Frederick Wiseman turns lobstermen, sardine workers, doctors, and teachers into a 4-hour portrait of small-town America.
Full Free Video for “Belfast, Maine”
Watch “Belfast, Maine” on Kanopy
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Wiseman shot more than 100 hours of footage in Belfast in October 1996. He then spent about 13 months cutting it down to 248 minutes.
- The sardine factory sequence lasts about 12 minutes and contains roughly 275 shots. Wiseman had around five hours of raw footage from the sardine-processing work alone.
- Wiseman said he wanted viewers to feel what repetitive factory work was like. Not for 30 seconds, but for people doing the same job eight hours a day, sometimes for decades.
Watch “Belfast, Maine”
You can watch “Belfast, Maine” on Kanopy. Check the latest streaming options on JustWatch.
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 89/100 (Users)
Director’s Note: Frederick Wiseman directed, produced, edited, and recorded sound for “Belfast, Maine.” John Davey handled cinematography.
Release Date: August 30, 1999
Other Unique Stuff
- The doc has become an accidental time capsule. Stinson Seafood and the potato plant are now gone, along with several other Belfast businesses from that era.
- Some Belfast residents were angry about Wiseman’s portrait when the doc came out. They felt he focused too heavily on working-class life, run-down homes, and social problems instead of the prettier or more prosperous parts of town.
Wrap Up:
“Belfast, Maine” is four hours of ordinary people doing ordinary things—and that’s the hook. If you like documentaries that get deep into how people actually work and live, you will love this one.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc