Off the top of your head, what's the best documentary you've ever seen?
I’ve been binge watching the Ken Burns, David McCullough production of “The Civil War”, because I was beginning to wonder if it was really the marvel that I remembered. Damned if it isn’t still number one on my list.
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I liked “Night Will Fall”. It came out in January. Probably because it’s about my favorite history subject.
“Night Will Fall” is due to be aired later this month. I’m looking forward to it!
Off the top of my head, Hats the way to do it – The history of Punch & Judy
The Up Series
The Up Series is a series of documentary films produced by Granada Television that have followed the lives of fourteen British children since 1964, when they were seven years old. So far the documentary has had eight episodes spanning 49 years
Good question. Like you, my “best documentaries” list is based on things I watched so many years ago, that I no longer know whether my judgment was reliable. But without rewatching, the two that have always stuck with me are Jacob Bronowski’s The Ascent of Man and Jonathan Miller’s The Body in Question.
In terms of recent documentaries, I eagerly anticipate any new doc by Simon Schama. I loved Power of Art and The Story of the Jews for example.
The Ken Burns one on baseball a couple years ago.
But there have been lots of good ones.
I do not remember the title, but it was about 11/9 being an inside job.
Extemporaneously I’d say Reefer Madness ;-) and Walking with Dinosaurs.
As someone very interested in eradicating racism, Jane Elliott’s Blue Eyes Brown Eyes stands out the most.
Animals Are Beautiful People.
- Life in a day
Although by a stringent critics eyes it might not win any awards (or even qualify as a documentary for that matter), it managed to capture a wide variety of perspectives. It allowed viewers to live in another person’s shoes for just long enough to wonder. It told a complicated story without the burden of a complicated script.
I watch a lot of documentaries so I can’t say one that was best but the most recent great one that I watched was ”‘Going Clear: Scientology & the Prison of Belief’ on HBO.
This film really opened my eyes about how warped the whole “Church” of Scientology really is. It also gave a lot of background on the early days and how L.Ron Hubbard founded it. Then it takes you to present day and the enormous wealth and real estate holdings of the church.
Here is a review and some info on the book it was based on:
http://variety.com/2015/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-going-clear-scientology-the-prison-of-belief-1201414787/
Off the top of my head: The Barber Monk
@David_Achilles I watched Going Clear because I can’t get enough information about Scientology – I find it fascinating. But I didn’t think the documentary was anything special. There were some new revelations, but a lot of it was ground that had already been covered, and the filmmaking was unremarkable.
@DominicY
I haven’t seen that – I’ll check it out. Tthey said “off the top of your head” so I didn’t think long. =)
I thought Going Clear was vague , odd and a disappointment. If you think it will explain the precepts you’ll be disappointed.
Aster I wasn’t really looking for someone to explain the precepts since they are totally fantastical and unbelievable and just plain stupid. What amazed me is how he arrived at the ideas out of thin air and then built on it and sold people on it. I found that interesting.
I also found it a little scary how seemingly intelligent people were duped into following along with it and how dramatically it affected their lives. The control they gave up!
dappled_leaves I guess you were more informed and well read about it than I was. I found the testimonials from former members eye opening. I had no idea about the family disconnections enforced for those who didn’t toe the line
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