Racetrack

(1985) is an absolute high point in the oeuvre of American documentary maestro Frederick Wiseman. In his previous films, he portrayed mentally ill criminals (, 1967), emergency room doctors (, 1971) and customers in the chic department store Neiman-Marcus (, 1983). In , he turns his camera on life in and around Belmont Park – the most prestigious racetrack for thoroughbred horses in the world. This film sees the perfection of the Direct Cinema style familiar from Wiseman’s previous works: brutally candid observation in sober black-and-white, served up with unrelenting directness. opens with the birth of a thoroughbred horse and ends with the empty stands, covered with litter, following the legendary Belmont Stakes in 1981 at which the favorite, Pleasant Colony, suffered a humiliating defeat. Wiseman shows the racecourse as an inward-looking microcosm. He follows trainers, jockeys, managers, attendants, vets and stable boys as they work. He shows horses being shoed and mares being covered, the presentation of horses prior to the race, union meetings and betting on the results. Below the surface, uneasy social tensions simmer between poorly paid workers and high-society owners, between black and white. There is no linear narrative here; the rhythm of this initially slow-paced evocation reaches its climax in the final race.