A documentary by Frederick Wiseman about the people who live and work in the Panama Canal Zone. CANAL ZONE shows both the operation of the Canal and the various governmental agencies — business, military, and civilian — related to the functioning of the Canal and the lives of the Americans in the zone. The film includes sequences of ships in transit, the work of special canal pilots, aspects of the civil government, work of the military, and the social, religious and recreational life of the Zonians.. "In the sunny landscape of a distant Army enclave in Panama, Wiseman finds a nightmare vision of America itself… By the time CANAL ZONE reaches its Memorial Day climax… it becomes as bitter as Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street… an ingenious cautionary tale." –Frank Rich, Time