FILM SCREENINGS

Canal Zone

1977. USA. Directed by Frederick Wiseman. Frank Rich in Time Magazine writes, “In the sunny landscape of a distant Army enclave in Panama, Wiseman finds a nightmare vision of America itself…. By the time Canal Zone reaches its Memorial Day climax, it becomes as bitter as Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street…. Wiseman reveals that the Zonians, for all their manic patriotic ardor, are a rootless and unhappy lot; their crime and child-abuse rates are well above the mainland rates. Canal Zone thus becomes a study in how Americanism when isolated and left to feed on itself can become a desperate form of mass escapism—and, as such, it is an ingenious cautionary tale.” 174 min.