The Documentary Film Thread

[The Nal]

Was in Tower Records last week, bought three documentaries Id never seen/heard of before, all three were excellent. Makes me ask the question though, what other docs am I missing here?

I picked up:

Dark Days, homeless people living under New York in the subways etc. Very interesting.

The War on Democracy by John Pilger - US making a mess of Latin America.

Dogtown and the Z Boys - Skating in California in the 70s, how it changed culture etc.

Other suggestions?

[nightcrawler13]

Enron: The Smartest Men In The Room (enron scandal)

Grizzly Man (about Timothy Treadwell, the guy who lived with bears)

Animal Love (austrian docu about people who replace human friendships with animals)

King of Kong (about donkey kong players.... this is the best docu i have ever seen, seriously gripping movie)

[Steve P]

One Day in September - about the shootings at the munich olympics

Bus 174 - Brazilian documantary about a guy that hijacked a bus

Hoop Dreams - about 2 kids going through high school playing basketball

All 3 are brilliant

Oh and Spellbound - about spelling bee's in america, very very funny

Edited November 10, 2008 by Steve P

[beergut100]

Was in Tower Records last week, bought three documentaries Id never seen/heard of before, all three were excellent. Makes me ask the question though, what other docs am I missing here?

I picked up:

Dark Days, homeless people living under New York in the subways etc. Very interesting.

The War on Democracy by John Pilger - US making a mess of Latin America.

Dogtown and the Z Boys - Skating in California in the 70s, how it changed culture etc.

Other suggestions?

Some good political documentaries:

Noam Chomsky - Manufacturing Consent (about media manipulation)

John Pilger - Apartheid didn't die (about South Africa)

McLibel - How 2 working class people defending themselves beat McDonalds (eventually) in Britain's longest ever libel trial

The Corporation - excellent docu about development of present day corporations

[t8yman]

i second the nominations for the pilger stuff. and enron, and would like to add "outfoxed" about the fox news corp

taxi to the darkside - which is about the us marines' unlawful killing of an iraqi nut farmer / taxi driver in an iraqi detention centre (made by alex gibney - who made "enron")

and also "taking liberties" which I think was a C4 film, but I might be wrong, about the erosion of civil liberties in the UK

there was also one about the american banking system, about how the constitution actually says it is unconstitutional to collect taxes from the working man. I'll come back to you on that one.

Edited November 10, 2008 by t8yman

[t8yman]

snuff - is quite a good watch too, a doc about snuff movies and the whole "urban myth" debate. warning - there is a very disturbing account on it, a true story. no pictures - just a man telling this story.

paradise lost

paradise lost 2

outfoxed

taxi to the darkside

the iceman, brilliant, very scary doc.

snuff

taking liberties

Edited November 10, 2008 by t8yman

[Ryu]

Capturing the Friedmans is pretty good...about a family who have to deal with the Father and Son being accused of child abuse.

+ 1 on Grizzly Man too.

[The Nal]

Forgot to mention The Fog of War. Absolutely superb.

[t8yman]

if people know how to use rapidshare, this is a great forum to join

docs 4 u

atlanteanlost put me on to it.

Edited November 10, 2008 by t8yman

[Leprekorn]

I'd suggest Air Guitar Nation

The sory of the US entering the world air guitar championships for the first time.

[Wooderson]

"Super High Me"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_High_Me

"Bigger, Stronger, Faster*"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigger,_Stronger,_Faster*

"King of Kong (A Fistful of Quarters)"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_kong

All the above are worth a watch, as some have said already.

But the best doc ive seen in a long time is "The Freshest Kids" a film about the origins of breakdancing in New York. Stunning.

[kerplunk]

We're mid-series in a run of 'Storyvilles' on BBC4 at the moment and they're usually worth watching - the Roman Polanski one a couple of weeks ago was good. There's an episode tonight, BBC4 10.00pm, and on iPlayer When Borat came to Town looks interesting!

[The Nal]

Documentary on last night on the Thrilla in Manilla, great doc about one of the greatest rivalries in the history of sport.

[Millsy2008]

watched michael moors 9/11 one the other day, i forgotten how funny George W Bush is when he is talking about the war on terror and they will not kill any more of our ppl etc etc.......now watch this drive and drives the ball off the tee,

the guy is dumber as dumber can get

[Iamthewalrus9]

David Starkey's Monarchy is probably the best program ever made, if you're into that sort of thing.

[nightcrawler13]

watched Super High Me last night,

was interesting, and i found the battle of dispensaries in california very interesting, but i would have preferred it if the dude wasnt a comedian trying to be funny all the time (though, he was quite funny when he was stoned in the second half )

[Wooderson]

watched Super High Me last night,

was interesting, and i found the battle of dispensaries in california very interesting, but i would have preferred it if the dude wasnt a comedian trying to be funny all the time (though, he was quite funny when he was stoned in the second half )

After the total whitey I pulled on Saturday night, this film resonates a lot more. I dunno how he did it.

[t8yman]

dunno if anyone is familiar with the film "Marjoe" but I had never heard about it till yesterday, apparently it won the oscar for best doc in 1972, but was only released in a limted run for fear of causing outrage among the usa's deep south bible belt

the vhs basically went out of circulation, and was lost until 2002 when the original film showed up and was restored in 2005 to critical acclaim.

I searched for it this morning and found the links here.

[Alcatraz]

Elf

[Alcatraz]

Documentary on last night on the Thrilla in Manilla, great doc about one of the greatest rivalries in the history of sport.

Now that is very good. Make you realise that Ali wasn't all great

[Langdale Wolf]

The Aileen Wournos documentary by Nick Broomfield is very good. The I watched Monster and realised just how bloody good Charlize Theron is in it.

[When Jokers Attack]

The King Of Kong

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0923752/

Cocaine Cowboys

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0380268/

[sadwitch]

Taxidermy: Stuff the World.

Amazing. I would love a copy of it but can't get hold of it anywhere despite repeated, if sporadic, efforts.

http://www.centuryfilmsltd.com/taxidermy.htm

Edited February 5, 2009 by sadwitch

[outtolunch]

I like the old classic such as 'Night Mail' and many others from the GPO Film Unit. released 1936, it only took 50 years for the sequal 'Night Mail II' to be commissioned

and a bit more up to date 1972 Crystal Voyager (with Pink Floyd soundtrack) classic surf movie. American surfer-cameraman George Greenhough rides the waves from California to Byron Bay

[.jay.]

I'm a big documentary fan and i love Dogtown and the Z boys and i pretty much agree with all the recommendations in the thread and shall be looking into some of the ones I've not yet seen but you already have that i recommend

if you liked Dogtown and the Z Boys then check out this it is possibly my favourite documentary of all time it leaves you speechless!

Riding Giants -

you will also like this if you liked dogtown and the z boys

Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator - http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1132855577/

two of the best music documentaries i've ever seen

Dig! -

Joe Strummer The Future is Unwritten -

i think my other recommendations have been pretty much covered in this thread.