The documentary "Welfare 1975" was painfully touching in every way. This documentary by Fredrick Wiseman showed what it would really be like to be on welfare. The entire film of almost three hours was all about different exchanges between the people who are struggling financially in New York in 1974 and the people who worked in the welfare offices. Nothing went as planed for either party. While this documentary was pretty uneventful, it was still hypnotizing because nothing in this documentary was staged. Wisemen has been known for creating amazing, undramatized documentaries, but the simplicity and the power behind this film is undeniable. All of the things that were caught on camera were real encounters which made the whole film so much more touching. One can watch an actual person beg for help and be turned away. This documentary showed both sides to what happens in welfare situations: The people who really needed help and got turned away, the people who did not need help received support. These were the two extremes that people usually think of first when the topic of welfare is brought up.

One event in this documentary really touched me. There is a man there and he says this amazing quote. "I have 22 years of education behind me and 17 years of loyalty to this state. Now, after 7 months in the hospital that is going to change." Then this tall, New York man sits down in the waiting area and he prays out loud to God saying that he will accept what is to come. In this moment, a janitor is listening to his prayer in awe. This moment really speaks for the whole documentary. This Fredrick Wiseman documentary showed the other side to a welfare situation and for that I will forever adore Wisemen. His work is well known, but one will never understand how powerful his films are until one watches them.

I would rate this film at an eight out of ten stars because it was very long and some what repetitive. However, I would not take back any of the time that I spent watching this documentary because it was very real and moving. It showed how welfare is needed but policies do need to be altered to make it fool proof. Since 1975, the government has obviously made some changes to welfare, but I do believe that this film highly influenced where welfare went after that set time.

Welfare is pretty much about a day to day life of Welfare Officers and the people who is in need of welfare.

Its the most dramatic of his films so far. With people in deep need and officers who are limited by their budgets and "laws", emotions run high as they try to meet half-way.

There are decently good material about the hyperbole of Welfare in America. Half of them are in a rut, since they are truly in need of so much information just to prove the money to go out. It is clear that some are pushed to their edge (especially the girl who was being forced to go back, or the racist welfare guy to the guard or the worker who wants to be a supervisor) BUT I do not think some are actually using the 'welfare' for good. One example is the North Carolina Mother-Daughter who are stretching their ability to get welfare AND is using it as to get more money. They were livid since no one seems to be able to just say NO to them AND are forcing them to go around to possibly get it.

I think this is a much more complex and active documentary that the 'directness' works wonder. Everyone here is naturally elevated since they are actively being judged. Their actions, their voice, their looks. Its such a rich text to watch.

PS: You kinda see how people who never worked with service or customer facing work. They are highly judgmental of the workers who was to give hard decisions. It might be unpopular but it has to happen.

"Welfare" is the fourth Frederick Wiseman documentary I've seen and they have all been outstanding. The others I've watched, "Primate", "Law and Order", and "Titticut Follies" I would rank slightly above "Welfare" for the simple reason that they are harder hitting films. "Welfare" is very long and totally mesmerizing but it's all about the process of waiting and people drifting endlessly through the system. It's all conversations between welfare caseworkers and people who are trying to get their checks.

As usual, Wiseman finds some of most astonishing footage imaginable. Some of the stuff its hard to fathom how he managed to film it. You wonder if the people knew they were being filmed, and if so, did they care? They don't seem to. It was shot in 1974, and presumably on film, so the cameras would have been noticeable. The thing I love about Wiseman is that he doesn't stand in judgement. He just shows. And when you expect his camera to pull away it doesn't. And then something even more astonishing happens.

Admittedly, in "Welfare" the astonishment is on a more subtle level than in some of his other films. There are no moments that make your jaw drop in horror at the human condition like in Wiseman's "Law and Order" when two cops chokehold a cowering prostitute into oblivion or the nightmarish talent show in "Titticut Follies".

The moments that stand out in "Welfare" are the smaller ones. The way one couple's story about how badly they need their welfare check slowly dissolves as they get caught in one lie after another. The hippie girl who complains about her apartment being declared an unfit home for her infant just because her boyfriend's "diseased" dog also lives there. The way one caseworker (who seems like a wimp at first) is able to firmly (and justly) stick up for one of his cases.

But the real treat of seeing a Frederick Wiseman documentary cannot fully be described in words. I think he is the greatest documentary filmmaker in history. His films are truly like social x-rays. Every one of his films I've seen is far and away better than any other documentary I've seen by any other filmmaker.