Incredible documentary film by Frederick Wiseman that captures a typical day inside Northeast High School in Philadelphia in 1968. An incredible piece, the director has so many amazing films, most being controversial in some way. As he put it: What I try to do is edit the films so that they will have a dramatic structure, that is why I object to some extent to the term observational cinema or cinéma vérité, because observational cinema to me at least connotes just hanging around with one thing being as valuable as another and that is not true. At least that is not true for me and cinema verité is just a pompous French term that has absolutely no meaning as far as Im concerned. See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Wiseman Someone from reddit (where I found this) summed up the period in which this was filmed, crazy to think the boys had the draft to look forward to after graduation: Here are some things that happened in 1968: Battle of Khe Sahn Tet Offensive Among other Vietnam war atrocities – the My Lai massacre occurs (admittedly, it wont be reported for another year) Martin Luther King, Jr. is murdered Enoch Powell makes the River of Blood speech Andy Warhol shot Robert F. Kennedy is murdered Khmer Rouge forms in Cambodia Throughout the year, student protests against the Vietnam War occur at many colleges throughout the country, as well as the Democratic National Convention, including many clashes with police Its a year filled with tragedies from the most famous war in modern history; two world-changing assassinations that came at a time of profound uncertainty and anger surrounding the civil rights movement; extreme political groups (think Black Panthers, radical feminism, etc.) engaging in shootings and shootouts with cops; student protests that within two years will see the Kent State shooting; etc. What Im saying is that 1968 had at least as much unease and anger in the collective unconscious as the current era.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 15:07:44 +0000
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