Describing the “great, democratic vision” of Moby Dick as an epic “picture of working class life in America,” the high school English teacher also describes the sweeping scope of Frederick Wiseman’s work to date. Serenely composed of the illuminating routines and intimate minutiae of various cultures and institutions within the coastal New England town, the distinctly reflexive film evokes several of his previous films while recalling the placement of itself within his growing mosaic. Numerous scenes of social service intakes point to his catalogue’s nuts-and-bolts sociological aspect as they retrace familiar themes: the individual dependent on greater systems and the human wilderness lurking beneath the statistics. Meanwhile, the quaint particulars of Maine’s hunting, logging, and fishing cultures surface both within and apart from more ubiquitous American spaces of home, factory, church, office, classroom, courtroom, and laundromat. The residents’ persistence, patience and faith is on par with Wiseman and his ongoing, extraordinary chronicle—one in which the tragic hero may simply be “a commercial fisherman from Nantucket.” -Harvard Film Archive
—
“If Wiseman were a painter, he’d be a pointillist. He groups tiny daubs of color together, working meticulously across a wide canvas. It’s only when you stand back that you see a massive mural taking shape — a mural that tells the story of a town, a society, a whole species.” –Matt Zoller Seitz, Newark Star Ledger
“Wiseman captures the town as if he were a cinematic Thornton Wilder.” –Michael Blowen, The Boston Globe
“…Belfast, Maine is extraordinary in two ways. First, it is an immensely rich and immeasurably valuable microcosm of American life at the end of the twentieth century. Second, and most unexpected, it is a microcosm of Wiseman’s art… It reminds us, movingly, of the persistent strength and beauty of the natural world, which is made to serve the economy; and it pays tribute to the courage and good will of people who go out, day after day, to ease what suffering they can. A fitting summary of Fred Wiseman’s work, and of his life as well. “–Stuart Klawans, The Nation
“Belfast, Maine…conveys a deeply emotional sense of place, season and time of day. In contrasting the breathtaking landscape with the troubled lives of many of those living there, it reminds us that the fleeting beauties of the natural world — the simple pleasures available to all — are among life’s deepest consolation.” –Stephen Holden, The New York Times
“Belfast, Maine stands with the very best of the doc dean’s substantial body of work, a shrewd and meticulous late-October look at the various cells of the living organism that is this small New England port town.” –Eddie Cockrell, Variety
