69 replies to this topic

[TWoP Dietrich]

That's a genre, right? Sure it is!

[ethanvahlere]

I have to admit there are still gaps in my film watching experience (foreign films, except for the biggies like Truffaut, Kurosawa, Bergman, etc., and silent films except for Chaplin and Griffith), but documentaries are the biggest. I think because in school we watched documentaries, and they were treated medicinally - they taste bad, but they're good for you. This is why I have yet to see some of the landmarks in this genre, like Nanook of the North, Sorrow and the Pity, Triumph of the Will, or any of Frederick Wiseman's work (to be fair, his work is tough to see unless you see it on PBS, or order it directly from his website). And I've been trying to change my attitude towards them, because many documentaries I've seen over the past decade or so are better than the majority of feature films out there, and will tackle subjects features are often afraid to touch. The nature of modern art, for example, comes under scrutiny very nicely in Who the *%#$ is Jackson Pollock? and My Kid Could Paint That. Also, two of my favorite films this year are documentaries: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and Standard Operating Procedure.

[Ellenore]

The Singing Revolution may have changed my life. I left the theater completely awed.

[ethanvahlere]

Bumping this thread up to say I just watched Man on Wire. Words really can't describe how amazing this movie is. I know some people still aren't ready to watch a movie having to do with the World Trade Center, and I understand that, but for anyone else, you should see this as soon as possible.

[arc]

Bumping this thread up to say I just watched Man on Wire. Words really can't describe how amazing this movie is.

I agree completely. It's a fantastic movie.

I really like Errol Morris' Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control. I've caught a few earlier Morris docs (I haven't seen anything more recent, which is probably my loss). He's very talented, but Fast is my favorite because it works its way around four different subjects, and because it's fundamentally more lighthearted than, say, The Thin Blue Line.

[absolutqt]

Waco: The Rules of Engagement haunts me to this day.

Who Killed the Electric Car? just makes me angry.

[VersesBatman]

Jesus Camp angers and scares me.

[zelmia]

And yet it's fascinating that seemingly intelligent people choose to subject their children to that sort of life.

[VersesBatman]

I know!

I had to wonder about one little boy who said he had doubts about the bible. It was hard to watch as he rocked and cried for forgiveness.

[zelmia]

Yes, and I found the film lacking in that they didn't follow up with him in any way.

[VersesBatman]

I think it's too soon for an update. Maybe when these kids are teenagers.

[zelmia]

Yes, and I found the film lacking in that they didn't follow up with him in any way.

I think it's too soon for an update. Maybe when these kids are teenagers.

No, I meant that they only showed that little boy expressing his doubt. Then we never saw him again. I wish they would have included his story arc as much as the little preacher boy and the others.

[ikar]

A lot of very good documentaries have been mentioned --Fast Cheap, Thin Blue Line. I want to include Errol's Fog of War as another good doc.

ethanvahlere, if you do try to go back and watch some older documentaries, try Dziga Vertov's Man With A Movie Camera. Very experimental, but interesting. I think that is available on Netflix.

I've enjoyed docs from recent years like Mad Hot Ballroom, Young @Heart, Wordplay and Spellbound - but they are much less intense than stuff from the 90's, like Brother's Keeper. I remember it - quite haunting. Plus Crumb, and Hoop Dreams was very good too. It's been a while since I've seen those three, I wonder how they hold up now.

I look forward to Man On Wire. I missed it when it was out in theaters.

Edited by ikar, Jan 17, 2009 @ 1:32 AM.

[zelmia]

Well, it's only one opinion, but thought Hoop Dreams was still quite relevant.

[Split Ends]

I just found out about this: Tyson.

I'm very excited about it, since I think Mike Tyson is a fascinating, if horrific, character. I tend to prefer documentaries about individuals over ones about topics, and I think Tyson's story lends itself to a documentary more than a docudrama.

[GeoBQn]

Jesus Camp angers and scares me.

I had to watch part of the movie in a class I took on Evangelical Christianity. During the part where the kids were praying to the cut out of George Bush to overturn Roe vs. Wade, one girl ran out of the classroom crying.

I also saw Triumph of the Will as part of a class. That was an experience. I told my dad, who also watched it in college. He remembered there was a boy in his class who dressed like a Hells Angel and wore an Iron Cross on his jacket. When the movie was over, that boy was the only person in the class who applauded.

Some other recommendations: Devil's Playground, about Amish teens on their rumspringa, the Oscar-winning War Game which looked at a what-if scenario of Russia dropping an atomic bomb on England, and Atomic Cafe, a montage of news footage about the nuclear paranoia of the 1950's and archival footage of nuclear testing. The most terrifying moment of that was seeing a test where soldiers got into trenches, they detonated a bomb, and then the soldiers started walking towards the mushroom cloud. I was screaming at the TV for them to run away.

[Ankai]

I may have been looking at it from a weird perspective, or maybe it is because I have no family members connected to that segment of history, but I was not really emotionally affected by Triumph of the Will one way or another. It seemed like basically a showing of the might of the Nazi community and its military. The words and the symbolism seemed to be biases that I could scoff at. The things that were more bothersome were what the film did not show. Perhaps that is also a problem; not that one could see the Nazis as great, but maybe kind of cool despite all of that other stuff. Maybe it could be more impressive for someone who is more impressionable, or who already has more of a pro-Nazi leanings, but I think that most of the United States has been pretty anti-Nazi for the most part for a long time.

