City Hall

City Hall (2020) is a documentary about the Boston mayor's office, directed by Frederick Wiseman. It follows Mayor Marty Walsh through his many meetings and conferences, and then shows us much, much more.

Be advised--this is a 4 1/2 hour movie. We watched it at home over three evenings. Every scene is so interesting that it's not a movie that you want to fast forward. If you're not up for a long, long binge, watch it in two or three parts, as we did.

Mayor Walsh is the "star" of the documentary, but Wiseman has shown us many other people carrying out meetings and activities that we don't even think about when we hear "City Hall." These include zoning, animal care, and the city's help line.

Wiseman is a genius, and any documentary he's directed is worth seeing. I think City Hall is one of the great ones. The movie has a solid 7.4 IMDb rating, but I thought it was even better than that, and rated it 10.

P.S. As I write this review, Mayor Walsh has been nominated by President Biden for Secretary of Labor. His confirmation is in progress. I assume he won't be Mayor of Boston for many more days. This makes the movie even more compelling.

What a self-indulgent offering. He just let the camera go with no apparent effort at reining in these blowhard politicians. If he could make a point in 2 minutes, he'd let the scenes go on for ten. You think sitting in a meeting where you have an interest in the outcome can be boring? Just wait til you are watching these party hacks sitting around a table and droning on about subjects that really don't interest you. I understand this building is being torn down which I guess was all the reason Wiseman needed to make this documentary. Fine, put it in the archives as a permanent record of its role in the city but don't expect anyone but the participants to want to watch this.

I was going to write off the film, and then that full queen sized bed and BBQ got crushed.

It is fly on the wall, but that fly really landed on a boring wall. Hours of people talking about how they want to meet people halfway and develop community based solutions to the needs of marginalized communities with consultation and communications based on meeting in a community oriented setting...

There are interesting moments, but it just feels like a marathon. If you work in white collar job this just feels like being dragged into a work meeting with no written agenda.

I'm not really sure who this is for, if you're involved and into municipal government you'll probably stop watching because it feels like the boring bit of the work. If you don't like municipal government then you probably won't enjoy watching government employees edging 4 hours closer to their pension.

If you live in any city, you can access city council meetings and consultations online. I'd just use the 4 hours to learn about some park or bridge or development going on near you. You'll get the gist and you'll come out of it knowing more about your own town.

Watch the 30 minute interview with the Mayor Walsh and Director Wiseman before the film. So fascinating. Great film. Every mayor of a mid-big city should see this. One of the best mayors in the US.

I really enjoyed the way the documentary was filmed. It was an honest, clear portrayal of city governance in Boston. I do hope this documentary inspires people to get more deeply involved in civic life. This documentary demystifies city governance and makes me so proud of the elected officials and public servants here in Boston.