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What's the best documentary you've seen?

  • 26-04-2011 04:16PM
    #1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,048 ✭✭✭


    I'm on a documentary buzz these last few days, been watching one every night. I watched Capturing The Friedman's last night, which was excellent, and a little bit disturbing.

    http://youtu.be/R10VjJgx1dU

    I also saw Dear Zachary, which was so incredibly sad, and I've watched half of Paris Is Burning so far, which is very interesting.

    What documentaries would you recommend?


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Comments

  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭chin_grin


    This or this.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 12,806 ✭✭✭✭KeithM89_old


    Avatar


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 35,274 ✭✭✭✭NIMAN


    Man on Wire.

    When We Were Kings.

    Who Killed The Electric Car.

    Bowling for Columbine (not sure if thats a docu or not)


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭Nhead


    Big River Man- a documentary about a man called Martin Strel, a guy that swam the Amazon River. Totally mad


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,920 ✭✭✭Einhard


    The American Civil War by Ken Burns. Over ten hours long so you might want to give yourself more than a single evening!


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  • Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 1,556 ✭✭✭Deus Ex Machina


    The weirdest, saddest, most frightening and beautiful documentary I've ever seen:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dear_Zachary:_A_Letter_to_a_Son_About_His_Father


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,933 ✭✭✭holystungun9


    Freestyle, the art of rhyme. Excellent for hip hop fans

    Style wars too for anyone interested in some history on the NY graf scene.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 400 ✭✭Im Only 71Kg


    King of Kong! hilarious. great site below. if you've never seen the UP Series you have to watch.. truly fascinating.

    http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 10,808 ✭✭✭✭chin_grin


    Metal a Headbangers Journey was pretty good too.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,981 ✭✭✭ElleEm


    Maisie, on one of the BBCs a few weeks ago. It was about a couple in the UK who were attempting to adopt a 7 year old girl with serious behavioural issues. She was their 9th adopted child. It showed the involvement of professionals as well, so was really interesting.


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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,333 ✭✭✭RichieC


    Atom series! http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/atom-tim/


    truly brilliant, watched it 3 times.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 3,808 ✭✭✭Chris P. Bacon


    Forrest Gump was very good.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,293 ✭✭✭✭Mint Sauce


    Deadliest Catch. Season 1.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 882 ✭✭✭fulhamfanincork


    The Cove
    Man on Wire
    Restrepo


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 753 ✭✭✭sealgaire


    irish-stew wrote: »
    Deadliest Catch. Season 1.


    LOL, that isn't a documenatary Its reality TV!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 2,778 ✭✭✭Pauleta


    Cocaine Cowboys. These people were making Tony Montana sound like your local street dealer.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 11,698 ✭✭✭✭Princess Peach


    March of the Penguins. No contest!

    Its Morgan Freeman and penguins! No need to go on!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭Nhead


    The Cove-poor old dolphins.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 27,252 ✭✭✭✭stovelid


    When Animals Attack.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 197 ✭✭seaniemoylan




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  • Closed Accounts Posts: 825 ✭✭✭Dwellingdweller


    Rip! A Remix:the Manifesto. Doc abnut the anti-copyright/creative commons movement, starring Girl Talk. Focuses on copyright in relation to music and the internet but talks about copyright in relation to Big Pharma (Girl Talk used to be a medical technician) and medical patents etc, great doc!


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,918 ✭✭✭✭orourkeda


    Hoop Dreams


  • Moderators, Entertainment Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 12,313 Mod ✭✭✭✭Say Your Number


    Some Kind of Monster: The Metallica documentary.
    The band were about to fall apart when they started filming, It's fasinating stuff. The scene when Lars goes on a rant against Hetfield is interesting.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,333 ✭✭✭RichieC


    GR88 wrote: »
    Some Kind of Monster: The Metallica documentary.
    The band were about to fall apart when they started filming, It's fasinating stuff. The scene when Lars goes on a rant against Hetfield is interesting.

    :rolleyes:

    Rock and roll..


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,573 ✭✭✭pragmatic1


    RichieC wrote: »
    Atom series! http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/atom-tim/


    truly brilliant, watched it 3 times.
    +1. Probably the most interesting series I've ever watched. The secret life of chaos is another quality documentary by him.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,013 ✭✭✭Scarydoll


    Saving Africa's Witch Children. Never have I felt so freaking angry and sad after watching a documentary.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    One of the best I ever saw was about africa. It showed how the social order in a pride of lions, pack of hyaenas and ceetahs, leopards etc all broke down in the case of a drought/famine.

