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The Gladiators

Screening on Film
Directed by Peter Watkins.
With Keith Bradfield, Richard Friday, Pik-Sen Lim.
Sweden, 1969, 35mm, color, 105 min.

In the near future, various governments have collaborated to harness aggression and boost nationalism by sponsoring a televised series of lethal, corporate-sponsored, computer-controlled war games between teams from different countries. Originally released under the title The Peace Game, the film again addresses the misuse of media to divert the public, especially youth, from dissent and resistance. The film’s semidocumentary style is more static than in his previous films, partly because of the production’s bulky 35mm equipment. But the stillness, Watkins claims, is a stylistic gain that allows the audience the necessary space for critical contemplation. In the end, the film is a warning to revolutionary movements that would try to fight the establishment on terms it understands, for they are in danger of being absorbed by the very system they are trying to destroy.

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