A viewing tip for this evening: Filmmaker Aaron Woolf, director of the acclaimed King Corn (2007), turns his camera on America’s dilapidated infrastructure system. Blueprint America: Beyond the Motor City explores how the plight of Detroit, long the emblem of American manufacturing might, now its most damning symbol of urban and infrastructure disrepair, is actually a microcosm of a larger national failure.
Perhaps the most compelling takeaway from the film is its gentle suggestion that the country is missing a vision for infrastructure. Harking back to Albert Gallatin in the 19th century and the Interstate Highway System in the 20th, the movie makes the point that the absence of a unifying and coherent vision for binding the nation together with infrastructure lies at the heart of American decline.
Beyond the Motor City also puts the issue of global competitiveness front and center. Some of the film takes place in Spain, home to one of the world’s most advanced high-speed rail networks and to six of the world’s top 10 public works companies.
The movie airs tonight at 8:00 pm on PBS, though check your local listings. Here’s a preview:
