This short film is from "American Film Treasures/Avant Garde Film: Disc 1"--a compilation of mostly forgotten art films of the 20th century. This DVD set is NOT for the casual viewer and sometimes I wonder why I watched the films--as some of them were VERY artsy and weird!
Bruce Baillie made this film about some children in a school for emotionally disturbed children in Oakland, California. It has no narration but consists of showing them playing, harming themselves (some were clearly autistic but the slapping was, fortunately, only a tiny portion of the film) as well as enjoying a day at school doing various classroom activities. While it's not exactly the sort of film most folks would want to see, Baillie did some interesting camera-work here--with unusual angles and very tight focuses on the children's faces.
I am not going to give this one a numerical score. This isn't because it's a bad film (it isn't) but it just defies my ability to score due to the type movie it is. Interesting in an artsy sort of way.
