At Berkeley

Frederick Wiseman's 2013 documentary was shot across one autumn semester at the Berkeley campus of the University of California, in a period when tuition increases and budget cuts were under debate. His method is the same here: no narrator, no interviews. The camera waits in classes, in administrative meetings, beside the gardeners, in laboratories and during a student occupation. An argument in a philosophy seminar and the calculations in a budget meeting are given the same weight. The film's political argument concerns what a university is. As public funding declines the question of who the institution exists for changes, and the administration's meetings show that shift directly. It runs over four hours. Who it's for: those who like observational documentary and debates about higher education. Who it's not for: viewers with no tolerance for length; the film shortens no meeting.