Public Housing

Name: Public Housing
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1997-06-02
Rating: 7.5

Documentary3h 20m

🍅80%

🍅

80%

Tomatometer

🍿

80%

Popcornmeter

7.5

TMDB

Storyline

Frederick Wiseman’s unflinching portrayal of life at the Ida B. Wells housing project in Chicago, a raw exposition of the daily conflicts between residents and the bureaucratic machinery to which they are continually subjected. With intimate detail and an abiding dedication to his subject, Wiseman unearths the hidden facets of institutions to find humanity and sites of unexpected beauty.

Trailers

Details

DirectorFrederick Wiseman

ReleasedJun 2, 1997

StatusReleased

Original languageEnglish

Budget

Not disclosed

Revenue

Not disclosed

Parental guideNot rated

Studio

Housing Films

Reviews

5 reviews · 4 critics

4 fresh · 0 rotten

Walter Goodman

RTNew York TimesDec 6, 2017

... soberly revealing new work.

Janet Maslin

RTNew York TimesDec 2, 2003

Issues that are all too familiar -- drugs, crime, teen-age pregnancy, the frustrations caused by government red tape -- take on a new immediacy thanks to the extraordinary intimacy of Mr. Wiseman's working methods.

Jonathan Rosenbaum

RTChicago ReaderDec 2, 2003

Wiseman presents a wide array of materials, and because you have to reflect on the film to realize how the various pieces of its design hang together, you're liable to be thinking about it months afterward.

Marc Mohan

RTOregonianMar 5, 2004

About three hours long, the film takes the time it needs to demonstrate the complexities and frustrations between the residents and the governmental agencies supposedly set up to help them.