is even more relevant today.

punishment park (1971)

"You want me to tell you what's immoral? War is immoral! Poverty is immoral! Racism is immoral! Police brutality is immoral! Oppression is immoral! Genocide is immoral! Imperialism is immoral! This country represents all those things!"
Pseudo-documentary following a group of anti-establishment types as they are forced to undertake an orienteering course through the desert. The prisoners are promised that once completed they can go free, and the police and soldiers escorting them will not interfere. But as they come close to achieving their goal, the officers become increasingly hostile, provoking their prisoners.
Peter Watkins, director of such classics as Culloden and The War Game, again makes use of a quasi-newsreel style to examine the meaning of the Declaration of Independence and the effect of youth disaffection on a country which at that time seemed to be ripping itself apart. Unfortunately, despite the exceptional acting, this has lost much of the power it would have had at the time of its release.