Public housing [NTSC]

Since the 1960s Frederick Wiseman has been at the forefront of the direct cinema documentary movement. Interrogating the public and social institutions of the United States he has built up an acclaimed oeuvre which has greatly influenced filmmakers around the world. Set on the Ida B. Wells public housing estate in Chicago, “Public housing” is an engrossing, disturbing and illuminating examination of the interconnections between de-industrialisation, racism, welfare and poverty in the United States of America. As always, Wiseman allows his camera to observe intimate moments of exchange between residents, bureaucrats and activists. The perspectives that come across from this film are not uniformly bleak: there is humour, loyalty and community, there is activist and public concern for questions of urban renewal. However the ultimate portrait that emerges is a community devastated by lack of work opportunities, a restrictive and punitive welfare system, and a media that reduces public housing residents to limited stereotypes. The consequence for many of the human lives on the public housing estate is a life dependent on the nexus between unemployment, illegal criminal markets and drugs.