Best documentaries you have seen

TheSetMiner

The Wall Street Code (Marije Meerman, VPRO)

Flippyfloppy

I definitely thought 'Paths to Freedom' was amazing, it was a doc following two former convicts after their release from mount joy. One of them was an inner city man the other was a south sider golfing type. The latter went a bit crazy after he got out, it was actually quite funny albeit some emotional scenes. I think the south side guy was going out with Deirdre o Kane at the time, and the inner city guy was friends with the dad from moone boy!! Funny how things work out.

Yamanoto

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

I definitely thought 'Paths to Freedom' was amazing, it was a doc following two former convicts after their release from mount joy. One of them was an inner city man the other was a south sider golfing type. The latter went a bit crazy after he got out, it was actually quite funny albeit some emotional scenes. I think the south side guy was going out with Deirdre o Kane at the time, and the inner city guy was friends with the dad from moone boy!! Funny how things work out.

Jaysus, is nowhere safe from the April Fools crapola?

eireannBEAR

Hitler's gay catholic nazi latex sex orgies, I believe it was produced by channel 5. :rolleyes:

Really though any well produced BBC or discovery channel space documentaries hold my attention.

sin0city

Flippyfloppy wrote: »

I definitely thought 'Paths to Freedom' was amazing, it was a doc following two former convicts after their release from mount joy. One of them was an inner city man the other was a south sider golfing type. The latter went a bit crazy after he got out, it was actually quite funny albeit some emotional scenes. I think the south side guy was going out with Deirdre o Kane at the time, and the inner city guy was friends with the dad from moone boy!! Funny how things work out.

Got me.

Seriously though, still deserves a recommendation as a mockumentary.
One of the best things RTE ever did.

chinacup

Exit through the gift shop

Waste land

nelly17

Putin, Russia & The West. I cant find any links to it but I'm sure it was a BBC Documentary pretty topical at the moment but it does go some way to explaining just how crazy a Mo Fo he is. It was over 3 or 4 episodes but great viewing

/Edit This is the best I can do in terms of a link I'm afraid

Also if you have Netflix and like your music you should check out Beware of Mr Baker its about Ginger Baker from Cream and he's still as crazy as ever

And if you like Motorbike racing" TT Closer to the Edge" is pretty hard to beat

MS.ing

tomb raider

thejaguar

Dog Town & Z Boys

wil

1957 but still one of Panoramas best

Spunge

Yamanoto wrote: »

Jaysus, is nowhere safe from the April Fools crapola?

Its the one day a year where trolling is legalised.

Sgt Hartman

"Castle" has to be one my fave documentary series, chronicling the background and history of various medieval castles throughout Britain. My favourite episode was the one on Rochester Castle which was laid siege to by King John. The movie "Ironclad" is based on the siege.

Men of Iron was also fantastic, giving an account of the achievements and failures of great Victorian engineers such as Brunel.

homemadecider

I just watched "The Dark Matter of Love". It's about an American family who adopt 3 children from a Russian orphanage. I actually did not expect it to be so excellent, now I can't go to bed as I'm so emotional and involved.

It's on Netflix, I highly recommend it.

Zed Bank

Jurassic Park.

s8n

Zed Bank wrote: »

Jurassic Park.

?

SpaceCowb0y

Just watched this earlier! Such a good watch for any nature/animal fans

Amazing heartfelt look at the lives of an incredible species!

Ann Landers

Loads of great ones but just posting in this thread to recommend the Storyville documentary strand on BBC4. Incredibly well made, non-judgmental and have sucked me into watching documentary subject matter I never thought would interest me.

somefeen

Finished watching Loius Theroux's LA stories.

Living with the sex offenders was easily one of the best I've seen. Tragic and sickening

Velocity_Girl

SpaceCowb0y wrote: »

Just watched this earlier! Such a good watch for any nature/animal fans

Amazing heartfelt look at the lives of an incredible species!

I just finished watching this, absolutely brilliant! Thank you for recommending it :-)

Wompa1

Anybody watch 5 Cameras? That's pretty good, very powerful

SpaceCowb0y

Velocity_Girl wrote: »

I just finished watching this, absolutely brilliant! Thank you for recommending it :-)

No worries! My friend watched it tonight after i told him about it and loved it too! Great watch!

