The Documentary Thread

[Duck Dog]

PBS's Frontline is the pinnacle of fascinating documentaries. Some of my favorites in no particular order.

Frontline: Spying on the Home Front. This documentary examines the lines that are crossed when trying to eavesdrop on terror cells and how the government scrutinizes people's records and the electronic surveillance of their communications.

Frontline: When Kids get Life. Chronicles 5 teens in Colorado who have committed murder and are serving life without possibility of parole.

Frontline: The Al Qaeda Files. It's a 2 disc set that chronicles the terror group and documents the rise of Osama Bin Laden. The most fascinating part about this documentary is FBI agent John O'Neill's story. He really was the man who knew.

Frontline: The Man who knew. FBI agent John O'neills complete story.

Frontline: The Tank Man. This documentary investigates the happenings at the Tienanmen Square protests in Beijing and the lone man who stood in front of a column of tanks.

If Frontline is the pinnacle of fascinating documentaries then it's only fair to call Ken Burns documentaries the pinnacle of historymentaries.

Ken Burns: Civil War.

Ken Burns: Lewis and Clark.

Ken Burns: Mark Twain.

Some other documentaries I would suggest include;

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room

Paradise Lost 2: Revelations

Meerkat Manor (the whole family will love this one.)

Breaking Vegas.

[Demonpenz]

bowling for colimbine opened my eyes for sure

[ZepSinger]

Supersize Me

[OnTheWarpath15]

My three favorites are:

Ken Burns - The War

Why We Fight

The Fog of War

[phisherman]

for all you film buffs out there, i recommend:

The Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

[Delano]

I'm excited for Ken Burns' The National Parks series in 2009.

[Duck Dog]

My three favorites are:

Ken Burns - The War

Why We Fight

The Fog of War

I should have added the War. A great piece of WWII work. Also Shooting War. Hanks and Speilberg team up too examine WWII Combat Photographers.

[NewChief]

Crumb: about the weirdo R. Crumb.
Grizzly Man: about the weirdo who got eaten by grizzlies in Alaska.
Dig: about the weirdo behind Brian Jonestown Massacre
Furious Freaks: about the weirdos that make up the Flaming Lips
The Dancing Outlaw: about the weirdo Jessico White, a schizophrenic mountain clogger.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston: about the weirdo Daniel Johnston.


Yes, I like movies about weirdos.

[NewChief]

A few more:
Riding Giants: about Laird Hamilton and big wave surfing
The Eyes of Tammy Faye: surprisingly sympathetic look at Tammy Faye Bakker.
Devil's Playground: about bad Amish kids.

[kc rush]

Frontline ran a documentary called Country Boys a couple of years back that was fascinating and sad at the same time. It followed these two teens in Appalachian Kentucky and their struggles with school and family in an unbelievably dirt poor part of the country.

[NewChief]

Few more:
Genghis Blues: about Paul Penga and Tuvan throat singing
I am Trying to Break Your Heart: about Wilco making the YHF album.
Dog Town and the Z Boys: the documentary, not the movie.
Born to Brothels: about child prostitution in India and a lady who tries to make a difference.

[Ultra Peanut]

I really liked Scratch.

Oh hey, it's on Youtube.

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[Duck Dog]

Grizzly Man: about the weirdo who got eaten by grizzlies in Alaska.


I want to see this one.



A few more:

Devil's Playground: about bad Amish kids.

My wife liked this one.

[Duck Dog]

Born to Brothels: about child prostitution in India and a lady who tries to make a difference.


My wife ordered this one on Netflix. I was skeptical about it, but ended up enjoying it somewhat. She was also the one who ordered Meerkat Manor. I really thought that would be dumb, but I was hooked after the first few minutes of watching.

[TrickyNicky]

The last few I saw were:

The Bridge
Over the span of a year, director Eric Steel's cameras capture tormented souls attempting to commit suicide by leaping from San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Through poignant interviews with family, friends and eyewitnesses, the film reveals a common thread of depression, despair and chronic mental illness. This provocative documentary further reinforces the landmark's iconic legacy as the world's most popular suicide destination.

Cocaine Cowboys
This penetrating and sometimes harrowing documentary from director Billy Corben pulls out all the stops to explore the many dimensions of Miami's cocaine-trafficking boom of the 1980s, from how the drug was moved and the financial impact on the city to the havoc and violence that followed in its wake. Told by the smugglers, cops and average citizens who were there, this film is an unflinching study of Miami's most notorious and lethal vice.

American Drug War: The Last White Hope
With commentary from soldiers on both sides of the conflict, filmmaker Kevin Booth's incisive documentary wades into the murky waters of the American war on drugs, the longest and costliest war in U.S. history. Taking viewers from prisons and inner-city streets to the halls of Congress and his own kitchen, Booth attempts to sort out the intricacies of the national drug policy -- and the reasons for its unmitigated failure.

They are all very interesting, and American Drug War is definitely the most eye-opening.

[blaise]

King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters: About a guy trying to break the world record for Donkey Kong.

[Friendo]

Crumb: about the weirdo R. Crumb.

Yes, I like movies about weirdos.

