Juvenile Court

A distillation of over sixty hours of footage taken during a month in Memphis. The material that is kept is obviously that which most clearly reveals the layers of assumption and prejudice that form the basis of the entire court process, but also that which contains the most tension, irony, pathos and drama of one kind or another. All Wiseman's work has this sort of ambiguity, of apparent objectivity and latent distortion. Despite this, his films are more intelligent documentaries than you'd ever expect from the likes of the Beeb, demonstrating how much a film-maker actually robs his audience when he wants to seduce more than inform. Generally Wiseman informs. JDuC.