Amazing people dedicating such a large part of their lives to those wolves too!

OriginV

Sushi - The Global Catch

It can be watched on the American Netflix.

Pa2k

Henry Miller asleep and awake

Keano

Wompa1 wrote: »

Anybody watch 5 Cameras? That's pretty good, very powerful

Watched it a few weeks ago. A real wake up call but sadly their situation will not improve any time soon

Gyalist

3mm wrote: »

30 for 30 documentaries by espn are great if you're into sport

Agree. Just finished watching Bad Boys for the second time today. Dennis Rodman being overcome with emotion as he explained his family background was the highlight for me as it gives a brief insight into why he is the way he is now.

sin0city

Watched The Staircase over the weekend.
Thought it was a really well put together documentary.

As has already been said though, I was as shocked as the defense team when they found him guilty. I know we only see a very small part of the trial but from what was in the documentary I find it very difficult to see how you could not have reasonable doubt.

No cast-off on the ceiling, no blood on his clothes, the blow poke was not the murder weapon and no viable alternative was suggested. Biomechanical engineering (although paid by the defense) seemed consistent with a fall. The defenses blood spatter analyst was also more credible than the subsequently discredited prosecution analyst.

I initially thought there was something off about him anyway and the lacerations were hard to look past but by the letter of the law surely he should have been acquitted.

The more I watched though the less I was sure and in the end, the owl theory made the most sense to me to be honest.

But then what happened in Germany?
However unlikely, it is possible that this guy just happened to find two women dead at the bottom of two different staircases in large amounts of blood.

Great watch though. The Part 2 video was no longer working for me so here's another link to it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7OeQGkA2YQ&list=PLuu_-MB93fOoE5db3PvJU0G7hK7kV5c2k&index=2

maguic24

Bowling for Columbine.

Lucifer MorningStar

smellmepower

Watched this the other day on US Netflix.Trailer makes it look incredibly macho,but it paints a great picture of the crisis that the city of Detroit is in and the lads who are struggling to hold things together.

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

pajor

Pretty good PBS series, especially this one.

Jeefff

Seen a great one about Terry Pratchett investigating euthenasia, can't remember the name of it..
He's suffering with alzheimers and is considering this option before he loses his ability to choose

Fescue

Burky126 wrote: »

King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters.

The greatest story ever told!

MadDog76

Cocaine Cowboys

"In the 1980s, ruthless Colombian cocaine barons invaded Miami with a brand of violence unseen in this country since Prohibition-era Chicago - and it put the city on the map. "Cocaine Cowboys" is the true story of how Miami became the drug, murder and cash capital of the United States, told by the people who made it all happen."

Absolutely brilliant documentary, best I've seen!

Micky Dolenz

2 that spring to mind.

World at war narrated by Laurence Olivier.

And squadron 303, about the heroic fighting of RAF Polish pilots in the Battle of Britain.

Fescue

The Thin Blue Line

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas, Texas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverged. Adams claimed that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however, said that they were stopped by police late that night, and Adams suddenly shot the officer approaching their car. The film shows the audience the evidence gathered by the police, who were under extreme pressure to clear the case. It strongly makes a point that the circumstantial evidence was very flimsy. In fact, it becomes apparent that Harris was a much more likely suspect and was in the middle of a crime spree, eventually ending up on Death Row himself for the later commission of other crimes.

Fescue

An interesting documentary I seen recently was "Tims Vermeer"

From Penn and Teller but fascinating as a texan inventor tries to recreate a famous Johannes Vermeer painting.

Paully D

"Best" is probably not the right term for this one given its subject, but I've just finished watching 'Deliver Us from Evil' which was nominated for an Oscar and won numerous awards back in 2006.

From IMDB:

Documentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.

Here's a link to the full documentary if anyone is interested. It's in English but does display Spanish subtitles - http://vimeo.com/16728291

The scene where the Asian man and his wife and describing when they first found out their daughter had been abused by O'Grady is extremely tough to watch.

People should also be aware that this man is also on the loose here in Ireland. Article from a few weeks ago:

http://www.irishmirror.ie/news/irish-news/sick-priest-oliver-ogrady-still-3740314

The award-winning documentary maker who interviewed paedo ex-priest Oliver O’Grady has warned he still poses a serious threat to children.

