"THE JOURNEY is an attempt at a fully international cinema. Producer-director Peter Watkins (THE WAR GAME, EDVARD MUNCH) worked with support groups in nations around the world, raising money and assembling casts and crews. During 1984-1985 the film was shot in the US, Canada, Norway, Scotland, France, West Germany, Mozambique, Japan, Australia, Tahiti, and Mexico. Watkins talks with families and citizen groups in these nations about the network of social and political issues we are all part of - especially about the world arms race and its relationship to world hunger, gender politics, and the functioning of the mass media. Survivors of the bombings of Hiroshima and Hamburg reminisce about their experiences, and groups of people psychodramatize scenarios the threat of a Third World War might necessitate. Most important, however, as THE JOURNEY develops, the people Watkins works with begin to explore possibilities for moving through the barriers that separate peoples, toward a more peaceful, synergic world.
"THE JOURNEY is a 14 1/2-hour film which can be experienced over a weekend or over an extended period of time (the film is divided into 19 sections). It can be rented as a whole or in sections. And there are recommended shorter versions: check with Canyon Cinema for details. What follows is Watkins' precis of the first part of each of the 19 reels. A more complete outline of each reel of THE JOURNEY is available on request from Canyon Cinema. Our hope is that whenever THE JOURNEY is shown in shorter-than-original form, outlines of those reels of the film not shown will be made available to viewers." - Scott MacDonald
1984-1985, 16mm, color/so, 14.5hrs, $1,000
Watkins and the translators introduce themselves. Bob Del Tredici presents photographs documenting the nuclear weapons process. Lewis (in the Scottish Western Islands). Intro. Stornoway airport. LEWIS group begins their discussion. Ms. SAEKI enters crypt in Hiroshima Peace Park. Long shots of Hiroshima and ABCC in foreground. Ms. SAEKI shows family portrait. Bob Del Tredici and photos re Pantex and the Bishop of Amarillo. Intro. atmosphere at Bangor submarine base. SHELLEY DOUGLASS introduces her home and the tracks of the White Train. More Bangor atmosphere, tourist bus into base, horse grazing, washing on line, patrol car by perimeter fence. We meet DRINKWINES for first time. LS evening over Hiroshima, and Radio-Canada fanfare on evening news. "Brian Mulroney arrives in Quebec. ..." Cut to silence of Pacific Ocean and sunset. PW re global militarization. Moruroa photos shown to family (unidentified). Walk towards LUCAS's home on Tahiti ....
16mm, color/so, 50.5m, $135
MOCAMBIQUE women sing and dance. Alpheus Manghezi walks towards the collective and begins interviews with the women. This is intercut with Reagan and the "Football" climbing into a helicopter. Bob Del Tredici re the White Train at Amarillo. The first shot of walking along the rail tracks toward the entrance gates at Bangor. We hear the defense hearings from Jan. 1984 and the voices of Caspar Weinberger and General John Vessey. Main title of THE JOURNEY in many languages. The quarry on Lewis, and the lorry drives away into far long shot. PW compares quality of life statistics with quality in weapons development. Three captions re US and Soviet arms expenditures. Intro. Vaernes airport in Stjordal, Norway. Pan over fjord. Ms. SAEKI re morning of A-Bomb attack. We walk towards the VIKANS home. PW shows the pictures of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to the VIKANS ....
16mm, color/so, 40.5m, $125
Caption re Reagan bombing USSR in five minutes. Radio-Canada news item re Canadian-US relations. Tracking down the hallway of the press and TV headquarters in Quebec City. We meet the Radio-Canada producers at their breakfast meeting. They order poached eggs. MOCAMBIQUE women re their lack of equipment. VIKANS begin reaction to the Hiroshima pix. Sunset over Pacific. PW re nuclear testing in Pacific. LUCAS tells us that flash from testing dims the light of the sun. HENDRICKS react to Hiroshima pix. Ms. SAEKI re saying sorry to the injured and dead she stepped over. Bangor atmos. SHELLEY DOUGLASS tells us that no one saw the White Train go by for 20 years. Map showing all the nuclear bases in the US and the White Train beginning its journey from Amarillo.
Night scene of White Train at North Platte, Nebraska. Bangor atmos. Camera pulls back from photo of Hiroshima girl's burnt hand to show her face ....