I could see it as a way of bringing in more Germans to the Nazi cause via peer pressure and intimidating internal and external opponents, but since I saw it several decades after that was rendered irrelevant, it did not really affect me that way either.

One documentary that did unsettle me was Crossing the Line, about James Dresnok, a former American soldier who defected to North Korea in 1962. While the content itself had a mix of happiness, sadness, anger, and apathy, there was an overall feeling of bitter hostility and utter dread. Maybe it was just something that I was projecting onto the project, maybe it was something that the creators did deliberately, maybe it was something that could not be helped. There seemed to be so many things left unsaid, either because the creators wanted to let the viewers try to figure it out for themselves, or because Dresnok was hiding or repressing a lot.

[bluroses]

Triumph of the Will didn't really affect me either, but I don't think it's supposed to. It's one of those films, like Birth of a Nation, that needs to be viewed w/i a historical context. Hitler wanted a propaganda piece extolling the 'virtues' of the Nazi party. While it may have worked at the time, I doubt it would do the same to most people watching today.

I am fascinated though by its influence, at least visually, in later films.

Edited by bluroses, Mar 17, 2009 @ 8:50 AM.

[Ankai]

Triumph of the Will didn't really affect me either, but I don't think it's supposed to.

Maybe not, but everyone I know who has seen it says how disgusted they were and imply that the impressive artistry makes it even worse. Perhaps some of them did not actually watch the whole thing; I don't prod.

I have not seen Birth of of Nation, but I might at some point.

[absolutqt]

Watched Death on a Factory Farm last night on HBO. Don't know why I keep subjecting myself to stories like that. It didn't upset me as much as Dealing Dogs but it will certainly give one pause when faced with a cellophane wrapped package of pork chops.

[QAF Rocks]

Watched Death on a Factory Farm last night on HBO. Don't know why I keep subjecting myself to stories like that. It didn't upset me as much as Dealing Dogs but it will certainly give one pause when faced with a cellophane wrapped package of pork chops.

Have not seen either of these, but another to avoid is Shelter Dogs, also an HBO documentary. I don't know why I watched it! I hate seeing animals come to a bad end.

[absolutqt]

Have not seen either of these, but another to avoid is Shelter Dogs, also an HBO documentary. I don't know why I watched it! I hate seeing animals come to a bad end.

QAF Rocks, stay far, far away from Dealing Dogs. That wrecked me. I mean, sobbing, drenched tissues wrecked. I watched Shelter Dogs too and although it was upsetting, it was really comforting to know that the shelter owner/workers really loved the dogs and even when they had to resort to euthanasia, it was done with compassion. Delaing Dogs will sicken you to your stomach.

[QAF Rocks]

Thanks for the heads up!

I had already planned on staying far, far away from Dealing Dogs, but it's good to have confirmation.

I still haven't gotten over seeing To Love or Kill: Man vs. Animal on HBO as a teenager. I think they only showed it once, and that was enough for me. People must have complained about the graphic scenes, because it hasn't re-aired since. I'll never get the image of that poor white cat out of my head.

[mrsbootsie]

Anyone else seen Keep the River on your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale? Brilliant, and strangely kind of sad. It's about a guy who lived with an isolated Peruvian tribe for a year, where he tasted human flesh. He returns 45 years later to see if any of the tribe members he knew, and formed relationships with, are still around.

[MethodActor05]

I really liked The Education of Shelby Knox, which focused on the struggle for comprehensive sex education in the United States, and Absolutely Safe, which talks about the breast implant industry.

Edited by MethodActor05, May 7, 2009 @ 9:48 PM.

[bluroses]

The Boys of Baraka left me pretty emotional. All the boys were so charismatic and it was really hard to see their disappointment when the school is shut down.

[Writer13]

Has anyone seen Smile Pinki? I can't find it on DVD or Netflix.

[ethanvahlere]

The best time I've had at the movies so far this year was when I saw It Might Get Loud earlier today. People have been grousing about this movie online because they seem to think Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White are, by virtue of being the subjects here, the film's choices as the best guitarists working today. Not true at all. All three do have a significant place in rock history (Page unquestionably - before the Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin, he was a session player for, among others, the Kinks and the Rolling Stones), all three belong to groups that were designed partially as a reaction to what was going on in the music scene at the time, all three are great storytellers, both in their words and with their guitars, all three feel the guitar is just as much a voice as it is an instrument, all three are nevertheless willing to talk about the technical side of their instruments, all three are serious music fans and historians, and all three are willing to share with each other. And whether it's Page showing the other two how to play "Whole Lotta Love," or the three covering The Band's "The Weight" at the end, it's absolutely thrilling to listen to, and watch.

[pottie-mouth]

Absolutely agree, ethanvahlere. I caught the showing with a Q&A by Davis Guggenheim on Saturday - he referenced The Last Waltz as one of his favorite docs, and the influence for me was obvious. He also said he didn't want to make a film about "car accidents and drug overdoses" - can't tell you how nice it is to watch musicians being musicians. I left the film with an admitted crush on Jimmy Page (his stately mane and ability to rock a velvet duster without looking like an idiot only underscore his ability to be a generally cool guy with an absolutely insane music collection) and a desperate need to see Jack White perform live. Would also like to stroll on that beach that the Edge routinely practices on.