Peter Watkins redux by MATTHEW HAYS Peter Watkins is the British filmmaker behind one of the most unforgettable and harrowing films I've ever seen, The War Game. Made in '66, the film was commissioned by the BBC and the British Film Institute, who dropped the idea of broadcasting it after seeing it. Essentially, Watkins made one of the first faux documentaries ever, a precursor to such reality-based nuclear nightmare films as Testament and Threads. He simply imagined what the aftermath of a nuclear blast would be like in Britain and then shot it in documentary style. BBC suits were so worried about its effects they pulled the plug on it; the film went on to theatrical release and, in a fitting tribute to a suppressed film (the same fate, incidentally, of the banned Canuck no-nukes doc If You Love This Planet), The War Game won the Oscar for Best Doc that year. Watkins has continued to make films, often in opposition to standard cinematic codes and traditional filmmaking practices, though he's had difficulty raising funds to do so. He's made a series of docs, including Edvard Munch, with funding from a variety of different countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Norway and New Zealand. Toronto-based filmmaker Geoff Bowie has made an exceptional documentary about Watkins himself, and the making of his latest project. Titled The Universal Clock, the film gets its name for the standardized hour doc filmmakers are now expected to work by (52 minutes, allowing time for commercial breaks). In a typical move, Watkins has rejected that standard, making a six-hour epic about French history and the class struggle, La Commune. Bowie shows Watkins at work on the set of La Commune, and contrasts his work ethic and philosophy with that of some producers who are brokering deals at Cannes. It's a cunning juxtaposition, making The Universal Clock a far more intricate and thoughtful meditation on a filmmaker than we're used to. A welcome step away from the norm, The Universal Clock screens tonight and this weekend at the Cinémathèque québécoise. See rep listings for showtimes. Watkins and Bowie will be present tonight, Dec. 6 at the 7 p.m. screening of the French version. Bowie will be present Friday, Dec. 7 at the 7 p.m. English screening of the movie. Following a far more traditional documentary film practice is Keepers of the Faith, which while not tossing out the rulebook, is nonetheless worth a gaze. The hour-long doc takes a closer look at Montreal's Hasidic community, an often overlooked and widely misunderstood minority. Though the Hasidim are strict followers of Jewish religious traditions, they are also extremely festive, and originally dissented from Jewish mainstream thought precisely because of the austerity and elitism of 18th-century mainstream rabbinic culture. Montrealers would do well to tune in, seeing as this minority has faced some unpleasant and entirely unwarranted discriminatory attitudes in Outremont, where much of the community has settled. It airs this Monday night, Dec. 10 at 9 p.m. and 11 p.m. on Vision TV. COMMENTS: mhays@mtl-mirror.com