{"id":2405,"date":"2014-01-10T11:50:16","date_gmt":"2014-01-10T19:50:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/?p=5109"},"modified":"2023-08-25T10:53:25","modified_gmt":"2023-08-25T17:53:25","slug":"berkeley-reviews","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/","title":{"rendered":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

We’ve collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman’s magnum opus, At Berkeley<\/em><\/a>\u00a0It’s a remarkable work that has inspired a number of prominent critics and film bloggers to muse about it. Here’s a sampling of just some of the more thoughtful critiques, as well as some of the numerous Best of 2013 lists the film’s appeared on:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Stephen Holden in The New York Times<\/em>:<\/p>\n

In its refusal to identify anyone by name or job title, this four-hour film \u2014\u00a0Mr. Wiseman\u2019s 38th institutional documentary since 1967\u00a0\u2014 makes a profound statement about democratic participation. It\u2019s not the \u201cme, but the \u201cwe,\u201d that keeps democracy alive. From the humblest janitor to the most esteemed professor, everyone belongs to the same community and is equally important. The modern university is a complex organism that, to function efficiently, needs every component, including someone to cut the grass.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal<\/em>:<\/p>\n

During one of the many scenes set in classrooms and laboratories in “At Berkeley,” Frederick Wiseman’s remarkable documentary on the University of California at Berkeley, a professor wonders aloud how our brains create our sense of time. The process is mysterious, he notes, since there’s nothing in our bodies or brains that perceives time: “It isn’t there, you know, to be perceived.” The filmmaker may have included this vignette as a sly joke, given our likely perception that his film, which clocks in at slightly over four hours, takes a lot of time to watch. Yet “At Berkeley” is more than the sum of its minutes. Narration-free and artfully discursive, it’s a one-of-a-kind mosaic portrait of a great institution struggling, under dire stress, to retain its essential character at a time of declining support for public education.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dana Stevens in Slate:<\/p>\n

\n

Wiseman\u2019s films can be challenging to a first-time viewer because of their formal austerity and rigor (though once you start to understand his cinematic language, a sardonic sense of humor emerges). He uses no voiceovers, subtitles or talking-head interview clips to contextualize what\u2019s happening on screen: His gaze aims for something as close as possible to fly-on-the-wall observation, with everyday crises and moments of tedium unfolding in chunks of real time.\u00a0At Berkeley<\/em>\u00a0is four hours and four minutes long, which will not do much for its already slim chances of walking away with this weekend\u2019s box office. But\u2014while I think it\u2019s perhaps best viewed broken up into two halves, if possible\u2014I wouldn\u2019t lose a minute of\u00a0At Berkeley<\/em>. If anything, it made me wish Wiseman had a weekly TV show that monitored the daily life of my alma mater…\u00a0At Berkeley<\/em>\u00a0moves at an unhurried pace, but it\u2019s never less than urgent in its curiosity about the gears that make this huge institution run.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor<\/em>:<\/p>\n

The Berkeley we see in this film is both a singular institution and a microcosm. This is what must have attracted Wiseman. There is something immensely touching about the way the students are so roused by learning that we rarely hear them bemoan the dismal job market that awaits. A financial adviser tells one of the students, \u201cYour education will never depreciate in value,\u201d and the words do not ring hollowly. The fierce, questing intelligence of these students and educators is a perfect match for Wiseman\u2019s own. Grade: A<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Andrew O’Hehir, Salon:<\/p>\n

Whether he\u2019s shooting a field hockey game, a seminar on Thoreau, a lecture on the shifting understanding of cancer genetics or a group of workmen pouring cement in Berkeley\u2019s football stadium, Wiseman captures the vibrant and diverse life of an institution in permanent crisis. …\u00a0I should say here that \u201cAt Berkeley\u201d had considerable personal resonance for me, because I spent much of my childhood on or near that campus and\u00a0my father\u00a0taught there for more than 30 years, and also that Wiseman\u2019s films can be challenging for newcomers until you get used to them. In theaters all four hours of \u201cAt Berkeley\u201d will be shown straight through, and while that\u2019s rewarding it\u2019s not the only way to watch it. Wiseman typically shoots more than 100 hours of video (he recently switched to digital from film) and then painstakingly edits down to the narrative he wants. It may not feel this way at first, but every scene in \u201cAt Berkeley\u201d is in there for a reason, and I\u2019m pretty sure that watching and rewatching the film in segments will reveal more thematic connections.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\"a\n

