The Wire

Over the last three months or so I have been watching the HBO series "The Wire." It is available through Netflix. There were five seasons, of approximately 12 episodes each, so I was busy watching about 60 hours of tape. That comes out to more than 30 films that I would have seen and commented upon, either favorably or otherwise, on this blog.

While I won't go into a long analysis of the show, I do recommend it. In brief, it tells the story of a small group of Baltimore police and the drug organization that they are trying to smash. But, the story is really a panoramic portrait of the institutions that make up a modern metropolis, from the police and the underworld, to politicians, unions, schools, churches, newspapers, etc. It's one of the very few works of art upon which the label "Tolstoyan" can aptly be affixed.

The fourth season dealt with the schools, and when it started, I was a bit fearful. After all, the first three seasons seemed very realistic, but they dealt with worlds about which I am unfamiliar. Film very rarely gets the schools right. They always exaggerate things to the nth degree, making students appear like monsters, as in "The Blackboard Jungle" and other school horror movies. Or the teachers are made to look like complete idiots, and the kids are all wise and cool. But, amazingly, they got it right. They really managed to capture the way a city school feels.

The show presents a very dark vision of the human experience. (Would I be recommending it if it were otherwise?) The controlling theme is that all institutions fail to carry out the mission for which they were created. Ironically, this includes the institutions of the criminal underworld. Issues having to do with ego, promotion, politics, money, resentment, sex, you name it, all these begin to take on much greater importance than the job itself. And yet, somehow, society moves on. Or does it?

I don't think it's the kind of show that you can start in the middle. Constant references are made to previous action, and the plot is highly complex and interwoven. But, if you have Netflix, and 60 hours of free time, I recommend it. It may not be for grandma, though. There's a lot of violence, incessant profanity, occasional nudity, a sex scene here and there to keep the barbarians interested.