16mm, color/so, 50.5m, $135
SMILLIE family react to Hiroshima photos. Rene HENDRICKS tells of seeing these photos once or twice. MOCAMBIQUE school children re their lack of clothes. ITN-TV News (England) re British mistake with A-Bomb in Australia. SMILLIES look at photo of silhouette on Hiroshima oil tank, and David describes his nightmare. Masha KOLOSOV says she has nightmares too. DUVEL family examine Hiroshima photos. Martina's friend Beate reacts. Pan over countryside outside Duvel's home. MORIS tells for first time of taking Teruko into radioactive Hiroshima after bombing. Martina DUVEL reacts strongly to photo of skulls outside Nagasaki school. GERARD & OUIZA also react to photos. CRIPPEN family tell that they did not know much about this before and do not discuss it at work. GERARD & OUIZA remind us that America did not A-bomb the Royal Palace in Tokyo, but the dwelling places of ordinary people in Hiroshima. "It's always the people who pay ...."
16mm, color/so, 43.5m, $130
BREAKFAST MEETING in Quebec City, the TV producers discuss the assignments. One of their reporters, Gilles Morin, in charge of covering the security aspects of the "Shamrock Summit," moves outside to film the demonstration, and interviews WAYNE MOREL. We see the Radio-Canada team standing near the police and generally not communicating with the demonstrators. Then follows a series of international TV evening news introductions, coupled with NUKIE saying "Hello boys and girls." Noriaki SHINYA tells of his school talking about the A-bomb only occasionally. A lorry on the island of Lewis drives past camera. ANDREW MACLEOD sings in Gaelic. A civilian plane takes off from Stornoway airport, and PW tells of the flight from Tinian carrying the first A-bomb. Intro the GAELIC group, who begin their animated discussion ....
16mm, color/so, 44.5m, $135
Mavis of the LEWIS group describes process of growing sense of helplessness on the local level once it was realized that the Stornoway base was going ahead, no matter what people felt. Three TV extracts (Antenne 2 of France, JHN of Japan showing a clip from the Iraqi TV, and ZDF from Germany) all re Iraq war. Track into VIKANS home. Ragnveig fearful re impact of TV's fast cutting images. Pan over earth-moving equipment on runway at Stornoway airport. LEWIS group incl. Sam Maynard describe how authorities treated them like naughty little children. Continue walk along tracks towards gates at Bangor. Alexander KOLOSOV tells why they do not have a sense of helplessness in the USSR - feeling protected by their armed forces. But Alexander admits this has been at a great cost to the country. White Train flashes through White Fish, Montana ....
16mm, color/so, 46.5m, $135
DUVELS talk about the effect of TV, Martina says she is worried by the flood of images. Reagan tells us it is "wonderful to be here" and then he and Mulroney leave the ceremony at the hangar in Quebec City. Sunset reflected in the water of the Pacific. Hinano LUCAS tells why it was necessary for her brother to work for the military on Muroroa. The CRIPPENS talk about the amount of information which Honeywell does and does not make available about their work on nuclear weapons. We track round the mound in the Hiroshima Peace Park, and Ms. SAEKI tells why she talks with the public in this place. Why she still does what she does after 40 years. The HENDRICKS arrive at the Remingtom School in Ilion, New York, at the start of the American Civil Defense reenactment scenes ....
16mm, color/so, 39.5m, $120
Young MOCAMBIQUE woman describes how much they love school, and how she wants to be literate so that she can teach the older women how to count. GERARD & OUIZA explain that the Arab language taught in Algerian schools is not the language spoken by ordinary people. Police arrest demonstrators at Vancouver and handcuff them with plastic strips. Photos of prewar Hamburg, Germany, and Mrs. BIERMANN begins her description of her experiences during the July 1943 firestorm. Bob Del Tredici shows us the boss of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and his "plan," and an underground storage vault ready for the "big banana." The VIKANS push through the crowd back towards their car. Everyone runs, not knowing what to do. The KOLOSOVS examine with dismay the dotgraph showing the nuclear weapons held by the US and USSR. The GAELIC group begin a cold war argument regarding the Russians and the Americans ....
16mm, color/so, 44.5m, $135
The MORI family discuss how little they know about the French nuclear testing in the Pacific. Camera tracks through the Hamburg underground nuclear war bunker, and we hear Mr. HAMADA describing the moment he first discovers his badly injured father in the first-aid station. We continue to walk through the bunker, up to the handles which turn the emergency air system. Over a close shot of a photo of Mr. Hamada's father, PW explains that Mr. Hamada collects Buddhas. We see closeup details of several Buddha figures, and we hear Kazuaki SHINYA explain to his daughter Yoriko about the death rate of children in Bangladesh and other poor countries. Cut to the MORI family as they discuss "why does this happen?" Radio-Canada TV footage of Reagan arriving at Quebec City airport and walking down the red carpet with Mulroney. Long shot of Mr. HAMADA praying before Buddha ....
