Review What Documentaries would you recommend?

Directed by: Ezra Edelman

Well I just finished this 5-part Oscar nominated 30 for 30 documentary and I thought it was worth bringing up in a topic because it's rare I get this hooked while watching something. This is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen and it's easily getting the Oscar later this month.

If you haven't checked it out yet, you really should despite the length, every second is important to get you in the mood of what the world was like at the time and to properly set everything up and give it its fair time.

That's cool!

I have always liked the 30 for 30 series. I believe I have seen maybe a few minutes of it. It look really good!!!:)

I watched it this year, it was a very good docu. I have seen a few other 30 for 30 documentaries, but not much, they don't have them on dutch tv, except for this one.

Watching one on Ed Big Daddy Roth I found.

What are some good ones to watch?

I found some good ones on WW2 and Civil War on Youtube.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell (2008)

Jesus Camp (2006). It's creepy.

Stumbled across this forum via Reddit after finding out that the IMDB forums had closed down, WTF! I didn't post there much, I was more of a lurker.

My all time favourite documentary is an old HBO classic Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street (link goes to YouTube). Its about the heroin epidemic and is centered around Tenderloin.

It won't be everybody's cup of tea, its grim, but it has everything for me. It has no narration so is a piece of art in itself, it also manages to capture the mood of the entire generation with the soundtrack, San Francisco has changed beyond recognition since.

It had almost 1 million views on YouTube before the channel it was on was deleted. Has been re-upped recently.

Once you've watched that check out this update article Black Tar Heroin: Where Are They Now?, amazingly 4 out of 5 of the main subjects got clean and now live happy lives.

NB: Looks like this forum doesn't use a different colour for links, admin may want to sort that? I had to bold and underline them so show that they are links. Will be too easy for people to spam viagra or something without being noticed?!

Another one which seems to go under the radar / wasn't as successful as it should have been is Space Tourists (2009), its a Sundance winner but I literally never meet anybody online who has ever seen it!

TheSowIsMine said:

Jesus Camp (2006). It's creepy.

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Yep, sure is creepy!

I've enjoyed watching documentaries on many different subjects over the years - from aliens to dinosaurs, from the space travel to technology, from organized crime to politics. Here is a short list of some documentaries that come readily to my mind...

COSMOS

WHEN WE LEFT EARTH: THE NASA MISSIONS

CHURCHILL'S DARKEST DECISION

THE FOG OF WAR

MR SIN: THE ABE SAFFRON STORY

THE REAL BONNIE AND CLYDE

TARGETING BIN LADEN

WHITLAM: THE POWER AND THE PASSION

LIFE AFTER PEOPLE

MONSTER OF THE MILKY WAY

THE PLANETS

SPACE

SPACE AGE

SPACE ODYSSEY: VOYAGE TO THE PLANETS

SPACE RACE

WONDERS OF THE UNIVERSE

WALKING WITH MONSTERS

WALKING WITH DINOSAURS

THE BALLAD OF BIG AL

LAND OF GIANTS

WALKING WITH BEASTS

WALKING WITH CAVEMEN

SEA MONSTERS

COCAINE COWBOYS

COCAINE COWBOYS 2

I recommend the PARADISE LOST trilogy. The filmmakers made the first one about the West Memphis Three case, and originally went in believing they were guilty, and simply wanted to make a film about the case. As they went along and interviewed so many involved, it became increasingly obvious that these boys were innocent, and simply scapegoats for a repressed community. The other two films discuss the boys' time in incarceration, and eventual release. It's still a load of crap that the state still insists that they're guilty, and as a condition of their release, they had to plead guilty in order to be let off for time served. Even now, after mountains of evidence has exonerated them, the justice system there still insists they're guilty, and wouldn't allow any sort of retrial with the new evidence.

chainsaw_metal1 said:

I recommend the PARADISE LOST trilogy. The filmmakers made the first one about the West Memphis Three case, and originally went in believing they were guilty, and simply wanted to make a film about the case. As they went along and interviewed so many involved, it became increasingly obvious that these boys were innocent, and simply scapegoats for a repressed community. The other two films discuss the boys' time in incarceration, and eventual release. It's still a load of crap that the state still insists that they're guilty, and as a condition of their release, they had to plead guilty in order to be let off for time served. Even now, after mountains of evidence has exonerated them, the justice system there still insists they're guilty, and wouldn't allow any sort of retrial with the new evidence.

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I'd have a difficult time watching something like that without breaking my TV - or some other equally expensive household item.

Believe me, I've come close.

I actually knew nothing about the case until I watched a program about Metallica. The first doc was the first time they allowed their music to be used in a film, because they saw it and felt strongly about the case. After seeing it, I researched it and found that the boys were, indeed, innocent, and set up by a conservative, backward community because they didn't fit in, and were easy to pin the murders on. What really made me incensed was reading comments on the old IMDb boards from people who would get verbally abusive toward anyone who tried to defend these boys. The fact that there are those who still believe their guilt is baffling to me.

Also, the third in the series shows more of the graphic crime scene photos, so if that bothers you, you might skip the last one. It really is hard to view.

Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain

This is not a documentary, but is based on true events. I discovered this because I follow Martin Sheen, who stars in it. After watching it, I just sat awhile and tried to comprehend how this could have been allowed to happen and that I do not even remember it happening. It's quite chilling and is truly worth watching as we are ignorant about the chemicals that can cause immeasurable harm and damage to people and our planet.

The film follows multiple characters' lives and dilemmas in the months leading to the biggest industrial disaster in human history that killed 10, 000 in a few hours on the night of December 3rd 1984. We know the date, 2 december 1984, we know something called 'bhopal gas tragedy/ disaster' happened in the capital of Madhya Pradesh. now 30 years have passed and yet there are few who knows the full History even the narrative story, its a shame that how union carbide' an u.s.a based company betrayed us, how 'an american dream turned into an Indian nightmare with a terrifying legacy', and the result was disastrous known as Bhopal Disaster, considered one of the world's worst industrial disaster, over half a million people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (mic) gas and other chemicals, estimated 4,000 - 10,000/ people died almost within a course of 24 hours and 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries approximately by official statement of the corrupted MP govt, the UCIL though stated their story/theory/conspiracy of 'sabotage'. but history defies it by evidence based on fact that of pure corporate Negligence, a highly criminal offence in every country.

High Plains Drifter said:

What are some good ones to watch?

I found some good ones on WW2 and Civil War on Youtube.

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Apocalypse :ww2
The price of empire

Air crash investigation series -national geographic channel.

Grizzly Man (2005)

I was watching it the first time, wondering if this was actually a spoof documentary....

But it wasn't.