City Hall is Frederick Wiseman’s 43rd film. At 90 years old, Wiseman has a rich portfolio of some of the greatest nonfiction films ever made, films that are intimate, deeply researched portraits of people and places that shed light on American life. In addition to examining social and ethical questions, he also confronts the big metaphysical questions faced in life, such as illness and mortality. His films can also be a reflection on democracy. Wiseman said about this latest film, “I made City Hall to illustrate why government is necessary for people to successfully live together.”
City government touches almost every aspect of our lives. When it works well, life is good. When it doesn’t, trouble ensues. But most of us take for granted necessary civil services, such as police, fire, sanitation, veterans affairs, elder support, parks, professional licensing, record keeping of birth, marriage and death, as well as hundreds of other activities that support residents. City Hall shows the efforts by Boston’s government to provide these services to its citizens. The film also illustrates the variety of ways the city administration enters into civil discourse with the citizens of Boston. The film’s deep dive into its subject shows a city government successfully offering a wide variety of services to a diverse population.
The subjects of Wiseman’s films have spanned a wide range of topics, including a state hospital for the criminally insane, a high school, welfare center, juvenile court, boxing gym, ballet companies in New York and Paris, Central Park, a racetrack, and a Parisian cabaret theater. New York Times film critic Manohla Dargis wrote: “Taken together, this is work that presents a sweeping, continuing portrait of modern America, its institutions, social relations, administrative and bureaucratic controls and of course—right at the center of this filmmaker’s unyielding frame—its people.”
Wiseman received his BA from Williams College in 1951 and his LLB from Yale Law School in 1954. He is a MacArthur Fellow, a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He has won numerous awards, including four Emmys. He is also the recipient of the Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Society (2013), the George Polk Career Award (2006), and the American Society of Cinematographers Distinguished Achievement Award (2006), among many others.
Josh Siegel, Curator, Department of Film, MoMA presents a short career overview of Frederick Wiseman before the film.
Sponsored by Lana Jokel
