This is a great thread, and I too will bookmark this one. I love documentaries. I believe all of these have been mentioned by someone, but I’ll second
The Thin Blue Line - A great documentary about a murder in Texas and the justice system’s rush to judgement.
**GasLand **- HBO’s latest is a great look at the rush for money by people that could care less about the little guy, the land owners, and the quality of drinking water. This is even more disturbing when you realize that Dick Cheney, of Halliburton fame, was intimately involved in the passage of laws that are destroying the environment in a very real, measurable way. The almighty dollar has driven natural gas drilling to the dark side, with very little oversight. It actually made me sick. The Bureau of Land Management gave the mineral rights to a number of companies that are changing the landscape forever. Josh Fox did this one, I believe it was his first, and it’s an eye-opener.
Super Size Me - Not sure if this was mentioned, but an enjoyable ride.
Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. This was an interesting study on a guy who lost basically everything for doing some independent research for a holocaust denial trial in Canada. There are a lot of people that question his motives, but I viewed him as a tragic figure, a sad, lonely, squirrelly guy who thought he was testing whether or not the nazis used gas to kill in quantity. Naturally, Jews hammered him relentlessly, and not only discredit his research, but ruined his career. I honestly don’t think Leuchter had an agenda before he agreed to do the research, and his naive approach cost him everything. I think he got himself into the wrong side of the limelight of a very sensitive subject and he didn’t see the fallout coming until it was too late.
The Smartest Guys in the Room - Another one that turned my stomach. The greed will make your skin crawl. This documentary convinced me that although I don’t like government regulation and oversight, without them, people simply can’t help themselves and chase the almighty dollar. I wanted to take a swing at every one of those smug Enron pricks. Deregulation pushed by Kenneth Lay on the energy industry, (another Bush/Cheney approved policy), the way Enron raped California, the bald-faced lying to everyone and anyone.
Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers - A study on how the US Government has outsourced the rebuilding of Iraq, often with non-compete bid contracts going to (surprise!) Halliburton (Dick Cheney… who IS this guy?), as well as a number of other companies. War is good business.
Another one we saw not to long ago: Young @ Heart (2007). A group of elderly people singing classic rock and punk. Fabulous!
I’ll second Mr. Death and Genghis Blues. Both are brilliant.
I’m adding Wisconsin Death Trip. It’s fairly straightforward: it’s based on a series of photographs, letters and newspaper articles about events (mostly deaths) in Wisconsin in the late 19th-early 20th centuries. The entire narration consists of various folks reading these newspaper articles and letters. Some are shocking, some are tragic, others are just strange. It paints a very interesting picture of the time period, and the harsh realities of living in the rural Midwest at the time. It occasionally switches to scenes from modern-day Black River Falls, which seems happy and idyllic, but there are subtle hints here and there of darker happenings (in one scene, you overhear a conversation about Ed Gein).
My boyfriend and I found it on our Netflix instant queue one day and decided to watch it on a whim. It was sort of a surreal documentary, but it was strangely fascinating. We both ended up enjoying it.
Freedom’s Fury This is a gem produced by Quentin Tarantino
A documentary on the 1956 Olympic semifinal water polo match between Hungary and Russia. Held in Australia, the match occurred as Russian forces were in Budapest, stomping out a popular revolt. Two countries, essentially at war, meets in a game of water polo. Violence is to be expected.
Kekexili or Mountain Patrol, about volunteer patrols trying to stop antelope poaching in Tibet.
Crossing the Bridge is a great look at all sorts of contempory music in Istambul.
And I’ll second Siam Sam in suggesting Herzog’s Adventures at the End of the World, as a quirky look at Antarctica.
I saw it a couple times. It was new to me and interesting. Good choice.
Wild Wheels by Harrod Blank (Les Blank’s son). It’s about the world of art cars and the eccentrics who build and drive them.
Of course it won’t add to the viewing experience, but I also liked that Herzog dedicated the film to Roger Ebert.
Gasland is running this month on HBO. It shows people actually setting their tap water on fire with a lighter. The gas companies using hydraulic fracturing claim no responsibility. Yet all the water in the area is polluted with gas and all kinds of chemicals. It is horrible.
This is an early Errol Morris classic: Vernon, Florida
Random ramblings he captured on film of the genuinely eccentric residents of Vernon, Florida. A few examples? The preacher giving a sermon on the definition of the word “Therefore,” and the obsessive turkey hunter who speaks reverentially of the “gobblers” he likes to track down and kill.
If it’s made by the BBC and has David Attenborough or Brian Cox in it, it’s usually good 
These are mostly nature documentaries all by the BBC.
Planet Earth - Narrated by David Attenborough. If you watch one nature documentary, watch this one.
Earth The Power of the Planet - Brian Cox.
**Wonders of the Solar System ** - Brian Cox.
How Earth Made us - Brian Cox
Yellowstone
The incredible Human Journey - About genetics, human evolution, and human migrations
Wildlife Specials - One special each for the great white shark, crocodile, humback whale, polar bear, wolf, gorilla and the grizzly.
The visuals in the first four in particular are stunning, and they’re not devoid of content either.
American Movie about a Wes Craven wannabe trying to finish his magnum opus, “Coven,” in between shifts as a caretaker at a Wisconsin cemetery.
I’ll confess to enjoying March of the Penguins, despite its occasionally cloying sentimentality and anthropomorphization.
Riding Giants also by Stacey Peralta of Dogtown and Z Boys. It’ about big-wave surfing and its very compelling. I think I’ve watched it like 3 times at least.
I watched both of these last year and was blown away by how awesome they were;
James May at the Edge of Space
I’ve never really been one to take much interest in space travel, moon landings etc etc, but these two documentaries did a fantastic job of portraying what a hugely monumental achievement both were.
Coe Ven was pretty good.
I will second the Adam Curtis rec, especially his documentary *The Way of All Flesh *on the life (afterlife?) of Henrietta Lacks. Or rather of her extraordinary cells and how they formed a major part in the struggle to find a cure for cancer.
I love Etre et Avoir, the story of a one classroom school in rural France and their extraordinary teacher. By turns hilarious, deeply poignant and heartbreaking.
Documentary about the life and death of the notorious underground punk icon GG Allin, the foul mouthed, heroin shooting lead singer of the Murder Junkies, who would throw excrement at the crowd, start fights with the biggest guys in the audience, and threatened to kill himself onstage. He was considered the lowest common denominator of our society by some, an avant-garde artist by others.
Big River Man
the film follows eccentric Slovenian Strel as he attempts to swim the entire Amazon river. Disease, animals, indian tribes, currents, craziness
This is the one I came to mention.
It is far, far more than a mere look at some eccentrics, though. That’s the format, but the real facination is when you come to realize there are all sorts of bizzare parallels between seemingly unconnected wierd fixations pursued by these eccentrics - who knew that studying topiary and naked african mole rats points to the possible post-human future? 