At Berkeley

Reckon a four-hour, narrative-free documentary in which we peep in on board meetings and lectures with unnamed bigwigs at one of America’s most prestigious universities sounds dull? Well you’d be right about that, as it is. But marginally less so than you’d imagine. The loose thread holding it all together is the angst over funding for the newly financially squeezed US middle classes – not exactly the most urgent charity case in the world.

But in those moments when the students’ brains kick into gear to argue complex subjects, it at least becomes like a soothing academic lava lamp fizzy away in the corner of the room.