Best documentaries you have seen

thegreatgonzo

Ush1 wrote: »

I saw her doing that on channel 4 and thought it was stupid.

.

Well everyone is entitled to their own opinion:)

razorblunt

Harold Weiss wrote: »

There would be loads and it depends on what the subject matter is.

Few off the top of my head.

Inside Job
Enron: Smartest guys in the room

Loads more and no real favorites

Yes for both!

Tilly

Ush1 wrote: »

I saw her doing that on channel 4 and thought it was stupid.

Into the abyss is great, about the death penalty and Werner Herzog stiches the story together fantastically.

The Imposter is excellent also.

is the imposter the one with the kid?

tricky D

Lars1916 wrote: »

Richard Attenborough in general, his wildlife documentaries are second to none

His brother, David's ones are way better.

Ush1

Tilly wrote: »

is the imposter the one with the kid?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imposter_(2012_film)

BWSMG

scudzilla wrote: »

You really can't beat any Attenborough documentaries

Lately the best one i've seen is Blackfish, truly harrowing, you will NEVER want to go to Seaworld after seeing it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLOeH-Oq_1Y

This looks brilliant:)

Tilly

Ush1 wrote: »

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Imposter_(2012_film)

Saw that a while ago. So messed up!

whisky_galore

Prohibition, a three parter by Ken Burns.

BBC Clash of Worlds, and most docus Aunty Beeb churns out are goodies, Timewatch etc.

Big Bucks

callaway92 wrote: »

In regards to sports documentaries, the 30 for 30s are still going strong imo. Love most of them.

Favourite would be the Jim Valvano one called Survive and Advance. Pretty touching look at his teams' miracle run in basketball and his great life story.

Ya definitely second that anout the 30 for 30s. 'The U' would probably be my favorite of them.

MARTYRYAN

Dig, A doc following the contrasting fortunes of The Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Dandy Warhols over a number of years

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig!

John the baptist

The boy whose skin fell off is a very powerful piece of television but might not be for everyone.

Pedro K

I thought 'The boy who's skin fell off' was a great documentary.

Also, 'Ben: diary of a heroin addict' was interesting.

R P McMurphy

12 o'clock boys

Guaranteed better than any other documentary mentioned yet.

ceadaoin.

I still well up thinking about Dear Zachary

The House I Live In
Hot Coffee
The west Memphis three documentaries
The One Percent
American Addict
The imposter


Are worth a look too

Mickey H

Not technically a documentary as such, but "Time Team" is one programme I find very interesting. I think it has been moved to BBC3 now.

darced

This post has been deleted.

Ihatecuddles

King of Kong and Extasy of order are good too.

My OH made me watch them, ones about Donkey Kong and I'm still not sure if it was a pisstake. And ones about Tetris which I'm unbeleavable at and made me want to enter a competition

RhubarbCrumble

John the baptist wrote: »

The boy whose skin fell off is a very powerful piece of television but might not be for everyone.

Agreed. Jonny Kennedy was one hell of a guy.

rossy1044

The Two Escobars

Part of ESPNs 30 for 30 series and charts the lives of Pablo Escobar who funded Columbian soccer with cocaine money and Andres Escobar who captained the Columbian international team. Not just the best documentary but one of the best movies I've ever seen.

woodoo

I watched a documentary on 'John Bunting the bodies in the barrels', he really was a nasty effer. Worth a watch.

orchidsrpretty

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

I noticed this on netflix last night, hadn't a clue what it was about. I'll be watching it tonight

Is it on the Irish Netflix?

DazMarz

Oliver Stone's Untold History Of The United States

Sure, Stone's reputation amongst some has descended to the level of "Left-Wing, Senile crank", but this documentary series is quite brilliant. Yeah, perhaps Stone's decision to narrate the thing himself was a bit much, but don't let that detract.

Stone is showing a fairly bleak picture of the United States and her conduct from World War II up to the present day, but at the same time you can't help but think that behind it all, there isn't much else to show.

It's all here: the CIA throwing down the gauntlet and overthrowing left-leaning governments in Asia, Europe, Africa and Europe (especially is said governments threatened US companies and interests), the débâcle of the arms race with the Soviets, how the US was utterly sinister and ruthless in its dealings at the time, how the US then squandered opportunities to capitalise on peaceful times and how the US's triumphalism makes them believe that they can do no wrong.

