Filmmakers’ “theories” — Peter Watkins

Peter Watkins is an English film and television director known for pioneering the ‘docu-drama’ sub-genre of documentary. Presenting radical ideas in an unorthodox fashion, Watkins’ filmography offers an insight into scarily authentic but hypothetical near-future events.

Watkins established his reputation with two docu-dramas from the 1960s, Culloden and The War Game. Both document events from the past using actors and reconstruction. In asking questions of conventional documentary, Watkins reflects his deep concern with mainstream media, which he has called the ‘monoform’.

Peter Watkins (second in from the right)

Throughout films such as The War Game, Watkins typically employs amateur actors and handheld cameras in order to purport a sense of authenticity throughout the dystopian future presented throughout. Alongside this, Watkins includes superficial news report footage as well as voice-over narration within his films to fully immerse the viewer. Watkins’ implementation of documentary filmmaking traits in a seemingly impossible scenario, such as the bloody Scottish battlefields found within Culloden, provide a vast sense of immediate enthrallment throughout his filmography.

Peter Watkins’ films can typically be classed as somewhere between an expository documentary and an observational documentary. Due to the utilisation of narration combined with seemingly impossible ‘fly on the wall’ scenes, Watkins’ films lie in an interesting middle ground within Bill Nichols’ modes of documentary.

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1966)

The War Game (Peter Watkins, 1966) is a British pseudo-documentary film which depicts a hypothetical nuclear war and the proceeding repercussions. The film caused a significant amount of distress within the BBC and it was soon deemed to be “too horrifying” for a general audience. The film was later televised in July 1985 during the week before the 40th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing.

Poster

During this ‘worst-case scenario’, the UK has declared a state of emergency after the Soviets threaten to invade West Berlin if the US does not revoke their decision to employ nuclear warfare. Ration cards and hazard booklets are soon distributed to the public and an emergency siren system is tested. Soon enough, a Soviet thermonuclear warhead airbursts 6 miles outside of Manston Airfield and the effects of the nuclear bomb are viscerally displayed to the viewer through the use of extremely graphic imagery.

The War Game wavers between being an observational documentary and a participatory documentary. In some scenes, the actors on-screen acknowledge the presence of the camera and in others, the camera appears to be invisible. Through this, a ‘fly on the wall’ style of filmmaking is employed, thus placing these parts of the film under the observational mode. The fact that each situation depicted is entirely fictional and each of the characters are actors, suggests that the film can be categorised as a participatory documentary. This is aptly utilised by Watkins in order to immerse the viewer within the imaginably dystopian reality of the near-future.

Some of the many victims of nuclear warfare displayed throughout The War Game

Receiving a 93% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and winning the 1967 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature, critics praised the film for being “remarkab[ly] authentic” – despite being shown to the public almost 20 years after production.

Although I didn’t get much enjoyment out of The War Game, I greatly appreciated it for its frightening level of genuineness presented throughout its 45 minute runtime. It’s no surprise that this film wasn’t aired publicly in 1965.

Overall, I would rate The War Game ★★★.

Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013)

Blackfish (Gabriela Cowperthwaite, 2013) is an observational documentary centering around the controversy of keeping killer whales in captivity and the psychological damage imbued upon the wales themselves. We follow the orca, Tilikum and his restrictive life at the SeaWorld entertainment centre.

Poster

The documentary details Tilikum’s involvement in the deaths of three people at SeaWorld, covering his capture in 1983 and his harassment by fellow captive orcas at the entertainment centre. The film rebukes several claims made by SeaWorld concerning the lifespan of orcas in captivity, stating that killer whales have similar lifespans to humans in their natural habitat. A variety of former SeaWorld trainers are interviewed throughout the film, including John Hargrove who each detail their experiences with Tilikum and the tragedy caused by him as well as other captive whales.