    Essentially the animals turned cannibal and the established pecking order between male female and between the different predator species went completely out the window. Can't remember the name of it but it was fascinating, made by National Geographic.

    Also another Nat Geo one about killer whale pack hunting. Using diversionary passes swimming by in order to give the seals a false sense of security - before the main attack. Pretty impressive stuff.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 123 ✭✭LumpyGravy


    Most of Adam Curtis' films are excellent.

    Check out: The Century of the Self

    From Wikipedia:
    Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, changed the perception of the human mind and its workings. His influence on the twentieth century is generally considered profound. The series describes the ways public relations and politicians have utilized Freud's theories during the last 100 years for the "engineering of consent".

    Freud himself and his nephew Edward Bernays, who was the first to use psychological techniques in public relations, are discussed. Freud's daughter Anna Freud, a pioneer of child psychology, is mentioned in the second part, as is one of the main opponents of Freud's theories, Wilhelm Reich, in the third part.

    Along these general themes, The Century of the Self asks deeper questions about the roots and methods of modern consumerism, representative democracy, commodification and its implications. It also questions the modern way we see ourselves, the attitudes to fashion and superficiality.

    The business and, increasingly, the political world uses psychological techniques to read and fulfill our desires, to make their products or speeches as pleasing as possible to us. Curtis raises the question of the intentions and roots of this fact. Where once the political process was about engaging people's rational, conscious minds, as well as facilitating their needs as a society, the documentary shows how by employing the tactics of psychoanalysis, politicians appeal to irrational, primitive impulses that have little apparent bearing on issues outside of the narrow self-interest of a consumer population. He cites Paul Mazer, a Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in the 1930s: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. Man's desires must overshadow his needs."


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,243 ✭✭✭✭Jesus Wept


    Locker Room Towel Fights: The Blinding of Larry Driscoll.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 290 ✭✭Longboard




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 449 ✭✭!MAVERICK!


    RTE'S Documentary on Gilligan's and Mitchell's gangs in the Costa del sol.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5,573 ✭✭✭pragmatic1


    Forgot about this one. Adam Curtis makes the best political type documentaries.




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,116 ✭✭✭starviewadams




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,800 ✭✭✭Aishae


    it was a documentary on bbc in the late 90's on Henrietta Lacks - the woman the Hela cells came from


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,933 ✭✭✭holystungun9


    Rocky 4 or any one of the Lethal Weapon series.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,732 ✭✭✭Toby Take a Bow


    Second DIG! from the previous poster.

    I loved The Devil and Daniel Johnston. Absolutely insane and so very very sad.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 6,116 ✭✭✭starviewadams




  • Closed Accounts Posts: 309 ✭✭Nhead


    When the levee breaks- Spike Lee
    Grizzly Man- Werner Herzog
    Encounters at the end of the world- Herzog
    The Filth and The Fury-Julien Temple
    The Clash-Westway to the world


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 471 ✭✭checkyabadself


    1. Inside Job
    2. Cosmos
    3. Religulous.


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 25,145 ✭✭✭✭My name is URL


    Carl Sagan's Cosmos is my favourite documentary series by far.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 17,689 ✭✭✭✭OutlawPete


    Aileen: Life and Death of Serial Killer.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 286 ✭✭dx22


    Grizzly man - a very intriguing film about a very peculiar man

    Fog of War - interesting doc about Robert Mc Namara giving a unique perpective of American actions during the Cold War and Vietnam


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 400 ✭✭Im Only 71Kg


    dark days is also another very interesting watch.


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 1,800 ✭✭✭Aishae


    thinking about it - the life of john merrick on discovery was good

    elephant man


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 4,681 ✭✭✭ColeTrain


    Beyond The Mat.
    Bowling for Columbine.


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,072 ✭✭✭Tipsy McSwagger


    The Falling Man
    The Bridge
    Anything by the legendary John Pilger


  • Closed Accounts Posts: 7,751 ✭✭✭Saila


    probably the ascent of money


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,944 ✭✭✭fedor.2.


    Good thread, plenty here to watch on friday


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,598 ✭✭✭aligator_am


    Some good suggestions in here, will make a point of trying to see as many of them as possible.

    Two I'd recommend are Inside Job and Beyond the Mat (wrestling documentary).


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