The Documentary Film Thread

[The Nal]

Does anyone know of any good World War II or Hitler documentarys?I've found myself turning into Tony Soprano recently and watching a lot of the military history channel.

Yes.

- The World at War

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-

All superb/standards/must watches.

And I recently watched the first episode of Oliver Stones Untold History of the United States. Excellent.

[t8yman]

Did anyone see Queen of Versailles on BBC4 the other night? Brilliant film about the US 'time share king' and his trophy wife, and their plans to build the biggest home in America (modelled on Versailles. Or rather the Paris hotel in Vegas), but then the crash of 2008 hits and it becones so much more. Pretty much all that is wrong with the American Dream. And I say that as someone with a lot of affection for Americans. Reminds me of Capturing the Friedmans, in that it starts off planned as one film, then suddenly the ffilm takes a whole different route.

It was a really good watch, I went through all of the run of emotions - jealousy, anger, pity, shock but much to my surprise - sympathy in the end for particularly what David has had to go through. My opinion of Jacqui changed a number of times throughout the run time.

[BlackHole2006]

Watched "The Bully Project" last night. Couldn't get over it. If you haven't already, watch it. Hard hitting stuff.

http://youtu.be/XwZIGnaSuJY

[t8yman]

just grabbing it now. I think I might cry. The trailer was upsetting enough.

[BlackHole2006]

just grabbing it now. I think I might cry. The trailer was upsetting enough.

It is very emotional to watch but at the same time uplifting. I'm just glad a documentary has been made about this issue because I was speaking to my American cousin before this doc was made and she said none of it happened to her because she kept her head down but some of the kids in her school were extremely cruel, apparently in her School if you didn't play a sport you were considered a 'freak', which is a completely bizarre concept in my eyes.

[t8yman]

Just finished watching it, it was strangely uplifting.

I was bullied a bit at school, I still see one of the guys occasionally, and he's actually a really nice guy now he has grown up. I'm sure he looks back on what he did with utter shame. One of the guys who was present one particular lunchtime (he didnt participate in what went on) went on to be my best friend in the world, he was my best man, and I his. I love him like a brother.

There was another guy who caused me to snap, and I knocked him clean off his feet with an uppercut to his chin (the only time I have EVER struck anyone). He didn't come back for more, and I was never bullied again.

Watching the kids in the film being bullied was horrible. The loneliness was the most upsetting thing for me.

Some kids are horrible, horrible people when they are young.

[lost]

I was going to say no different to any inner city UK school. It is horrible that feeling when you are younger and really difficult difficult to explain to a kid that things get better. I used to hate coming top of the class, though as I was saying to one of my friends kids the other day. This kid used to take my lunch money.... and he still does now when I order a big mac.

[Ruwise]

I just watched The Invisible War. It is one of the Oscar nominations for best documentary for this year. It is a real eye opener about rape and sexual assault in the US Military and the way it is dealt or should that be not dealt with.

[When Jokers Attack]

I just watched The Invisible War. It is one of the Oscar nominations for best documentary for this year. It is a real eye opener about rape and sexual assault in the US Military and the way it is dealt or should that be not dealt with.

Was going to watch this tonight but opted for something else. Will get it watched.

[Ruwise]

Was going to watch this tonight but opted for something else. Will get it watched.

Good I'd be interested to know your thoughts on it. The IMDB message boards have been filled with some awful victim blaming.

On sort of the same topic with documentaries how do people feel about documentaries that have a bias. When I go on the IMDB message boards you always get people complaining about not seeing the other side of the story some idiots actually complained that none of the rapists were shown in this particular documentary.

Dear Zachary seems to have a lot of people complaining about similar bias. I personally have no issue with it. I always do my own reading etc on the back of a documentary anyway. The only thing that bugs me is if blatant lies are told.

[t8yman]

I felt incredibly cheated with Sugarman. Its not a documentary if it has a slant/bias IMHO.

[Ruwise]

I felt incredibly cheated with Sugarman. Its not a documentary if it has a slant/bias IMHO.

I can understand what you mean with that one but on all documentaries? A lot of documentaries are made as a kind of call to action. I think sometimes impact could be lost if they are trying to be too fair eg. I think what made Dear Zachary powerful was understanding how his family and friends felt about his death. If a neutral person had made that and tried to be fair to the killer and talked about their problems it probably wouldn't have had the same impact.

Likewise if a lot of whistleblower type documentaries went into the tough childhood of the CEO to help you understand why s/he might have done it would that help the cause.

I genuinely think sometimes you just want people angry enough to change things and trying to be neutral and fair about unfair things is not always desirable.

[When Jokers Attack]

I still haven't seen Dear Zachary. I have known about it for ages. Think I have had it for about 2 years. Will get it viewed soon. Just so much stuff to watch and always forget about some.

[BlackHole2006]

Got Sugarman yesterday as a birthday present yesterday. Gonna give it a watch today. Can't wait. Judging by all the comments on here, I'm in for a treat!

Edited February 2, 2013 by BlackHole2006

[t8yman]

Dave Grohls' sound city was a brilliant watch. all the emotions in under 2 hours. Highly highly recommended.

[When Jokers Attack]

Dave Grohls' sound city was a brilliant watch. all the emotions in under 2 hours. Highly highly recommended.

Didn't know it had leaked.

Grabbed this earlier, Trailer doesn't show much but the synopsis is very interesting. Love Herzog.

[Ed209]

Watched Julien Temple's London: The Modern Babylon last night. Superb documentary constructed from archive film. Some astonishing footage in there. Absolutely amazing soundtrack as well, obviously. Really recommend

[Ruwise]

Did anybody see Dreams Of A Life on Channel 4 last night. I wanted to see this one in the cinema but it only had a very limited showing and I missed it. I remember the story from the news and have always wondered how it could happen. Finally got to watch it and I really felt that I only got half a story. I know a lot of people didn't want to appear on camera but I wish we had at least heard about what they had said off camera.

A sad sign of society that you could lie dead in a flat in a busy part of London for 3 years before being discovered.

[BlackHole2006]

Finally got around to watching the Joe Strummer doc that Julien Temple made. Really inspiring story.

[Buff124]

Anyone remember an indigenous people, the Kogi of northern Colombia, who made a documentary warning of climate change back in 1990 called 'From the Heart of the World' ? An interesting look at the only fully functioning pre-Columbian civilisation, one that used to trade with the Mayans and Incas, who referred to us as the Younger Brothers, and warned we were seriously f*****g up the planet.

No-one listened to them back then of course, so after waiting for 20 years they've given it one last shot. The new documentary is called 'Aluna', and unsurprisingly is still to get picked up for general release. In it they make a proposal on how to combat climate change, one I hadn't heard anyone else put forward in the climate change debate so far.

Here's a link if you're interested- http://www.alunathemovie.com/en/

There's other related bits and bobs, including the original documentary, out there on You Tube

[sifi]

Watched Sugarman last Saturday. Bought the albums on Sunday. Ordered the blu-ray on Monday. Booked tickets for the June gig on Tuesday. Finally managed to get Crucify your Mind off my internal juke box on Wednesday. Listened to the director's commentary on the blu-ray yesterday.

You could say I'm a bit smitten.

[t8yman]

are you aware of the real story though sifi?

[AcademicPistol]

I really hope he/she is and they are just loving it regardless.

[t8yman]

sifi is most definitely a "he".

[sifi]

are you aware of the real story though sifi?

That he was successful in Australia thirty years ago?