A former SeaWorld member of staff being interviewed

The subject of whale captivity is framed in an extremely negative light, reporting that whales undergo utmost stress while in captivity. Alongside this, the separation of the whales’ offspring when captured in the wild adds further insult to injury to the suffering the whales must live through. Cowperthwaite uses a number of interesting techniques throughout the film, such as expressing different viewpoints through the process of interviewing. Additionally, the medium of animation is used to recreate specific court cases as well as to make the process of whale capturing clearer for the viewer to visualise. The narrative of the documentary is relatively nonlinear, jumping between the date of Tilikum’s capture to the deaths of several trainers. This places the narrative in a more immediate position and places the viewer within the context of each situation.

Tilikum pictured with Dawn Brancheau, one of the wale’s three victims

The film premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was then acquired by Magnolia Pictures and CNN for a wider release. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 98%, the site states that “Blackfish is an aggressive, impassioned documentary that will change the way you look at performance killer whales.” Alongside this, SeaWorld suffered a $15.9 million loss and attendance declined by 5% in the first 9 months of 2013. This implies that Blackfish had a considerable impact upon the negative decline of SeaWorld as a tourist attraction.

Personally, I enjoyed Blackfish from start to finish. Prior to watching, I had little to no interest in the subject matter of orca captivity but this documentary managed to effectively spread awareness of the issue at hand. In saying this, no specific sequences particularly stood out to me and the documentary felt unnecessarily hard to follow at certain points. I believe that the underlying message that Gabriela Cowperthwaite was trying to convey was the persistent and unnoticed oppression towards killer whales and that the captivity of their species for our entertainment is inherently wrong.

Overall, I would rate Blackfish ★★★★.

Modes of Documentary

Bill Nichols, a documentary theorist, stated that every documentary could be categorised under one of six ‘modes’ of documentary, listed and explained below.

Bill Nichols’ Six Modes of Documentary

Expository Documentary

An expository documentary is the ‘traditional form’ of a documentary film, setting up a specific point of view or argument about a subject matter. The narrator often addresses the viewer directly, establishing the relationship between what is being projected on screen and the accompanying verbal commentary. Examples of an expository documentary include the works of David Attenborough, such as Planet Earth (2006) as well as the feature-length March of the Penguins (Luc Jacquet, 2005).

Observational Documentary

An observational documentary aims to capture fully authentic, day-to-day life with minimal interruption. Also referred to as a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary, the filmmaker is a neutral observer of events – remaining hidden behind the camera at all times. Examples of an observational documentary include High School (Frederick Wiseman, 1968) and The Beatles: Get Back (Peter Jackson, 2021).

Participatory Documentary

Within a participatory documentary, the filmmaker themselves is directly included within the documentary’s narrative, typically onscreen. Their impact upon the recorded events is acknowledged and the filmmaker personally interacts with the documentary’s subjects, with their personality often shining through in the process. Examples of a participatory documentary include Sherman’s March (Ross McElwee, 1985) and The Danube Exodus (Péter Forgács, 1998).

Performative Documentary

A performative documentary focuses on the filmmaker’s involvement with the specific area of documentation that the film is centered around. The filmmaker often inputs their personal experience with the subject in order to explore the larger truth of the matter at hand. Examples of a performative documentary include Supersize Me (Morgan Spurlock, 2004) and the many documentaries of Louis Theroux.

Poetic Documentary

A poetic documentary utilises avant-garde and experimental techniques to evoke a specific emotion within the viewer, avoiding a typical linear narrative. Examples of a poetic documentary include Fata Morgana (Werner Herzog, 1970) and Tongues Untied (Marlon Riggs, 1989).

Reflexive Documentary

Reflexive documentaries are often extremely meta in nature, acknowledging the format of a documentary itself. Often featuring the filmmaker within the film, a reflexive documentary makes no attempt to explore an outside topic but solely focuses on the act of creating a documentary. Examples of a reflexive documentary include Man With a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929) and Chronicle of a Summer (Jean Rouch, Edgar Morin, 1961).