High School (1968)
Zipporah Films

Description

HIGH SCHOOL was filmed at a large urban high school in Philadelphia. The film documents how the school system exists not only to pass on ‘facts’ but also transmits social values from one generation to another. HIGH SCHOOL presents a series of formal and informal encounters between teachers, students, parents, and administrators through which the ideology and values of the school emerge.

Tags

1960s, USA, Pennsylvania, Education

Collected reviews and ratings

10 The Documentary Blog | Jay C

Wiseman takes on the eductational system from a disjointed fly-on-the-wall perspective. We see a number of students dealing with a number of different issues, from unfairly being sent to detention to debating appropriate formal wear for the prom.
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10 Austin Chronicle | Marjorie Baumgarten

High School is a stark observation of social conditioning at a large, urban high school.
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9.5 The Digital Bits | Adam Jahnke

Wiseman seems as neutral as Switzerland. But he gets his point across by carefully choosing where to point his camera (pay particular attention to the many close-ups of hands and feet) and especially through incredibly skillful film editing. This is a story told as much through transitions between scenes as in the content of the scenes themselves.
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9.0 FilmFanatic.org

High School is full of countless memorable moments, which, taken together, distill the essence of power and gender relations in an institutionalized setting.
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8.0 Philadelphic City Paper | Sam Adams

Given the film’s time frame, it’s hard not to see the disciplinarians’ line-holding as a bulwark against the nation’s social upheaval, a last chance to turn out new members of the Silent Majority. But there’s plenty that hasn’t changed as well, even if these days the starry-eyed teacher has a pierced eyebrow and schools her students in the finer points of "the poet Ja Rule."
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8.0 DVD Talk | Stuart Galbraith IV

nother must-see, High School is a landmark documentary, an influential work of direct cinema/cinema verite, though Wiseman dislikes both terms. It's the kind of film that transports you to a time and place and lingers long enough so that you leave it with the feeling of having experienced it.
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7.0 Movie Vault | Vadim Rizov

Just about as good as it could possibly be, High School is interesting, full of enlightening moments and by no means entirely outdated.
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