Peter Watkins, father of the mockumentary, dies

BarcelonaIn 1966, the BBC produced The war game, A documentary about the effects of an atomic bombing on the English city of Rochester: the chaos of the forced evacuation, the repression by the authorities, the struggle of the survivors to adapt to the post-apocalyptic world… It was all fictional, but filmed with chilling realism and, essentially, a fierce critique of the proliferation of nuclear weapons. The following year, the film won the Oscar for best documentary, but the BBC didn't dare broadcast it. The war game for twenty years. Peter Watkins, the director of that masterpiece of anti-war cinema and one of the fathers of the mockumentary, has died at the age of 90, according to reports. British Film InstituteWatkins, born in Norbiton in 1935, was an innovative filmmaker who redefined the language of documentary to give the viewer an active role in interpreting the images. Her non-fiction works explicitly employ narrative mechanisms to question totalitarian discourses, the abuses of capitalism, and the lack of historical memory. She trained at the BBC in the late 1950s and 60s, showing a great receptiveness to... angry young men of British cinema of the time, but not to a proposal as explosive as The war gameExiled in the United States, Watkins premiered another of his masterpieces in 1971: Punishment Park, an alternate history also filmed under the guise of a mockumentary about the brutal repression of social movements (pacifists, feminists, African Americans).

Watkins' filmography also includes original works. biopics as Edvard Munch (1974), about the Norwegian expressionist painter, and films of unusual ambition such as the little-seen The journey (1987), in which peace activists reflect on the nuclear threat for 870 minutes. The director's last great work was the monumental The Commune (Paris 1871)A provocative reconstruction of the famous revolutionary experiment of the Paris Commune, from March 26 to May 28, 1871. For six hours—there is also a three-hour version—Watkins dissects the revolutionary experience through a mock television report that also gives voice to the citizens, unlike the actual citizens. A powerful reflection on the beauty and contradictions of utopias, it marked the end of the filmography of one of the most influential filmmakers of the second half of the 20th century.