16mm, color/so, 44m, $135
Martina DUVEL talks about the passivity caused by TV. ITN TV News (UK) shows film of the 1950s British nuclear testing in Australia. Ken and Shane BARNES talk about the effects of nuclear weapons. Mariam asks about nuclear winter. Pan over the tranquil countryside around the Barnes home. Intercut with Ron CRIPPEN saying that it is sad to waste all this (Honeywell) technology on defense. Tilt up from photo of Hiroshima in sand to MOCAMBIQUE group. The women describe the effect of the MNR war in their country. The pale blue Pacific. Trish CRIPPEN talks about responsibility. Pan over the faces of the TAHITI group as they listen to a replay of the discussion in the FR3 studio in Toulouse about the French testing in Polynesia. The Acid Rain press conference in Quebec City. Reagan gives a formula speech and is challenged by a journalist ....
16mm, color/so, 44m, $135
Bob Del Tredici shows more photos, including those of Bernard Cohen, who has undertaken to swallow plutonium on TV. Yoriko plays the piano, and we see the polluted LaTrobe Valley. Cut inside the cellar in Morwell, for the first of the scenes depicting survivors in a post-nuclear world. Evacuees get out of buses in Ilion, as we continue the Civil Defense scenes in New York, now showing attempts to billet. The SAMWELA family on Tahiti look at the photos from Hiroshima, and Do asks "Why do we kill each other?" Mr. BRASCH continues to tell of his experiences in the Hamburg firestorm. With hundreds of other cars, the VIKANS approach the Vududalen Civil Defense checkpoint. MELITA and her family in Mocambique describe the direct consequences of the war on their lives. "No plates ... no bread." Ranveig VIKAN discusses the fear of many teachers at speaking out ....
16mm, color/so, 49m, $135
The HENDRICKS arrive at the gas station in Utica, where there is complete chaos as people try to fill their cars as they flee. The VIKANS in their car, driving to Frosta. Anne asks Christian to fetch the hamster if he goes back home. We hear the continuing voices of General Vessey and Casper Weinberger from the defense hearings (Jan. 1984) as they say that if the US lacks the will to go forward with its strategic modernization programs "we will have conceded our inferiority." Mr. SHINDO in Hiroshima describes his family situation before the attack in August 1945. ELENA and Pancho in Mexico talk about the rising prices. PW shows the US university map to the CRIPPEN family, describing the amount of defense dollars given to educational institutions for military research. Mr. SHINDO describes the moment the atomic blast hit his home 40 kms outside Hiroshima.
16mm, color/so, 45m, $135
Mr. HAMADA praying. We walk through the Hamburg bunker and we hear Mr. HAMADA describe the death of his father, saying "Why did we fight such a silly war?" We hear the whining sound as the handles on the emergency air pumps in the bunker are turned. Map showing the radioactive fallout from a nuclear attack on the nuclear reactors in the northeast United States. Scene of total chaos at the Utica gas station. Elizabeth screaming as Bill is manhandled by the police. The old woman in MOCAMBIQUE describes life under the Portuguese colonialists on a cotton plantation. The women work in the fields. Cut back into the Gala, as Edith Butler and other artistes entertain Ronald Reagan. Graphic of paint brush, broad paint stripes and a single dot, showing the amount spent by various countries on international peacekeeping ....
16mm, color/so, 42m, $125
PW describes sweeping powers given to the British army to control the civilian population in a time of emergency. "Our" BBC newsreader (Alex) introduces the evening news, and describes a (hypothetical) emergency situation in the UK with all locally elected officials being removed from office - or placed under "house arrest." We see the arrest of some Glasgow councillors. The army raid a house in Glasgow and storm up the stairs. "Our" TV reporter Annette describes the house arrest of two local councillors. Maureen Forrester completes her aria in the Gala, and then (backstage) describes how wonderful she thought everything was. Back on stage, Maureen calls to Reagan and Mulroney to come down and join them. The protestors are arrested in Vancouver, Washington. The audience bursts into applause. The BARNES watch some more of Bill Hayden, and Ken queries Hayden's reference to King Canute ....
16mm, color/so, 45.5m, $135
In the cellar in Morwell, Australia, an adult education teacher says that she and her students sometimes talked about the possibility of this occurring. The White Train pulls into the little town of Shelton, Washington. PW talks about nuclear testing in different countries. In the cellar, several of the "survivors" discuss the relative merits of writing letters to politicians, or protesting out on the streets. Michael McIvor, of the CBC, engages in an anti-peace movement discussion with a CBC correspondent in Paris. Calum in the LEWIS group talks about the positive contribution that their campaign has made in making more information available. Back to the CBC, this time journalist Sheila McVickar who tells McIvor how she cannot help people who want to leave Central America as refugees. They both discuss objectivity. A young Marxist interviewed by our video team in Quebec City discusses the bias in the press ....