Oliver Lyttleton, Indiewire:<\/p>\n

Some might feel that this sort of thing is nothing new for the director\u2014he’s certainly used institutions as metaphors for the United States as a whole in the past. But this feels like one of his best pieces of work to date, as fully realized and satisfying a film as he’s made in the last 50 years. It’s a state-of-the-nation masterwork, a vitally important piece of work, and should be seen by as many people as possible. [A]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

David Schmader, Th<\/em>e<\/em> Stranger<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Surprises are rife. I went in expecting small human moments and was confronted by the highly theatrical performances people give in real life.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

David Denby, The New Yorker<\/em>:<\/p>\n

I can\u2019t think of another film portrait of higher education that matches this one for comprehensiveness, intellectual depth, and hope.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Robert Bell, exclaim(Canada):<\/p>\n

Having already established an effective template for deconstructing and analyzing the complexities that comprise a functioning institution, documentarian Frederick Wiseman hones his craft primarily by digging deeper into the subject and making shrewder decisions about the juxtaposition of filmed observations to comprise a narrative. At over four hours,\u00a0At Berkeley<\/i>\u00a0takes its time to consider the various perspectives, ideas and bureaucratic necessities that go into maintaining the core mission statement of the University of California, Berkeley, starting with surface observations about their quest to imbue students with discernment and critical thinking before dissecting just how this ideal is maintained.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ben Kenigsberg, AV Club:<\/p>\n

The film reaches a suspenseful head in its last hour, as protesters occupy the library insisting on free or drastically cheaper education, despite everything Wiseman has already demonstrated about the complexities of institutional finance. The administration\u2014full of aging radicals itself\u2014struggles to pay lip service to impossible demands. If Berkeley is a utopia, it\u2019s an unsustainable one, forever trying to reconcile the irreconcilable. In that respect, it\u2019s quite different from\u00a0At Berkeley<\/i>: Every moment in Wiseman\u2019s tapestry has a place, and there\u2019s little in it that\u2019s not absorbing, knotty, and provocative.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Village Voice<\/em>:<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, footage of road-paving construction subtly mirrors Wiseman’s depiction of the way in which the university constantly reinvents and renews itself \u2014 logistically, politically, intellectually \u2014 through constant, engaged dialogue and debate.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman’s magnum opus, <\/span>At Berkeley<\/i>, from film critics around the world, including links to a number of Best of 2013 lists. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":9336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-2405","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAt Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Independent Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Independent Lens\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/4cedb3eea460cdaac69638c5d476f7bf\"},\"headline\":\"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-10T19:50:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\"},\"wordCount\":1141,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\",\"name\":\"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-10T19:50:16+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00\",\"description\":\"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg\",\"width\":\"1920\",\"height\":\"1080\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Posts\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/\",\"name\":\"Independent Lens\",\"description\":\"Independent Documentary Films\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/4cedb3eea460cdaac69638c5d476f7bf\",\"name\":\"Independent Lens\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Independent Lens\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/author\/indielens\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens","description":"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens","og_description":"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/","og_site_name":"Independent Lens","article_modified_time":"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/"},"author":{"name":"Independent Lens","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/4cedb3eea460cdaac69638c5d476f7bf"},"headline":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings","datePublished":"2014-01-10T19:50:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/"},"wordCount":1141,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/","name":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings - Independent Lens","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg","datePublished":"2014-01-10T19:50:16+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-25T17:53:25+00:00","description":"We've collected some of the best reviews and writings about Frederick Wiseman's magnum opus, At Berkeley, which premieres on PBS Independent Lens.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/08\/at-berkeley-acclaim-large.jpg","width":"1920","height":"1080"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/berkeley-reviews\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Posts","item":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"At Berkeley: Reviews and Writings"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/","name":"Independent Lens","description":"Independent Documentary Films","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/#\/schema\/person\/4cedb3eea460cdaac69638c5d476f7bf","name":"Independent Lens","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2b5c0f7775847014c2f5553ec273875f0a9d53d7393cbafef77867f9e0883487?s=96&r=g","caption":"Independent Lens"},"url":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/author\/indielens\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/2405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/2405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27566,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/2405\/revisions\/27566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2405"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/independentlens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=2405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}