It is a bit much at times when Stone paints the Soviets as innocent little lambs who did nothing but try to defend themselves; was that why they persecuted their own peoples and prevented them from leaving the Eastern Bloc by means of such monstrosities as the Berlin Wall and so on? The KGB made the CIA at times appear like a bunch of sissies. The Soviets were no angels at all, but Stone paints them in far too good a light at times, glossing over the sickening grotesqueries of the Communist countries.

But that is a minor quibble; for the most part, this is a staggering piece of work. It does not paint the United States in a favourable light at all, and the startling lack of balls and compassion from successive Presidents from Harry Truman all the way to Barack Obama is chillingly summed up. Kennedy is portrayed as the only one who was genuinely worth a damn, but again Kennedy is a personal hero of Stone's, so that's to be expected.

The anger and shock you'll feel at watching this documentary series (10 episodes in all) is undeniable. It fully lays out how self-serving and downright evil that certain elements of the US Government (particularly hardline conservatives, the CIA and the military) could be when it suited them. It is hard to not feel sympathy for the Soviets at times, but I just look to the evidence of the Gulags and stuff like the Berlin Wall and the assassination of Georgi Markov (he who was killed by the ricin poison umbrella) and that sympathy largely vanishes. The Soviets were as bad as the United States at times, even if it was the United States who were largely the belligerents of the time.

Well worth a watch if you want to feel a sense of justifiable anger about something.

tinpib

I'm a bit if a doc fiend, so definitely

'Paradise Lost 1/2/3', followed by West of Memphis. Watch them, tell someone else about them, then spend about 2 hours talking about them next time you meet.

Cocaine Cowboys up on youtube in HD was as exhilarating as Goodfellas for me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rJEu8QoC4hs

I've watched 'The Four Horsemen' 3 times. All about money/financial crisis/resources etc. Brilliantly put together.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU


Not mentioned before but the heart-warming 'Alone in the Wilderness'. This guy goes to Alaska in the 60s and builds his own house in the middle of nowhere and lives there for donkeys years.

His carpentry skills are breathtaking.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0437806/

Semele

Man on Wire- "the artistic crime of the century"

Can't even explain why this was so amazing, it was just inspiring and mesmerising and so beautifully filmed! A fantastic mix of filmmaking and storytelling. Trailer is below:

http://youtu.be/EIawNRm9NWM

Vito Corleone

"Kurt and Courtney" and "The Bridge".

I've been meaning to watch The Act of Killing.

danish pasterys

Food matters !!! People need to watch this esp if you know anyone with a serious disease cancer etc.. Very simply explained and educating you wont regret it

Burky126

hungoverbunny wrote: »

Dear Zachary

Talk about hard-hitting.I Don't think I could bring myself to ever rewatch that one.

delw

hungoverbunny wrote: »

Dear Zachary

or The paradise lost trilogy of films

Yeah that "Dear Zachary" was very good but a hard watch,would melt the hardest heart

tinpib

Yep Dear Zachory is excellent too.

Louis Theroux has two good posts on docs he likes.

http://louistheroux.com/

Vinz Mesrine

orchidsrpretty wrote: »

Is it on the Irish Netflix?

Nope, the American one. Which for some reason is refusing to work for me tonight.

Duck's hoop

Semele wrote: »

Man on Wire- "the artistic crime of the century"

Can't even explain why this was so amazing, it was just inspiring and mesmerising and so beautifully filmed!

It's the crazy swashbuckling romance of the entire project for me. And Phillipe Petit is a very charismatic nutjob.


As mentioned already, Senna is a masterful documentary.

One of the most powerful has to be Touching the Void. When you think about what that guy went through, his iron will is truly inspiring.

Yamanoto

This was absolutely compelling stuff from start to finish, a US courtroom documentary in 8 parts by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade...

When Kathleen Peterson was found dead in her Durham, NC mansion in December '01, her husband, novelist Michael Peterson, claimed she had fallen down a narrow staircase. The authorities disagreed, and Peterson was charged with first degree murder. Thereafter, director Jean-Xavier de Lestrade and his crew were given almost unrestricted access to the defendant (who remained free on bail) and his legal team, as well as to the district attorney and the prosecution crew, albeit to a lesser extent.

There are countless meetings to map out defense strategy, dozens of interviews (including many with Peterson himself; he's not an especially sympathetic character), scenes of pre-trial home life, excerpts from Court TV coverage, and so on. The filmmakers follow the prosecution investigators to Texas, where we see a body exhumed; there's even a trip to Germany to look into a previous death in which Peterson may or may not have been involved.

