City Hall

From the fire brigade, to the citizen's office, to the senior welfare office: documentary maestro Wiseman surveys the Boston administration. And gives hope for American democracy in spite of Trump.

What does democracy mean? Apart from elections every few years, what processes does it actually entail? Frederick Wiseman, whose first films could already be discovered in Mannheim in the 1960s, returns with a work that could hardly be more topical: a look at the functioning of a Democrat-ruled city on the east coast of the USA. City Hall takes its time to reveal the inner workings of this city’s administration. He accompanies the genuinely committed mayor to meetings with city employees, representatives of the business community, and senior citizens in poverty. The film isn’t only interested in the powerful, but also in the complexity of the machinery. We inspect a house alongside the building authorities, watch people in need who ask for lenience on their parking tickets and receive help. A calming, heartening film.

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