Monrovia, Indiana

I DVR'ed this show on a whim and then found myself captivated by this snapshot of Middle America. It gives an accurate representation of the 'Flyover Country" of the United States, on almost every level of life, from the farmer, high school, church, barber shop, etc. There is something compelling about the photography and story presented, and yet there is no narration.

For the record, I arrived 5-10 minutes late.

This documentary provides a well seamed collection of examples of everyday life in a place I've never heard about. History of their sports teams, debates over investing in new residential housing vs new businesses (the newest neighborhood is where the majority of their volunteer firefighters and people who returned to Monrovia reside), freemasons ceremony, WTH is up with the newest neighborhood's fire hydrants, barbershop, hair salon, fitness class, a funeral, etc. Monrovia, Indiana does well at what it intends. This would be an interesting documentary to discuss academically.

Side Note: I did lose my interest at times, but that's a matter of personal taste. Some topics just didn't interest me. The director did a pretty decent job with editing. I give that a B.

In my opinion, Frederick Wiseman is the greatest documentary film maker of all time and here he looks at life in Monrovia, Indiana a small town farming community.

As in other Wiseman films, there is no narration, interviews or leading questions. He simply allows us to get a glimpse into the lives of people living here. He starts off with some beautiful shots of blue skies, breezes blowing through the trees and fields. Then we see towns folk going about their business in their jobs and everyday life. Only Wiseman could make working in a pizzeria or a supermarket seem fascinating. The early scenes shows the Monrovia High School, showing a teacher proudly talking about Indiana basketball players, there is also a quick scene of students rehearsing a musical revue. There is no scenes of any trouble at the school, unlike Wiseman's 1968 classic "High School". One of the funnier moments is a group of older men at a diner talking about diet food and drinking a lot of beer to get it down. We see a pig farmer getting his pigs ready to be sold. Wiseman spares us from seeing them slaughtered which I thought was unusual for him since he normally shows us everything. However later on, we get to see a veterinarian operating on a dog's tail reminiscent of the operation we got to see in Wiseman's 1993 "Zoo". There are a few long sequences of the town council discussing new houses being built and lack of fire hydrant inspections. A wedding is shown in a Christian church with nice singing of the old song "Always". There is a scene in a gun shop where owner and customer talk about rifle scopes for deer hunting and about a friend with gall stones. The final sequence is the funeral of a beloved wife and mother. Wiseman is always great at giving a well rounded picture of his subjects. The last scene of the coffin being lowered is very moving. It is often the last scene of a Wiseman film that hits you the hardest, and that is what happens here.

While this is not one of Wiseman's best, it still is a worthy addition to his collection.

Here's an inside look at the workings of a town in the U. S. heartland. We see the people of Monrovia at their feedlots, corn fields, municipal hearings, schools and places of worship - a great panorama of life in this good place. Some Midwestern stereotypes are knocked down here, not on purpose but as revealed by the responsible way these people act. As a viewer I thank the people of Monrovia - and it's an impressive cross-section of people - for granting access to so much of what matters in this community. There is a bit of self-deprecation, people of Monrovia acknowledging they live in a small town. But in fact it's a big place, in civic spirit and caring for others.

This is not one of Wiseman's best films. Many people complain about how long it is and that it feels like it's going nowhere. Well, the 2nd part is correct. The film is somewhat long (143 minutes), but most of Wiseman's films run between 3-4 hours, and a few of them go longer than that. City Hall is 4 1/2 hours, and Near Death is 6 hours. This is a relatively short one. The issue is that the film feels too short, and Wiseman, uncharacteristically, cuts around too much and doesn't let his camera run on the people on the town. Part of Wiseman's genius is that he captures fascinating parts of reality in his movies, but they are often extended and some scenes run up to 20 minutes in length. Despite these extended scenes, his films are never boring and I love almost everything I've seen by him. However, in Monrovia, Indiana, he doesn't do that. He just jumps around randomly to people and events without any flow to it. It's almost like he wasn't that interested in these people, and most of the people in the film appear merely once in the picture. In his other pictures, the subjects often appear throughout the film and the films flow better. The one time Wiseman lets a scene play out is at the end when a local woman passes away. That scene runs 20 minutes or so and is the best scene in the film.

We never really get to know the town too much because of the overly episodic nature of the film and that Wiseman never bothers to get to know the people that well. One of the few disappointments from Wiseman.