Alex Gibney’s latest doc is on Elon Musk. His first doc was about 7th graders at a Mill Valley, CA school.
Thanks to G. Allen Johnson for pointing me to this little-known gem.
Trailer for “The Ruling Classroom”
I couldn’t find a YouTube trailer for this early documentary. But you can watch one here: Video Data Bank.
You Can’t Make This Sh!t Up
- Of the 27 seventh graders running their fake country, 23 confessed to breaking their own laws. Teacher George Muldoon cried, “My God, we’ve got another Watergate!” He then staged a coup, took control, and declared a dictatorship.
- The kids printed their own money: a baby on the $1 bill, a hippie on the $10, and a skull on the $100. They even charged classmates to use the pencil sharpener, trash can, and door!
- The filmmakers uncovered a story about a teacher slapping a student. The principal shut down the experiment and tried to block the film’s release. He failed, and it aired nationwide on PBS.
Watch “The Ruling Classroom”
“The Ruling Classroom” does not appear to be available on major streaming platforms.
You can purchase it through Video Data Bank as part of the collection “Surveying the First Decade: Volume 2.”
Ratings:
- My Rating: 90/100
- IMDb Rating: Not available
- Rotten Tomatoes Ratings: Not available
Director’s Note: “The Ruling Classroom” was made by Alex Gibney and Peter Bull. It was Gibney’s first documentary, long before he became one of the biggest names in nonfiction filmmaking.
Gibney went on to make “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room,” “Taxi to the Dark Side” (which won an Oscar), “Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief,” and “The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley.”
Release Date: 1970s (exact original release date not confirmed).
My Review of “The Ruling Classroom”
The Setup
Teacher George Muldoon had a wild idea for his seventh-grade social studies class in Mill Valley, California.
Instead of teaching government from a textbook, why not let the kids build their own country?
So he suspended the normal curriculum and let 27 students create a nation called “Amasudatamalie.”
They had to figure out how to run an economy, make laws, manage money, and deal with citizens who didn’t always follow the rules.
Gibney and his co-filmmaker Bull recorded the experiment as it unfolded, using a cinéma vérité style. That means they mostly let the cameras roll instead of telling the kids what to do.
They also interviewed the students after school to find out what they thought about their new society.
The result is a fascinating look at what happens when you give a bunch of 12-year-olds real power over one another.
Spoiler: They start acting a lot like adults.
More Highlights from the Doc
- A whole new economy: The kids didn’t just pretend to have money. They printed their own bills and created a system where classmates could earn, spend, and charge one another for services.
- Even the classroom door became a business: Students could bid for the right to control everyday classroom services. Imagine having to pay another kid just to sharpen your pencil or throw something in the trash.
- Monopolies took over: Some students gained control of services their classmates needed. It’s a pretty good lesson in what happens when one business controls an entire market.
- Unemployment became a problem: Not everyone found a useful role in the new economy. The kids discovered that creating a country didn’t mean everyone would have a job.
- Freedom of the press became a real issue: The students had to deal with questions about who could report news and what could be said about people in power. That issue became even more important when the filmmakers uncovered a real scandal at the school.
- White-collar crime spread: This wasn’t just kids stealing lunch money. Their make-believe society developed violations of its own financial and business rules.
- Almost everyone broke the law: When 23 of the 27 students admitted to committing crimes, Muldoon compared the mess to Watergate, the scandal that brought down President Richard Nixon.
- Democracy ended in a dictatorship: Muldoon eventually seized control, telling the kids their treasury was broke. The students got a lesson in what happens when a government loses power.
Lesser-Known Details from the Doc
- The name of the country: The kids called their republic “Amasudatamalie.” Not exactly a name you’d expect to see on a world map.
- Their money had some strange artwork: A baby represented $1, a hippie $10, and a skull $100. I’d love to know who came up with that last one.
- The experiment lasted much of a semester: This wasn’t a one-day classroom game. The kids had time to build a society, see problems develop, and live with the results.
- The filmmakers interviewed students outside class: These interviews let the kids explain what they thought was happening, rather than relying only on the teacher’s view.
- The film caused a real school controversy: The account of a teacher slapping a student led to a dispute with the principal, who tried to prevent the documentary from reaching a wider audience.
- The film made it to PBS: Despite the principal’s efforts, the documentary aired nationally. What began as one California classroom experiment reached viewers across the country.
- Gibney’s career came full circle: His first film looked at how a tiny society could fall into corruption. Decades later, he would investigate some of the world’s most powerful corporations, institutions, and billionaires.
Wrap Up:
I love “The Ruling Classroom” because it’s like watching a tiny version of America form, get rich, break its own laws, and fall apart. If you like documentaries about human nature, money, and power, this forgotten Alex Gibney film is worth tracking down.
Thanks for reading!
Heather Fenty, Guest Writer, Daily Doc