The Living Theater production of Kenneth H. Brown's The Brig was a savage assault on the senses, a nearly unbearable image of the cruelty imposed on military prisoners. In filming The Brig, Jonas and Adolfas Mekas increase the unrelenting nightmare of the play by refusing to let us see the stage on which it takes place. Moving among the actors with intense nervousness, Jonas Mekas' camera creates nothing short of a cinéma verité account of the fiendish treatment of 10 military prisoners by three Marine Corps guards acting “in the line of duty.” The entire film was shot in one night, when the cast of the play, which had just closed, stole back for one last performance.
Jonas and Adolfas Mekas were founders of the “New American Cinema Group” and editors of Film Culture. An early exponent of direct cinema (cinéma verité), Jonas Mekas is also the founder of Film-Makers' Cooperative in New York. Adolfas Mekas' satire, Hallelujah the Hills, is included in the American New Wave series (see September 27).