Marathon UpdateHigh School In 2008 I watched the high school documentary American Teen and I liked it a lot. Sure I was aware of the manipulation by the filmmakers. There are frickin' animated dream sequences in it. However, the filmmakers did get to some real truths about the social tortures of high school and there were revealing moments so honest they couldn't possibly be believed in a fictional narrative format. The film took a lot of guff - A Lot - because the mere presence of cameras would exclude any moments of honesty. The film manipulated itself into a story with dramatic climaxes and comic relief.
I'm not laying the groundwork to be reactionary and bluntly ask how come Frederick Wiseman gets a pass when his cameras are in the small rooms and right up against the people's faces. Times were different back then. The Real World and reality television changed people's reactions to the presence of a camera. Also, Wiseman isn't trying to tell a story but create a snapshot of moments he found interesting and wanted to share. So the argument doesn't hold true to both films equally. Still, I feel people were too hard on the newer and too lenient on the older.
Some of the scenes took me back, reminding me that things didn't change so much between 1968 and when I went to High School 20 years later. More and more though, I was drawn to the differences. The relaxed or misguided teaching methods. The separate instruction for boys and girls. The lack of political correctness. Using Simon and Garfunkel to teach poetry. I'm curious if Wiseman thought these moments to be unusual or typical back when he filmed them. At its best High School is like someone who found a bunch of footage and wanted to show the more unusual things that were considered proper teaching at one time.
What I take from Wiseman is a better understanding of how documentaries used to be. I'm sure there were plenty of docs back then that had an agenda and a slanted opinion, but finding one so hands off today is... well you're just not going to. That being said, this is not the kind of documentary I enjoy or even much appreciate. I say "appreciate" because of my questioning the honesty of the footage, just like with American Teen. (I'd be less skeptical if the film was more unobtrusive long shots like Children Underground.) Less than 10 years later, Barbara Kopple released Harlan County U.S.A, my benchmark example of why I prefer a doc where the filmmaker has an opinion. It paved the way for Michael Moore, but it also let in Werner Herzog, whose commentary would be a welcome addition to this footage.
RATING: * * 1/2p.s. This review obviously shows my limited knowledge of the evolution of documentaries. I didn't have time to do thorough research on slanted and unslanted docs through the decades. I hope my points got across anyway.