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Juvenile Court

Juvenile Court

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Summary

An unobtrusive and naturalistic examination of the goings-on of a children's court, Memphis Juvenile Court 616.

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IMDB

Review

A star rating of 5 out of 5.

Calum Baker

Childhood, and vulnerable children in particular, can be ripe for sentimental treatment, but documentarist Frederick Wiseman does well to hold his nerve with this coolly presented, no less affecting look at a Memphis juvenile court. Filming across two months in 1973, Wiseman observes the ways in which social and legal workers interact with youngsters whose ages, attitudes and situations -not to mention comprehension of those situations - vary greatly. The director deploys his usual fly-on-the-wall style, eschewing voiceover, narration and interview, but carves out a number of riveting subplots as well as a fascinating protagonist in presiding judge Kenneth Turner. Perfectly calm, unthreatening and apparently fair and objective, Turner becomes something of a stand-in for Wiseman himself (who was a law professor before swerving into film-making). Of course, Wiseman well understands the impossibility of true neutrality, and his fascination with Turner leads to a lucid, subtle rumination on the benefits and troubling shortcomings of the court system, which are summed up by the film's disquieting choice of a closing segment. The subject matter can be incredibly difficult; one prominent subplot concerns a teenage boy accused of molesting the young girl he was babysitting. But Wiseman's rigourous, people-focused approach, coupled with the simple power of these clearly fashioned narrative threads, makes the film one of his more gripping and moving studies of institutional machinery.

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8.1/10

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rolenameDirectorFrederick Wiseman

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Languages

English

Formats

Black and white

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