Must see Documentaries?

Taking Liberties a brillinant documentary

 

Baraka - people who made it traveled the world 3 times. I was amazed by the views, it also has a point - a good one - its not like the Qatsi triology

LAst hippie standing - it is fun to see

 

Dark Days is excellent.

About the homeless living in new york city. Underground tunnels with hundreds of people. Although the film only focuses on a few people living in the streets. Its a damn good movie. Also sad how they are all eventually kicked out of there place.

 

US vs. John Lennon



it was really good.

 

I love documentaries...Watch them all the time...

Word Wars and Scrabylon
Spellbound
Devil's Playground
Tarnation
Wal-Mart, the high cost of low price
Psychiatry, An Industry of Death
Vietnam War Secrets
Andy Warhol, The Complete Picture
Blues Story
Jonestown, the Life and Death of Peoples Temple

 

Why we fight was REEEAAAALLLY good!

 

Aspartame: Sweet Misery - A Poisoned World

 

I LURVE American Movie, but You See Me Laughin' and Baraka are awesome as well...

 

"The Power of Nightmares:Rise of the Politics of Fear" is a must watch for anyone in the United States. So is "The World According to Monsanto".

Both are available on google video.

 

A great indie documentary that was the most awarded film of 2007. It had almost thirty awards at film festivals across the country. Not a lot of people have heard about it, but it is amazing. check out this preview of Darius Goes West.

 

A cute one is My Date with Drew. It's about a guy that really wants a date with Drew Barrymore. He documents his attempts, and actually lands the date!

 

Earthlings!!

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=earthlings&sitesearch=&start=50#

The 11th hour

 

Jesus Camp
Metal: A Headbanger's Journey
Super High Me
and the whole 30 Days series by Morgan Spurlock

all 4 are excellent.
the metal one is super-cool though, because the guy was just some canadian amateur film maker and just makes this incredible film about the history of metal. deff a must-see for any music fan.

 

My Favorite#1

Dying at Grace..2003....by Allen King

...
This film is about the experience of dying. Five terminal patients in a Palliative Care Unit share the last days of their lives and deaths with a film crew. They do so in the hope that their experience will be useful to the audience in managing its own fear of dying and death. Their families, friends and staff share in the task. Without narration or interviews, the camera simply and intimately observes the events that occur over the course of fourteen weeks as five people come face to face with the doorway through which we all must pass.

My Favorite#2

Parallel Lines..2003...by Nina Davenport

...
A cross-country road trip documents the personal stories of Americans in an exploration of American identity in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

 

On a theoretical note: documentaries aren't nessecarily about didactics. not all documentaries are meant to teach us something. Yes, some may use the documentary mode and give information about a topic, but are they really about that topic?

Example: Man with a movie Camera by the great Dziga Vertov is a city symphony that shows the viewer life in the soviet union, but it is really about creating a pan-soviet identity...

I was going to say Lessons of Darkness which I am probably going to write a term paper on. great film about the first gulf war.



But my list so far (which will probably change and be added to in a couple months):
Planet Earth (quite poetic exploration of our earth)
Nanook of the North (one of, if not, the first)
Man of Aran (by Flaherty, like Nanook)
Triumph of the Will (great Nazi propaganda art)
Man with a Movie Camera (experimental, non narrative, wonderful)
Las Hurdes: Tierra Sin Pan [Land without Bread] (a surrealist documentary by the great Bunuel)
and some others that you all have said...

 

Rise
When we were kings
Planet Earth (blu-ray).

 

'Hells Angels Forever" was pretty good

Sonny Barger , - excellent footage
Jerry Garcia, - put up most of the cash for this project- & is the executive producer
Hurricane Vinnie, along with a host of original members
Music by - Elephants Memory, and Bo Diddley

Its not close to Hunter Thompsons book- but pretty good anyway

 

'Stoned In Suburbia'
'Zeit Geist'

 

Esoteric Agenda

 

There's a documentary about the Weathermen...I think it's called Weather Underground. Good stuff.