Film Forum

(1978) In the middle of a bleak nowhere, a fortlike complex’s life is punctuated by the compound’s gates opening and closing. It’s a U.S.-operated buffer zone monitoring station between the newly-at-peace Egypt and Israel – but what else do they do? Act like Americans abroad, but at home. 16mm. Approx. 127 mins.

Reviews

“Wiseman gives us a community. We sense the isolation, the harsh climate, the numbing drudgery of the paperwork… by filming the story of Sinai Field Mission from the inside out, by incorporating all of the elements that make it up rather than a rote narrative of what it does and how it came to be, Frederick Wiseman has once again brought an issue into focus. And we know and care a little bit more because of it.”
– James Brown, Los Angeles Times