Welfare

Name: Welfare
Genre: Documentary
Released: 1975-09-23
Rating: 7.402

Documentary2h 47m

🍅89%

🍅

89%

Tomatometer

🍿

89%

Popcornmeter

7.4

TMDB

Storyline

The nature and complexity of the welfare system is explored in sequences illustrating the staggering diversity of constituting problems: housing, unemployment, divorce, medical and psychiatric problems, abandoned and abused children, and the elderly. These issues are presented in a context where workers as well as clients struggle to cope with and interpret the laws and regulations that govern their livelihood.

Trailers

Details

DirectorFrederick Wiseman

ReleasedSep 23, 1975

StatusReleased

Original languageEnglish

Budget

Not disclosed

Revenue

Not disclosed

Parental guideNot rated

Studio

Zipporah Films

Reviews

6 reviews · 5 critics

5 fresh · 0 rotten

Alissa Wilkinson

RTVoxMay 3, 2018

Welfare at times feels like the real-life, ensemble-cast version of a Kafka novel.

Richard Brody

RTThe New YorkerApr 10, 2017

The psychology of poverty has rarely been so well depicted, along with the inadequacy of the bureaucracy itself: the ostensible objectivity of the law rests on the subjective judgments, even the good will, of the caseworkers.

Jonathan Rosenbaum

RTChicago ReaderApr 9, 2015

One of Frederick Wiseman's strongest documentaries.

Calum Baker

RTRadio TimesSep 9, 2026

In its relentless circularity, it's one of very few films to truly channel the spirit of Franz Kafka and grows into a staggering statement on the mundane malice of an obtuse system.