Government: Documentaries
This is a new list to expand a previous list on fictional portrayal of government. This list includes only documentaries. I found a documentarian who typically does government, but I cannot be sure that all of the films I selected from him have a major governmental nexus. I have/will add other documentaries over time.
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- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside the Massachusetts Correctional Institution Bridgewater where people stay trapped in their madness.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDocumentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman takes us inside Northeast High School as a fly on the wall to observe the teachers and how they interact with the students.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsRichard NixonAlso known as The Greater Good, this series of vignettes focuses on the day-to-day work of Kansas City, Missouri police covers the range of circumstances they encounter and the variety of social roles they are asked to play. More than simply chasing down criminals, the police act as counselors, negotiators and arbitrators of civil injustices, minor altercations and petty crimes. Filmed in 1968 at the height of an anti-authoritarian age, the policemen shown are more frequently reasonable, patient and fair than sadistic, inhumane or incompetent. When a policeman does step out of line, the fact that he knows he is being filmed is as revealing as the unguarded asides or unnecessary violence captured by the camera. This is well made, with content similar to the Pittsburgh Police films shot by Wiseman's former collaborator, John Marshall in 1969 and 1970. But because Law and Order was funded by the Ford Foundation for television release, and not for training police officers, it does not feature as many situations that are likely to cause disagreements about how they should have been handled.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsEugene FriedmanStanley FriedmanRobert SchwartzAn intimate look at the daily activities of medical staff and patients in New York's Metropolitan Hospital.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanFrederick Wiseman observes basic training at Fort Knox, Kentucky in the Vietnam era. Recruits are seen receiving instructions on everything from brushing their teeth to killing enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand combat.
- DirectorKarpo Acimovic-GodinaTinto BrassMladomir 'Purisa' DjordjevicStarsBrooke HaywardSonja HenieBranko MilicevicAt the 1971 International Film Festival of Belgrade, Yugoslav director Karpo Acimovic-Godina instructed seven other directors to shoot less than three minutes of film footage inside a bedroom with static shots that contained the phrase "I Miss Sonja Henie". This film is the result.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanDaily life in a Benedictine monastery.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanThis film casts a forensic observational eye over researchers working with primates. After a time watching it is possible to wonder which ones of these two sets of primates is the more strange.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanWELFARE shows the nature and complexity of the welfare system in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of problems that constitute welfare: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where welfare workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their work and life.
- DirectorFrederick Wisemanmid 70's documentary that shows how livestock are raised, sold, and processed in the United States.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanOn the one hand, you have the Panamians, but Frederick Wiseman shows them as the Americans see them: from a distance. They are poor and of no particular interest to them even if Panama is THEIR country. But the Canal Zone belongs to the USA and what really matters is THEMSELVES living in closed circuit, worshiping the standards of American culture, God and Coca Cola, money and nationalism...
- DirectorFrederick WisemanFollows the station's technicians and officials through their routine activities amid the harsh landscape of the Sinai Peninsula, providing a glimpse into the daily practice of diplomacy.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanA group of volunteer American soldiers go to Germany to participate in a practice in combat maneuver tactics.
- DirectorFrederick Wiseman
- DirectorFrederick Wiseman
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsHelen FinnerRenowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman takes an intimate and nuanced look at the Ida B. Wells housing project in the south side of Chicago, Illinois.
- DirectorFrederick Wiseman
- DirectorFrederick Wiseman
- DirectorFrederick WisemanStarsLeVar BurtonFrancis Ford CoppolaLuciano PavarottiFrederick Wiseman chronicles everything and everyone that appears in the world's most famed park.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanFollows the 4315th Training Squadron of the Strategic Air Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, where Air Force officers are trained to man the Launch Control Centers for the Minuteman Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles. Sequences include discussion of the moral and military issues of nuclear war; the arming, targeting and launching of the missile; codes; communications; protection against terrorist attack; emergency procedures; staff meetings and tutorial sessions.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanShows the educational programs and daily life of students in kindergarten through the 12th grade at the Alabama School for the Blind. The School is organized around the effort to educate blind and visually impaired students to be in charge of their own lives. Sequences in the film include mobility training, braille instruction and orientation as well as traditional classroom subjects such as English, history, science and music. Other sequences show psychological counseling sessions; vocational training; staff dealing with student disciplinary problems; and the wide variety of recreational and athletic programs.
- DirectorFrederick Wiseman
- DirectorFrederick WisemanRenowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman turns his observational camera on The Spring, a Florida shelter for battered women and children. For one-hundred and ninety-six minutes, Wiseman profiles the women and children that have been victim to domestic violence, showing them endure therapeutic, thoughtful lectures and learn from the tireless social workers employed at The Spring that their sanctuary has been found.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanThe opening scene in this film is of an arrest in Hillsborough County Florida where a woman has scratched her husband while he was trying to restrain her from getting back in her car and leaving after an argument. The officers explain that she has committed a battery and thereby earned herself an inescapable arrest and overnight stay in jail because by law they have no discretion. This sets the stage for two hours of court proceedings before three different judges, each trying to apply the Florida domestic violence laws. Though it gets repetitive, it also is fascinating to try to figure out what to do with such issues as restraining orders, parental visits, child support and punishment as each witness testifies, and to see how the judges react.
- DirectorFrederick WisemanThe day-to-day activities of the Idaho Legislature during an entire session.