At Berkeley

Year: 2013

Grade: C

Country: USA

Director: Wiseman

Review

quite dull documentary that looks at life at UCB from several different perspectives. wiseman takes the fly on the wall thing to another level here and gives us 4 hours seemingly without comment on what we’re seeing. we’re not introduced to anyone or given intertitles on background, etc. so, if you don’t go to school there or work there then you won’t necessarily know who the chancellor is, what OE is, what the major controversies are, what the larger context is, etc. an astute viewer with infinite patience would be able to glean some of these things, but it’s difficult to watch without the mind wandering. for someone who worked there and knew the major players and some of the professors, it was mildly interesting…but not for 4 hours. i split it into two sessions and didn’t get much out of it. birgeneau is clueless and inept which reminds me a lot of jefferson coombs the executive director of the cal alumni association. lots of great material here to work with and wiseman seemingly just barfs it onto the screen. too bad.