16mm, color/so, 49m, $135
In MOCAMBIQUE, the women talk about living under the war. On a map, we see the White Train arriving at Bangor. Al DRINKWINE describes his resignation, and the large number of civilian employers who subsequently refused to employ him. Mr. LEE describes the prejudice of the Japanese against the Koreans even during the time of the A-bomb trauma. Our rail walk terminates at the gates of the Bangor base. Miron MATAO and his family describe the lack of tuition in the Ma'ori (Polynesian) language in the local French-organized schools. The White Train arrives at Bangor, we see the protestors and the Federal agents locked together in a macabre dance. We hear more of Caspar Weinberger's voice, extolling the virtues of the SDI project. The VIKANS finally arrive at the Frosta school (the Civil Defense evacuation point) and PW reminds us that this is only 25 kms from the nuclear target at the Vaernes airport ....
16mm, color/so, 56m, $135
Lights are switched on in the MORWELL CELLAR, the Australian cast react to the experience. ELENA's neighbors talk about the possibility of change. Ignatio reminds us that "alone you can do nothing." In the school at FROSTA, the Norwegian cast give their reaction to the reenactment, and their opinions of the Civil Defense measures that would have brought them here in an actual emergency. The sequence ends with a strong appeal for action from one of the organizers, and much applause. We now enter the sequence where a number of the families in the film watch an extract of the KOLOSOVS interview on their own video sets, beginning with ELENA and her neighbors, who watch Masha's impassioned response to the question about Russia wanting war. This continues with the MORIS, the CRIPPENS, the discussion group in the FR3 studio, the TAHITI group, and finally the HENDRICKS. All watch the KOLOSOVS ....
16mm, color/so, 50m, $135
Kimi MORI says that she thinks Russia is going the wrong way, by educating their children that America and England are the "devils." She goes on to express how she hopes there will be no more war in the world. Alexander KOLOSOV describes why he - and the Russian people - feel it is correct that Soviet troops are in Afghanistan. Mr. BRASCH tells us that he believes the British bomber crews could not imagine what was happening down there, and he goes on to stress that the only way now is for all the nations to keep together. Mrs. BIERMANN echoes these sentiments, and emphasizes that we must support the peace movement, that this is the only thing to do. ELENA and Pancho describe the acute need for tranportation, and they repeat that people are forced to steal now. GERARD & OUIZA describe the divided society in Toulouse, that there are two societies, two camps, and that this situation is instrumental in the increase in racism ....
16mm, color/so, 52m, $135
Credits and final visits with THE JOURNEY people.
16mm, color/so, 35m, $105
Peter Watkins, who also directed the amazing Privilege, made this controversial and ahead of its time political film at the height of the powder keg tensions of the late 60's/early 70's. Released in 1971, the film details a world of rabid political control and boiling tensions between liberal minded individuals and the right wing all encompassing government. People who are arrested for having political ideals that differ from that of the ruling power are given a choice to either spend 20 some odd years in jail or go to Punishment Park. Punishment Park is kind of like a grand version of The Most Dangerous Game, where the prisoners are set free in a vast desert landscape and given instructions to "find the flag". If they find the American flag at the end of the huge course, they are given their freedom. The catch is that they are pursued by armed military soldiers who have instructions to shoot to kill. And oddly enough, no one ever seems to find the flag.
The film is shot in a pseudo-documentary style and it seems as if there are moments of reality bleeding through the narrative. This especially rings true when one considers the amount of improvisation Watkins had his cast perform for this film. This is truly one of the most amazing films we offer on the site and we can't recommend this movie enough. It is simply a must see in every sense of the word.
EXTRA BONUS
2 short films of Peter Watkins
Two early short films by Peter Watkins - The Forgotten Faces and The Diary of an Unknown Soldier - plus filmography, documents, and articles about the film.
1971, DVD 89 minutes, color/sound $35 individuals; $55 institutions
Peter Watkins' most recent project is radical on many fronts - oversize and inventive, it uses nonactors who draw on their own research to reenact the Paris Commune, a heady experiment in creating a just society from the bottom up. It relies on long, moving shots which glide between spirited arguments in the street, school lessons, and marching drills to reveal the deepening civil war. The media - Watkins audaciously inserts a mainstream and alternative news station into the past - try to make sense of the swirl of events whether through on-the-street interviews or in-the-studio commentary. Debates as to political strategy are interwoven with disputes as to the role of the media. Watkins' ambitious, engrossing history is revisionist: it draws special attention to the contributions of women, but perhaps most extraordinarily, La Commune reveals how difficult it is to actually make history - whether to fundamentally alter society or accurately describe events. His account unfolds in the present tense, where we, just as much as his characters and actors, seek to understand a complex moment. In some of the most intriguing scenes, the cast break out of 1871 to comment on the relevance of past events to the present day. - Kathy Geritz
Photographed by Oddgeir Saether.
2001, in French with English subtitles, B&W, 345m, VHS, $135