Overview

Fresh from Titicut Follies, a controversial (and much litigated) documentary about mental health institutions, documentarian Frederick Wiseman turned his observational form of filmmaking to another form of institution: high schools. Wiseman allowed for society to collectively peek inside Philadelphia's Northeast High School, where the students constantly clash with the teachers and the teachers wage their own battle against the administration. Delving into the everyday struggle the teachers face to discipline their unruly charges, the documentary offers a glimpse into the highs and lows at an urban public school. Still working today into his 80s, Wiseman’s films have continued to examine what creates an institution, what work institutions do, and how people engage within and against them.