You sit down with two screens in front of you, one showing documentary At Berkeley, and the other showing, oh, let’s say Gravity, and you push play on both movies at the same time. An hour and a half in, Gravity finishes, so you push play on that again. Another 90 minutes later, Gravity finishes again, so you push play again. For the third time, Sandra Bullock is about to reach the final act of her space saga, which is when At Berkeley finally comes to an end. Yes, if you’re planning on watching this documentary, you’ll need to clear your schedule, and bring sustenance.
Set on the campus of the prestigious university in California – always the bridesmaid to Harvard’s bride – we’re greeted to a mish-mash of students, lecturers, university staff both in offices and maintaining the grounds, and everything in between. In one scene we could be listening in to a group of sociology students discussing the racial discourse within the Berkeley system itself, and then we jump to a group of lecturers discussing the monetary issues the university faces as government funding continues to plummet year after year.
At times it feels like a long charity advert for the university, as the final hour is taken over by protestors who want the education system to be free for all, and most of the faculty meetings throughout the run-time are in some way related back to the lack of financers. These are offset by some truly eye-opening scenes involving a few of America’s best and brightest discussing the future they envision, be it scientifically or socially.
There’s no real story or arc to proceedings, with director Frederick Wiseman attempting to give the fully immersive experience of living life in one of the most forward thinking and important educational establishments on the planet, and much like actually attending college, some of it is really interesting, some of it is really boring, and it seems to go on for years.