The result is both exhaustive and exhausting; indeed, it's not until the end of the fourth of the series' eight episodes (each is about 45 minutes long) that the actual trial begins. By then, various revelations about Peterson, ranging from surprising to unsavory to downright sordid, have proved once again that truth really is stranger than fiction.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2345vJZhSw

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuu_-MB93fOoE5db3PvJU0G7hK7kV5c2k

tinpib

Also search on imdb for documentaries by rating and skim through them for ones that interest you.

For popcorn TV docs you can't beat 'banged up abroad' and 'the first 48', which follows cops investigating a murder. They reckon if you don't have a strong lead within the first 48 hours you are snookered.

tinpib

Yamanoto wrote: »

This was absolutely compelling stuff from start to finish, a US courtroom documentary in 8 parts by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2345vJZhSw

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuu_-MB93fOoE5db3PvJU0G7hK7kV5c2k

Oh yeah, Christ. Amazing. Within 1 minute you are hooked.

Daveysil15

Probably this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AhJD1UrJXKM

Velocity_Girl

Watched a documentary called "TWA Flight 800" on US Netflix yesterday, really shocking the cover ups that happened when a plane went down just off the New York coast in 1996.

Vinz Mesrine wrote: »

Nope, the American one. Which for some reason is refusing to work for me tonight.

Yeah I've been having trouble with it too all evening.

chakotha

The Ascent of Man - all on youtube
Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States
The Fog of War

tinpib

Checked my hard disk there, some others:

Winebago Man, very funny. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1396557/?ref_=fn_al_tt_3

TT3D - closer to the edge. All about the Isle of Man TT races. The main fella in it would be good craic for scoops I'd say.

Best Worst Movie, sweet and funny. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1144539/?ref_=nv_sr_1

As mentioned before Into the Abyss is excellent but very fckued up.

Chun Li

The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman - Richard Kuklinski

SamAK

tinpib wrote: »

TT3D - closer to the edge. All about the Isle of Man TT races. The main fella in it would be good craic for scoops I'd say.

Guy Martin is a bit of a legend alright! And that documentary is amazing..



Brian Cox's 'Wonders of the Universe' and 'Wonders of the Solar System' boggled my mind, absolutely loved them..

danish pasterys

Suprised no1 has mentioned this its on netflix its changed my life

Food Matters
http://youtu.be/r4DOQ6Xhqss

tinpib

Chun Li wrote: »

The Iceman: Confessions of a Mafia Hitman - Richard Kuklinski

Yep, class. All 2hrs 20 mins on youtube too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vn7Hz2PK7s

zetalambda

Four great documentaries here related to heroin addiction and crime:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-XfP58clo1I

Update 2004:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBhDnVY0f08

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLIz4Ga3SQM

The same guys filmed a decade later:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU1oONLlDVg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r03oOoAfp4o

zetalambda

The best documentary channel I've found on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/user/journeymanpictures/videos

Mike Guide 69

Probably mentioned already but

The Thin Blue Line - Errol Morris's brilliant documentary about Randall Davies who was wrongfully imprisoned for the murder of a police officer. Was groundbreaking at the time, where it used cut away scenes , reenactments of witness statements and evidence

Touching The Void - Great documentary about Joe Simpsons amazing survival in the Peruvian Andes , saw it in the cinema, not only was the story breathtaking but so was the cinematography!!!!

LowOdour

Off the too of my head

The Last Waltz
King of Kong
The Bridge
Blackfish
Shut Up and Play the Hits
Bobby Fischer Against the World

Pug160

I used to like the Louis Theroux documentaries, but I don't see him on as much these days.

Ush1

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_174

Captivated Brazil, watch to the end.

Gyalist

Probably not the best documentaries that I've ever seen but certainly the most memorable recent ones:

Fire In Babylon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlCZwIOK-do

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbaI9xeMU-A

Ostensibly about cricket, but really about much more than sport. Politics, culture, racism, pan-Africanism, apartheid, post-colonial identity - all explored and accompanied by a cracking soundtrack.


Lost Land Of The Jaguar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOIdpr30OL8

Fascinating nature documentary of the part of the world where I grew up.

zenno

Some interesting ones here...

How To Make Money Selling Drugs. New
This is just the name of the Documentary. It's an insight into how far you make it in this field.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyNlgmN14L8

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Assaulted - Civil Rights Under Fire New

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sodRczGdgU8

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Circuits In Our Skies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6t2glWNeVyg