First implemented by Barcelona anarchists in 1901, the free school model proposes a learning environment where classes are optional and all rules are determined by democratic vote. More than a century later, this radical concept has reached the small town of Little Falls, New Jersey, where an ambitious idealist named Alex opens the world’s 262nd free school. Director Amanda Rose Wilder is there from the beginning, closely observing outspoken young classmates as they form relationships, explore their surroundings, and debate rule violations. Wilder’s camera latches onto her subjects’ deeply expressive faces and attentively documents the rising, and sometimes boiling, tensions. This is democracy, in messy miniature. In an age of overly tidy documentary narratives and characters, this delicately observed, carefully edited film is a riveting throwback to when documentary masters embraced the anarchy of life. (CB)