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The Documentary Film Thread


The Nal

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The Culture High is excellent (about the pros and cons of legalisation of MJ and how the drug companies keep it illegal). Its on Netflix.

Theres also a 2 hour Adam Curtis doc on iplayer "Bitter Lake" about the dumbing down of news and information. Its almost a full piece to the 2 minute slot we got on Charlie Brookers 2014 Wipe. Superb as all Curtis's work is. Its a bit of a tricky one to find - you have to go to iplayer radio for some reason - but it is there.

have put this up before - but in case you didnt see the Charlie Brooker piece:

Edited by Ted Dansons Wig
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What an incredible piece of work "Bitter Lake" is. Everything about it is so incredibly well done. I can't recommend it highly enough.

It starts fairly slowly, and I thought I knew where it was going, but it wasn't presented in a way I was expecting. Curtis does an incredible job of examining how middle east politics have evolved over the last century, and how the superpowers influenced said change, and how Saudi Arabia and Wahabism flourished on the back of oil and the US dependence on it.

The footage is fantastic, I loved the way many shots are obscured - a direct mirror on the way the stories are obscured by our leaders and news organisations. The soundtrack was brilliant and the narration perfect - voiceover was used sparingly, only when absolutely needed yet eerily absent at times.

An incredible study on why simplifying a complex situation can never work. Its rarely black and white, rarely good vs evil, and never a good idea to think it is.

I loved it.

and this song is the perfect soundtrack choice, never heard it before watching the film but I love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-tI4VsDyWI

Edited by t8yman
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An incredible study on why simplifying a complex situation can never work. Its rarely black and white, rarely good vs evil, and never a good idea to think it is.

I like this about alot of Curtis's work, he doesn't take the traditional left vs right paradigm view of the world where a simplistic argument is made that if we get the "right" guys in charge everything will be ok, he explains it almost like chaos theory where politicians from both sides can make what they think are well meaning decisions but they can reverberate out with devastating consequences years later.. It is quite a nihilistic view of the world though, I wonder if that's why he used alot of Nine Inch Nails soundtracks.

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The footage is fantastic, I loved the way many shots are obscured - a direct mirror on the way the stories are obscured by our leaders and news organisations. The soundtrack was brilliant and the narration perfect - voiceover was used sparingly, only when absolutely needed yet eerily absent at times.

Spot on.

I read a lot of criticism about the pacing of Bitter Lake because of those kind of shots, they were some of my favourite parts.

I watched Century of Self a few days later and also loved that. Will need to watch more of his stuff.

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"The Power Of Nightmares" was fantastic.

On another note - I mentioned this in the telly thread, but it belongs in here more. Watch "Jinx" its an HBO 6 parter about a real life murder mystery, with some genuine WTF moments in it. The story has actually re-emerged in the last few days in the news, so try and avoid everything you can about Robert Durst in the press if you intend to watch it. Its incredible. we are only up to ep 4 so far, I cant wait to see where it goes in the last 3.

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jinx I reckon, its a well paced story, presented in a traditional manner, whereas bitter lake is a bit more experimental in its presentation. My mrs loved Jinx, I doubt she would have sat through bitter lake.

Watched the first two last night. Really good! Missus loved it aswell.

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You havent even scratched the surface of the craziness!

I can imagine. It gets more crazy with every minute! Gripping stuff.

Also been watching a lot of gangster documentaries on youtube. Lots of great ones on there. Theres a really good one on the real Donnie Brasco I watched this week.

https://youtu.be/wDRKRLgGZWY

Edited by The Nal
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I can imagine. It gets more crazy with every minute! Gripping stuff.

Also been watching a lot of gangster documentaries on youtube. Lots of great ones on there. Theres a really good one on the real Donnie Brasco I watched this week.

https://youtu.be/wDRKRLgGZWY

Give this one a watch if you haven't already seen it.

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