Frederick Wiseman’s ongoing study of bureaucracy takes on epic proportions in Welfare. Masterful editing gives subtle structure to the chaos of stories in a New York City welfare center, playing out themes and variations, building tension, then retreating into uneasy calm. Individuals’ encounters with the system run the gamut from bemused resignation to delirious antagonism. One client invokes Waiting for Godot; another, enraged, demands to know, “Whose fault is it?” Ultimately the filmmaker’s interest in the institution seems less social than metaphysical: hearing endless repetitions of the caseworkers’ exhausted explanations, glimpsing the same faces in different waiting rooms, we begin to feel time circle back on itself.