O’Grady, 68, was dubbed the “Hannibal Lecter” of child sex attackers after it emerged he had abused up to 50 kids.

He was freed from Dublin’s Arbour Hill Prison in April after being convicted on child pornography charges.

The defrocked priest, who is originally from Limerick and served in dioceses in California in the 1970s, has claimed he no longer poses a danger to youngsters.

But Amy Berg, who directed the controversial 2006 Oscar-nominated documentary Deliver us from Evil, which centred on O’Grady, said he is not to be trusted.

Speaking to the Irish Sunday Mirror from her home in California, Ms Berg said O’Grady needs to watched closely by authorities.

She added: “Oliver O’Grady is a sick man who needs to be supervised.

“He should not be anywhere around children. People don’t like to think of paedophiles as sick, only as monsters for the horrific crimes they commit.

“We don’t like to deal with the
need for treatment. O’Grady needs treatment and hopefully someone will recognise that.

“The Catholic Church should claim responsibility for him and put him in a safe place, far away from the children of Ireland and rest of Europe where he can still travel to freely.”

It emerged in 2010 O’Grady was hiding out in Rotterdam, Holland, after he had fled Ireland where he was working in a fast-food restaurant organising kids’ birthday parties.

The convicted child abuser had also infiltrated a religious community and helped oversee a number of christenings.

O’Grady pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to three counts of possessing child pornography at Dublin Airport on February 15, 2010 and at Citi Hostel on Charlemont Street and Elephant Storage Unit in Tallaght on December 10, 2010.

Nearly 280,000 images were found on O’Grady’s laptops and hard drives, the majority of them showing children in sexual poses.

In 1993 he was sentenced to 14 years in California for four counts of lewd acts against children and was deported to Ireland on his release.

House of Blaze

One of the best i've seen recently was Cosmos: A Spacetime Oddyssey

The trailer is a bit hollywood style and ostentatious but it's a phenomenal series.


Neil DeGrasse Tyson is fantastic in it too.

Elegant Elliot Offen

somefeen wrote: »

Finished watching Loius Theroux's LA stories.

Living with the sex offenders was easily one of the best I've seen. Tragic and sickening

Just did a quick search and managed to find 2 of these.

The noncery one doesn't appeal that much.

But the dying one - Im about 5 minutes in and its a must see.


Scary. I definitely want a heads up for that sht.

dubscottie

This was the DDR.. 7 part series made after the fall of the Berlin Wall.

You will get it on youtube.

You think our Social Welfare bill is mad? Watch this! No wonder they went bust!

I would recommend anything from the BFI (British Film Institute)

I own several DVD's of silly stuff from the 1950's but it is nice to remember a world before the web, when life was simple...

Wishiwasa Littlebitaller

Just referenced it in another thread, but West of Memphis is amazing.

I somehow missed the previous docus but can remember the seeing the MTV reports about them at the time. Was only after watching Devil's Knot with Reese Witherspoon in the cinema that I ended up watching West of Memphis online.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyPtFB_o-Q

Elegant Elliot Offen

By the way - the louis theroux edge of life doc is here.

12160 dot info/group/embedding-is-not-a-crime/page/louis-theroux-s-la-stories-edge-of-life



Destroy geo-blocking on your internet.

T-K-O

The Imposter:

http://youtu.be/eyzZq8XFgco

djflawless

Senna
Can't link but anyone into racing will or should know it

LizzieJones

The Great British Year. The photography is amazing in this series. 4 episodes.

basillarkin

Not sure if it was posted already but The Death of Yugoslavia is a great watch

basillarkin

http://youtu.be/oODjsdLoSYo

Don't Chute!

Watched The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia recently. Think you've seen inbred hillbillies? Think again.

CPSW

Really enjoyed Man on Wire - which is about French high wire artist Philippe Petit's 1974 walk between the Twin Towers of New York's World Trade Center.

Also music wise would recommend the rockumentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil - about an also ran Canadian heavy metal band who never went on to achieve the heights of success as their peers at the time (Metallica/Bon Jovi etc)

Hermy

CPSW wrote: »

Also music wise would recommend the rockumentary Anvil! The Story of Anvil - about an also ran Canadian heavy metal band who never went on to achieve the heights of success as their peers at the time (Metallica/Bon Jovi etc)

+1