I'm sure that one was interesting

['Hamas' Jenkins]

A few recommendations:

The Corporation
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Bush's War
Ghosts of Rwanda
Radio Bikini
Trinity: The Atomic Bomb Movie (listen to the commentary, it's phenomenal)
War of the Century (BBC Production about Operation Barbarossa)
King Corn

And of course, Hoop Dreams

[jlscorpio]

Dogtown and Z-Boys

[KCUnited]

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.

Its worth it just for the Chris Holmes shoot and watching Ozzy cook breakfast.

[noa]

Ken Burns' baseball documentary is amazing and his brother's documentary on New York is great, too.

Man on Wire just came out this year. Really good movie.

I also love Winged Migration and Buena Vista Social Club.

Does Koyaanisqatsi count?

['Hamas' Jenkins]

Does Koyaanisqatsi count?

Oh god yes.

[blaise]

I own the New York documentary. It's very good. Tons of interesting stuff in there.

[patteeu]

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years.

Its worth it just for the Chris Holmes shoot and watching Ozzy cook breakfast.

I was disappointed that I couldn't find this on netflix.

BTW, I second DiG and Fistful of Quarters.

[Duck Dog]

Ken Burns' baseball documentary is amazing and his brother's documentary on New York is great, too.

Man on Wire just came out this year. Really good movie.

I also love Winged Migration and Buena Vista Social Club.

Does Koyaanisqatsi count?

Winged migration is awesome film work. The footage is amazing.

[patteeu]

American Hardcore - Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

[phisherman]

American Hardcore - Inspired by Steven Blush's book "American Hardcore: A tribal history" Paul Rachman's feature documentary debut is a chronicle of the underground hardcore punk years from 1979 to 1986. Interviews and rare live footage from artists such as Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, SS Decontrol and the Dead Kennedys.

great documentary right there. i think i watched it on videos.google.com.

[blaise]

I'd like to see that. I listen to Minor Threat quite a bit. I have a Minor Threat station programmed on pandora.com.

[phisherman]

I'd like to see that. I listen to Minor Threat quite a bit. I have a Minor Threat station programmed on pandora.com.

you must be GUILTY OF BEING WHITE!!!!

[Baby Lee]

Brother's Keeper - Rural farmer brothers living in poverty on the family farm, sleep in the same bed, one morning one brother wakes up and the other doesn't, trial for murder ensues
Capturing the Friedmans - a Long Island [I think] family, where the father teaches computers in the basement to kids and is accused of molestation, you'll never come to a satisfying conclusion on the facts at issue.
Murder on a Sunday Morning - one of the most compelling cross-examinations ever caught on tape. black kid corralled on a sketchy description and bullied into a confession. The cross-examination lays out all the abuses the interrogator employed through his own uncomfortable admissions.
Ghengis Blues - former blues singer learns he has a talent for Tuvan throat singing, a fascinating way of playing multiple tones and rhythms simultaneously through throat control. If nothing else, d/l some throat singing and give it a listen.
Gimme Shelter - the Rolling Stones concert where one of the Hells Angels hired for security stabbed a concertgoer to death.
March of the Penguins
Gray Gardens
Salesman

and set apart as the masterpiece it is;
Planet Earth


not really a 'documentary' but An Evening with Kevin Smith

[phisherman]

salesman and grey gardens are incredible. the maysles brothers can make a documentary, that's for sure.

if you like grey gardens, check out the next companion doc, The Beales of Grey Gardens

[Baby Lee]

salesman and grey gardens are incredible. the maysles brothers can make a documentary, that's for sure.

if you like grey gardens, check out the next companion doc, The Beales of Grey Gardens

I have it, haven't watched yet.

If it sways, you, they did Gimme Shelter, too.

[Duck Dog]

Free online documentaries. Just watched Gladiator Days: Anatomy of a Prison Murder.

http://bestdocumentaries.blogspot.com/

[Jenson71]

The Fog of War

This is the greatest documentary I've seen yet.

[TrickyNicky]

I definitely have MUCH more respect for McNamara with regards to Vietnam after seeing it.

[jidar]

Maxed Out (2006) -
About the debt driven consumer economy and a bit about the national budget. Considering it came out in 2006 it's become rather prophetic since then.

[Baby Lee]

salesman and grey gardens are incredible. the maysles brothers can make a documentary, that's for sure.

if you like grey gardens, check out the next companion doc, The Beales of Grey Gardens

Well this is just odd

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[Baby Lee]

Murder on a Sunday Morning - one of the most compelling cross-examinations ever caught on tape. black kid corralled on a sketchy description and bullied into a confession. The cross-examination lays out all the abuses the interrogator employed through his own uncomfortable admissions.

A summation on youtube these days

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PpYXdKlLd9c" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Full footage [other sections can be seen by clicking on the submitting author, Leticia Lorenzo]

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/H_Fq0gVRcwY" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/1zQG5qNquKc" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>

<iframe width="854" height="480" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Kb7xpIV8XLk" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>




Mmm, hm. . . . Okay. . . ROFL

[Baby Lee]

and set apart as the masterpiece it is;
Planet Earth


Today seems to be a day for documentary updates

Korowai treetop house building sequence faked in Human Planet.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/apr/04/scene-from-human-planet-documentary-was-faked-bbc-admits