At Berkeley
Zipporah Films | Release Date: November 8, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 20 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
4
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The New YorkerDavid DenbyNov 11, 2013
I can’t think of another film portrait of higher education that matches this one for comprehensiveness, intellectual depth, and hope. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerNov 8, 2013
The fierce, questing intelligence of these students and educators is a perfect match for Wiseman’s own. Read full review
100
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 8, 2013
A documentary necessarily conveys a point of view, and although Mr. Wiseman, as is his wont, is neither seen nor heard in a film that proceeds without commentary or subtitles, his spirit is palpable. Without overtly editorializing, the film quietly and steadfastly champions state-funded public education available to all. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergNov 6, 2013
An exhilarating, four-hour immersion in life at the University Of California campus. Read full review
100
VarietyLeslie FelperinSep 30, 2013
One of Wiseman’s best, a summation of sorts of a career’s worth of principled filmmaking from a director in his ninth decade. Read full review
100
The PlaylistOliver LytteltonSep 30, 2013
It's a state-of-the-nation masterwork, a vitally important piece of work, and should be seen by as many people as possible. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughDec 5, 2013
The observations coalesce into a cogent whole, providing insights that are never overtly stated. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMatt Zoller SeitzNov 15, 2013
It wants to put you smack-dab in the middle of a particular place during a particular time, and let you marinate in that place and time through quiet montages and long—sometimes very long—scenes. Read full review
88
Slant MagazineAndrew SchenkerSep 30, 2013
Frederick Wiseman's At Berkeley isn't only a study of the contemporary American university, but, like all of the filmmaker's best documentaries, a wide-ranging inquiry into the larger institutions and contradictions that define life in the United States. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid D'Arcy Nov 7, 2013
Wiseman takes it all in, but don’t fall victim to the common error of ascribing objectivity to the veteran docmaker. Wiseman is a radical shaper and editor of his subjects. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonSep 8, 2014
At the venerable age of 84, documentary maven Wiseman hasn't lost his touch. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternNov 14, 2013
At Berkeley is more than the sum of its minutes. Narration-free and artfully discursive, it's a one-of-a-kind mosaic portrait of a great institution struggling, under dire stress, to retain its essential character at a time of declining support for public education. Read full review
80
Village VoiceNick SchagerNov 5, 2013
Wiseman's generally static camera spends prolonged periods of time in the classroom, at student gatherings, and in the halls of educational power, training a multifaceted gaze on opinions regarding an economic shift affecting faculty salaries, subsidized programs, student tuition, and the university's fundamental "public" character. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDeborah YoungSep 30, 2013
At times fascinating, at times not, its in-depth look at the administration, campus, students and faculty offers an insider's view into the way American academia functions. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsJan 2, 2014
At Berkeley earns credit for documenting a distinctly articulate community. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNov 14, 2013
An involving portrait of what's called "one of the world's most powerful knowledge-producing institutions" and an examination on how that institution is coping with a significant financial crisis. Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfNov 6, 2013
At Berkeley works beautifully as a picture of compromised activism; viewers who summon the patience to commit to its indulgences won’t feel shortchanged, even if next year’s freshmen are. Read full review
60
The DissolveMike D'AngeloNov 6, 2013
There’s a real fascination in watching the gears of this massive machine grind. Once the student protest comes to dominate the film’s second half, however, things get dicier. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleDec 5, 2013
It's dull in the precise way that life can be dull. To watch it is like sitting in on a staff meeting, listening to people talk on and on and on. Professors are used to talking nonstop, and in a few cases in At Berkeley it's rather astonishing to hear them repeating the same ideas over and over, instead of just coming to a point and stopping. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle SmithNov 8, 2013
At Berkeley casts a nonjudgmental eye on everyone from cement layers to students discussing Thoreau to administrators complaining about budgeting. If only everything were interesting. Read full review
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