Master documentarian Frederic Wiseman peels back our prejudices and reveals the humanity and beauty – even in Fly-over America – in Monrovia, Indiana. His static camera and patient editing give us unadulterated doses of life in Monrovia, a 1,000-person hamlet amid the cornfields and pig farms of central Indiana. In a 2 hour, 23 minute tour, we visit the barber shop, the high school, pig farm, the grocery store, the coffee shop, the town council, the hair salon, a livestock auction, the liquor store, the grain silo and the town’s annual festival.
Not much happens, except life.
We do see a Masonic Lodge ritual (a first for me) and the entire sermon at a funeral.
This is deeply Red State territory and a land of bad haircuts. But people care about what they do and about each other. Wiseman introduces us to Monrovia as a reflection upon humanity and upon life itself. There has never been a more fascinating documentary about a more boring subject. Surprisingly, this is a mesmerizing film.