In an early sequence of Robert Reich's new film, "The Work in Progress," two young men sit beneath an arching canopy, surrounded by wintry Iowa fields. We know almost nothing about them: One is a person of color, one is white, and they appear to be about 30 years old. There's a faint uneasiness between them.
The white man studies a small card and haltingly reads a question: "In your early life, how did you learn about what America is?"
That question - very simple, and very complex - sets off a difficult discussion. His partner in this conversation describes being the child of immigrants, and how as a youth in his hometown, learning about America could be a "combative" process. His counterpart responds by describing his own upbringing as a Mennonite, and the tension between patriotic ideas of service and the strict pacifist creed of his church.
The Work in Progress / Inequality Media
"In a weird way," the son of immigrants replies, "I think I have a very similar upbringing … where it was like, we're a part of America, but also there's this part of growing up where it's like - are we?"
After three minutes and 23 seconds, the two men have come to realize their shared American experience. In doing so, they've provided an emblematic moment for the new documentary from Reich, the film's executive producer and a professor emeritus at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy.
The two Iowans aren't debating red vs. blue, or one politician versus another. Instead, they and others featured in the film are contemplating the meaning of America. They brood over who belongs and what it means to feel like an outsider. They worry about the battered condition of the American dream. Along the way, they consider issues of respect, of fear and hope, of past and future.
Reich has long been a prominent observer of the American scene. In a career of activism and public service spanning six decades, he has advised top political leaders of both major parties. Under President Bill Clinton, he served from 1993-1997 as secretary of the Department of Labor. He joined the Berkeley faculty in 2006 and became a beloved teacher and mentor to thousands of students. His retirement three years ago was captured in the popular 2025 documentary, "The Last Class."
"The Work in Progress" is being released today (Sept. 4) and is already scheduled for showings at nearly three dozen theaters across the U.S., including several in California and the San Francisco Bay Area.
An authentic American tapestry
The film is a timely and thought-provoking addition to Reich's catalogue of writing, film, media appearances and other public commentary. Perhaps it's no surprise that it emerges from the culture of UC Berkeley. Scholars and students in recent years have pioneered the practice of "bridging" profound political divisions through open-minded conversation; one Berkeley course helps students practice how to be open to opposing views.
Reich's core idea was not to bring together liberals and conservatives, but to convene younger and older Americans - over 100 of them in all, many living in the American heartland.
"With the age divide," Reich explains in the film, "you've got a lot of people who are 30, and they are the future, and a lot of people who are boomers, like me. We are the past."
Trying to compress a complex project into a tight timeline, the filmmakers made strategic decisions that may seem counterintuitive in an era of television shouting and podcast snark.
They selected six states to visit in the first half of 2026: Iowa, Arizona, Illinois, Maine, Alabama and Hawaii (with a brief stop in California). They sidestepped political hotspots such as Texas, Florida and the Pacific Northwest.
In every locale, they avoided blunt confrontations with our most bitter political disagreements. There are no red MAGA hats here, and no extreme leftists.
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In sheer numbers, the people featured in these discussions may tip slightly toward liberal, but more striking is the range of voices: farmers and truck drivers, teachers and scholars, a range of artists and artisans, military veterans, a conservationist, a rancher, Jewish and Christian clergy, and men incarcerated on drug charges. With a diversity of races, ethnicities and gender identities, they present as an authentically American tapestry.
There are some strong opinions among them, but no strident voices. No matter their age or location, they are distinctively thoughtful.
"One of the most important things that we've lost," Reich says on camera, "is examples of people who have very different backgrounds and ideologies and values talking to each other in a friendly way.
"We shouldn't try to agree - that's not what we do. … But we should agree to a process for sorting out our disagreements."
An urgent need to listen
As with the two young men in Iowa, the question of belonging is a through-line in "The Work in Progress." The filmmakers suggest such quasi-spiritual questions and doubts are at the root of America's crisis of faith.
A related through-line: the urgency of listening. In the film, director Ian Cheney recounts to Reich how filming these difficult conversations leaves him exhausted.
"Well," Reich replies, "listening - eloquent listening, I mean, really listening - is exhausting. It's very hard."
Sometimes, Reich says, when he encounters people who disagree with him, "if I really am honest with myself, I don't want to spend the time and energy it requires to find common ground. It's just too exhausting. And yet … that's part of my responsibility as a citizen."
During the film's journey across America, there are occasional moments of levity, but more often those engaged in discussion seem to be searching for answers, and sometimes struggling. Occasionally, though, there's a breakthrough.
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In one late discussion, featuring two women in Alabama, a young Black student is exasperated as she tries to persuade a retired white professor that structural racism is real.
"The starting line is just not the same for you - it never has been," the younger woman argues. "No matter how much we get along - we can go eat, we can go to church together - (but) it just wasn't meant for people like me to obtain a lot of the things that you're privileged to have."
Repeatedly, the professor urges her to leave negativity behind. "If you can let anything go," she says, "you'll be better for it."
And then, just when it seems that a bitter, longstanding American racial stalemate will lock the two in place, there's a shift - one that's visible in the expressions and body language of both women.
Neither looks at ease. Neither looks relieved. But they have heard each other, and thanked each other, and in the process they've found some common ground, however narrow it might be.
In the emotional intensity of such discussions, viewers could easily miss another story that the filmmakers are telling, via the subtext of images and music. Their cameras are capturing the stirring beauty of American landscapes and cityscapes. They're capturing the extraordinary range of American roots music, from a poetic singer-songwriter to the blues, a high school mariachi band and Hawaiian slack-key guitar.
They're capturing the good-hearted character of the American people, in all of their diversity, as they search for a way back to their common dream.
Showtimes and tickets
Starting this month, "The Work in Progress" will have showings in Northern California and across the United States.
A special screening is slated for Oct. 14 at UC Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall, featuring a discussion with executive producer Robert Reich. For students, 500 $5 tickets will be available, with 1,400 tickets priced at $15 for the general audience.
Also in the Bay Area, the documentary will screen:
- Sept. 15 at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley. (A Q&A with producers Heather Kinlaw Lofthouse, a UC Berkeley graduate, and Elliot Kirschner will follow the film.)
- Sept. 16 at Rialto Cinemas Sebastopol in Sebastopol. (A Q&A with Lofthouse and Kirschner will follow the film.)
- Sept. 18-24 at Rialto Cinemas Elmwood in Berkeley.
