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Welfare

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A profile of the welfare system focuses on workers and clients struggling to interpret the rules and laws that govern their lives.
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Critics Reviews

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Alissa Wilkinson Vox Welfare at times feels like the real-life, ensemble-cast version of a Kafka novel. May 3, 2018 Full Review Richard Brody New Yorker The psychology of poverty has rarely been so well depicted, along with the inadequacy of the bureaucracy itself: the ostensible objectivity of the law rests on the subjective judgments, even the good will, of the caseworkers. Apr 10, 2017 Full Review Jonathan Rosenbaum Chicago Reader One of Frederick Wiseman's strongest documentaries. Apr 9, 2015 Full Review David Denby The New York Review of Books No one could deny Wiseman's extraordinary sympathy for the insulted and the injured of American society. Yet he doesn't romanticize or politicize the oppressed. Aug 13, 2018 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member As one of the leading progenitors of Direct Cinema still going in his 80s, Frederick Wiseman should be noted as one of our most important historians. After all, across nearly five decades, he's managed to document our most influential institutions, the ones that control and impact our behaviour, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Here, he points his fly-on-the-wall camera at a busy welfare office in New York City (circa 1974), showing the interactions between clients, welfare workers, social workers, security guards, and other visitors and occupants of the building. Although seemingly objective (there is no voiceover here and no talking heads), Wiseman has carefully extracted a 3 hour movie from 100's of hours of footage and he has certain points to make. Primarily, he portrays the welfare system as a certain kind of hell in which both clients and workers are ensnared in endless red tape and bureaucracy with neither always knowing the proper course of action. The system seems designed to block people from receiving assistance rather than to help them and this is fairly apparent to everyone in the building. Unfortunately, those who seek to do the right thing by the poor (and this is most of those who we meet) are just as hamstrung by the rules as those who simply turn off their empathy. Wiseman shows us a range of problems faced by those seeking and receiving welfare, demonstrating clearly that many are in the least position to be able to navigate the confusing paths they are directed to take. He masterfully controls the pacing and the emotional tenor of the film which rises to a nearly unbearable peak near its end. No doubt this institution has not changed and for that reason this film is a must see for all who care about the human condition. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Through its huge cast of characters and its epic running time we see all the complexities, paradoxes, challenges, humanities and inhumanities of bureaucracy and our clearly flawed support system. A brilliant documentary. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/03/23 Full Review Audience Member Not as riveting as some of Wiseman's other work, but still very good. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member A very interesting documentary about an average day at a welfare office in New York, circa 1973. Some really interesting individuals in this one, both employees and welfare recipients. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/27/23 Full Review Audience Member The best American film maker alive Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/16/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Welfare

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Movie Info

Synopsis A profile of the welfare system focuses on workers and clients struggling to interpret the rules and laws that govern their lives.
Director
Frederick Wiseman
Producer
Frederick Wiseman
Production Co
Zipporah Films
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Runtime
2h 47m