Good start, but then it gets ruined

Am I Missing Something?

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

I think this is a delightful documentary that brings together all of the elements of the best and worst of small town communities, in this case, Levittown, U.S.A. Like many of Errol Morris' documentaries, this film focuses on the eccentricities of `normal' people to the point where that very phrase `normal' becomes meaningless. There's no such thing as normal! I suppose different people will view some of the people in this film negatively, but that is where the viewers are coming from, not the filmmakers. It's all a matter of personal perception. It takes all kinds to make a world, and I personally felt this film celebrated that, whether I agreed with the points of views of the people who were featured, or related to any of their `eccentricities'. To me, some people's lives seemed a bit bland, but then I remembered that prior to the war, many of them lived in big cities with sub-standard housing and they had none of the creature comforts that we all take for granted today. Still, I've always wondered why the communities that display the highest percentage of American flags are segregated communities. Is that really the American dream for so many people? Someone in this documentary mentioned that there were Asians in Levittown but I didn't see any in this film. Nor was there any mention of the fact that there were/are no African-Americans, Hispanics, Gay people or God forbid (!) Arab-Americans in Levittown, although it's obvious to anyone with eyes. What any segregated (intentional or otherwise) community produces is a community that is pretty limited. But that is America, like it or not. Most people don't know or even want to know what lies beyond the confines of their community. America is one big country filled with various small town mentalities. I don't think that's entirely a bad thing. Small towns are often great. I live in a big city where people rarely live in one place more than two or three years and almost never get to know their neighbours, much less ever become close friends with them. People in small towns are generally kinder to their neighbours since they know that they'll be seeing a lot of them over the years. And the feeling of a community is a wonderful thing. But this documentary does show in parts how living in a generic society with one common but very limited experience of the world can be quite suffocating, mentally and emotionally. Multiply that by thousands of communities across the country and one can see where it can even be a dangerous thing. The best thing about this film is that it shows that it is our eccentricities, hobbies and even occasional delusions that keep us healthy. It illustrates how this country is strong not because of how generic or patriotic it is, but because of the warmth and imagination of its people. What's wrong with someone who collects kitschy illustrated plates, or fancies that their house is haunted? I can judge for myself that it's not anything I can relate to, but who am I to judge others? It's documentaries like this that can really make us see ourselves much better in how we look at and judge others. To me, an ideal community (and what this wonderful melting pot of a country we live in is all about) would be Levittown with people of all races and walks of life living together peacefully. Add a few nice restaurants, a great museum, a few terrific cinemas, DVD stores, and bookstores, and that would be paradise to me. In the meantime, I can appreciate the rich experience this film gave me in broadening my view of America.

Wonderland is a humorous look about the planned community of Levittown on Long Island, NY. Along with some brilliant historical footage, the film consists mainly of interviews with some of the town's kookier but endearingly genuine residents. The movie is sort of like Michael Moore's "Roger and Me" [about the town of Flint, MI] but without a cornball premise and without a self-absorbed director/narrator/"star". In fact, the best thing about this film is that talented director John O'Hagan stays completely out of it, letting his subjects tell the story. (The bartender who sings the national anthem is the funniest unstaged bit of film I've seen in years.) Someone made the comment that the film is mean-spirited but I don't think so. Yes, the people are often unintentionally hilarious... but no one forced them to do this movie. On the contrary, they seem to crave the attention. Mean-spirited is chasing someone around with a camera against their will, or being entertained by such.

This is my personal favorite film of the year. I was expecting more of a criticism of the town, but the film is really just a set of portraits of some eccentric residents of the town. The film is a bit of a ready-made - these characters are absolute gems. The film-making is also clever - the portrayals are cleverly interwoven so that the personalities unfold in surprising ways as the film goes on. The film was all I wanted to talk about for about a week after I saw it and I really wish I could see it again.

This is a fascinating documentary about Levittown, (or Levittowns-there are several), one of the first and largest postwar housing developments, the original located on Long Island. While watching the film you can see the director's shift from a historical/sociological perspective to a humorous and at times almost mean-spirited look at the lives of the people who still reside in the decaying community. There are interviews with famous ex-residents as well as almost painful revelations by some of the oh-so colorful inhabitants. Most people will have a new-found appreciation for their hometowns and also, hopefully, their present accommodations after seeing this.