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Basic Training

Screening on Film
Directed by Frederick Wiseman.
US, 1971, 16mm, black & white, 90 min.

Wiseman’s in-depth portraits of American institutions (High School, Welfare, Public Housing) manage both to present and critique their subjects. Here he documents the transition from civilian to soldier as he follows a company of youthful draftees and enlisted men through an eight-week Army basic-training program at Fort Knox, Kentucky, and dissect the conditions of the American military during the Vietnam era.

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