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Documentary Films


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SENNA.

Im not a fan of motorsport at all, in fact i find it tedious.

This however was an enthralling watch.

In fact the last half hour with all the footage from that San Marino grand prix is as heartbreaking as it is gripping.

A quite sensational docu-film

Senna is fantastic. I found it especially interesting as I didn't have a great deal of knowledge of him before watching it. Would recommend it to anyone.

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The Bridge. It's about the people who kill themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge every year. They actually filmed 23 people killing themselves but it's far from gore. They interviewed friends and family of the jumpers and it's really well done. It's really harrowing to watch, but a great insight into depression.

You can watch it here

Paper Clips. Just typing about that Treblinka documentary reminded me about this beautiful documentary about a school somewhere in America who decided to collect 6 million paper clips to represent the amount of people killed in the holocaust. An absolutely brilliant documentary.

Dear Zachary - A letter to a son about his father

Anyone who loves documentaries and hasn't seen this is a fool. Watch it! but don't, i repeat do not look up any details about it first or watch the trailer. Go into it with as little information as possible and it will blow your mind.

The three that stood out in my mind before I opened this thread. Good to see other people have already given them a mention, I can't recommend them enough.

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Best documentaries I've seen

Hoop Dreams - following two players trying to make it to the NBA. Brilliant

Spellbound - following US kids competing at Spelling Bees

Être et Evoir - spelling might be wrong but following a French primary teacher

One Day in September - On taking of Israeli hostages at Munich Olympics

Touching the Void - story of a climbing accident

Anything by Nick Broomfield - Aileen Wournous, Biggie and Tupac, Heidi Fleiss all memorable

Capturing the Friedmans is genuinely disturbing but highly watchable and Grizzly Man is similar and also surreally comic

All of those. You'll never hear Boney M again the same way after "Touching The Void".

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The Bridge. It's about the people who kill themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge every year. They actually filmed 23 people killing themselves but it's far from gore. They interviewed friends and family of the jumpers and it's really well done. It's really harrowing to watch, but a great insight into depression.

You can watch it here

Thought that film was morally dubious, frankly.

Best documentaries I've seen

Hoop Dreams - following two players trying to make it to the NBA. Brilliant

Spellbound - following US kids competing at Spelling Bees

Être et Evoir - spelling might be wrong but following a French primary teacher

One Day in September - On taking of Israeli hostages at Munich Olympics

Touching the Void - story of a climbing accident

Anything by Nick Broomfield - Aileen Wournous, Biggie and Tupac, Heidi Fleiss all memorable

Capturing the Friedmans is genuinely disturbing but highly watchable and Grizzly Man is similar and also surreally comic

These are both wonderful. Etre et Avoir is absolutely heartbreaking. Watch alone.

Warner Herzog's films are always kind of oddball, like how they had that section about albino crocodiles at the end of Cave of Forgotten Dreams for no apparent reason.

Fog of War, about Robert S. McNamara's fascinating for those who are interested in International Relations.

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Dear Zachary - A letter to a son about his father

Anyone who loves documentaries and hasn't seen this is a fool. Watch it! but don't, i repeat do not look up any details about it first or watch the trailer. Go into it with as little information as possible and it will blow your mind.

I just watched this one there the now and it was heartbreaking. Amazing piece of documentary making.

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Senna is fantastic. I found it especially interesting as I didn't have a great deal of knowledge of him before watching it. Would recommend it to anyone.

Another great racing docu-film is The Speed Merchants, about the 1972 racing season. Fanatstic footage and behind the scenes stuff from a long lost age, narrated by the drivers themselves. It has everything. Life, love, loss. I remember being completely entranced by it as a kid. The whole thing's on Youtube -

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Thought that film was morally dubious, frankly.

I'm not sure why. If you're referring to the footage of the jumpers, I think the way they handled the aftermath was really nicely done. A lot of the interviews with family members to me were quite uplifting. It's been a while since I've seen it but I seem to remember one family where the son, not in so many words, told his parents he was off to kill himself that day. The family, knowing the pain and suffering the guy had gone thru were quite relieved in a way.

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GasLand is a good watch. Especially when the guy can set fire to his own water supply.

There was also one about mass food production in the US which was horrific. Can't remember the name just now. Edit: Food.inc

Edited by Mr Sugden
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I enjoy a good documentary and I haven't watched a lot of the ones mentioned so far. Cheers for the recommendations folks. Keep them coming.

Sky had a documentary channel last year. Think it's gone now but a lot of the suggestions were on it. Must have watched about 20 on there. Probably replaced by some reality quiz show pish.

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man on wire - a french guy who tightroped walked between the twin towers.

fourteeen days in may - the final days of a black man on death row in alabama. guaranteed tears

storyville jonestown: the world's biggest mass suicide - an amazing recounting of the church and jim jones and the kool aid finale.

the land of look behind - a film from jamaica about rastafarians at the time of bob marley's death

cocaine cowboys - the story of how cocaine became mainstream in the usa and the effect it had on miami.

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Man On Wire is a shout, really well made and personal account which really shouldn't be as gripping as it is. About to watch thie Dear Zachary one.

I know it's film about a true story rather than a documentary but I finally got round to watching Argo tonight, that was feckin brilliant.

ETA - Dear Zachary is a must watch for anyone who hasn't seen it, as someone above emphasised do not read anything about it before watching.

Edited by Lambie's Pigeon Feed
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Fire In Babylon --- about the great West Indies cricket team of the 1970's/80's. Its not just about cricket though, its interesting for anyone that has an interest in social history.

Standing In The Shadows Of Motown--- about the Motown house band, the Funk Brothers. Essential viewing for anyone with an interest in popular music.

Grizzly Man---not sure this counts as a documentary, but its a collection of video diaries of a guy who spent months at a time living alone amongst grizzly bears. Brilliant.

Dig!---crazy documentary about the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. If you like music you should watch this. The BJM are mental.

Pist!--The definitive Sex Pistols documentary

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Control Room - the story of Al Jazeera during the Iraq invasion. Fascinating (and harrowing) stuff.

Fucking hell that was brilliant. That is exactly the kind of thing I wanted to discover in this thread. Got anything else on similar subjects?

Edited by Lambie's Pigeon Feed
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Dig!---crazy documentary about the Dandy Warhols and the Brian Jonestown Massacre. If you like music you should watch this. The BJM are mental.

I'd never really listened to BJM until I saw this a couple of years ago. Downloaded a few tunes and gradually got into them, culminating in seeing them live in a dingy wee club in Amsterdam last summer. True to form, Anton had a hissy fit and stormed off-stage during Straight Up And Down after a row with the rest of the band.

It is an excellent documentary.

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