The Cinematheque

“High School was the second movie I made, and whether anybody else thinks so or not, I like to think I’ve learned something in the intervening 24 years.”

Frederick Wiseman

In contrast to the scenes in High School, Frederick Wiseman’s sequel, set at a progressive school in Harlem, opens with a student closely listened to by an audience of teachers. High School II is filled with this kind of activity: a variety of speakers, both staff and students, each with their own personal performance method, adapting and readapting to their audience. Whereas High School captured an education model where the predictability of outcomes is valorized, High School II counters with an open-ended one—praised by one educator as rigorously scientific—with all the human trials that emerge when student autonomy is foregrounded. Scenes of mediation, analysis of the Shakespearean models of love, and problems based in math and protest strategies alike are subject to debate. Shot in the aftermath of the Rodney King trial, High School II captures an organization of people dedicated to constant reflection. It might, accordingly, be Wiseman’s most self-reflexive film.

“Again and again, you hear the staff of Central Park East ask the students to fill out their statements, to add detail, to provide more evidence. That’s exactly what Wiseman does, devotedly and brilliantly.”

Stuart Klawans, The Nation

“Purposeful, always moving forward and actively inviting the viewer to think beyond [contemporary] trends, which call for greater structure and uniformity in education.”

Cynthia Lucia, Cineaste