# Want to suggest some good documentaries? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 23, 2007, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063 "2007-01-23T06:35:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/21 "2007-01-25T19:51:44Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] I’ll throw out **Fahrenheit 9/11,** given that it looks like history is about to repeat itself again… [/QUOTE] Wha? How so? ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/22 "2007-01-25T20:05:37Z")
[QUOTE=JKellyMap] Oh – since the OP mentioned science, I’ll add “ **Winged Migration** ” – real flights of real birds filmed from the bird’s perspective. [/QUOTE] Fabulous movie, but intensely visual. Not something ideally suited for watching on a portable MP3 player. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/23 "2007-01-25T20:22:19Z")
Another vote for “Capturing The Freidmans”, and also “Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.”, about an execution device designer that becomes a holocaust denier. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/24 "2007-01-25T20:32:17Z")
**Dark Days** , about homeless people living underground in the Penn Station tunnels. \*\*New York Doll \*\* - An interesting look at the New York Dolls and a brief reunion they had. \*\*Southern Comfort \*\* - This is about a female-to-male transgendered guy who lives in the sticks in Georgia (?). Very moving. **Tarnation** - a filmmaker’s account of his mother’s mental illness. Fucking heartbreaking. \*\*Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession \*\* - This is about the coolest cable movie channel that ever was. I know…how could it be any good? Well, it IS. Thoroughly enjoyable! ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_Bowe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df788c/32.png) [@Doug\_Bowe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Bowe)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/25 "2007-01-25T20:34:38Z")
An hour each way? Looks like PBS’s “The American Experience” could be up your alley. [http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-american-experience--fi-1412580.html](http://www.shoppbs.org/sm-pbs-american-experience--fi-1412580.html) ---
**Author:** ![want2know](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/50afbb/32.png) [@want2know](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/want2know)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/26 "2007-01-25T21:08:24Z")
I really enjoyed [A League of Ordinary Gentlemen](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430289/#comment). A look behind the scenes of the Professional Bowlers Association and the quest to succeed and stay on top on the bowling tour. Even if you’re not a big bowling fan (which I am), it’s a very interesting character study. ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2007, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/27 "2007-01-25T21:10:02Z")
A couple of Errol Morris’ films have been mentioned, but IMO his best haven’t been: **The Gates of Heaven** **The Thin Blue Line** **Vernon, Florida** He also did **A Brief History of Time** (w/ Stephen Hawking) and **Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control**. All of these are currently available from Netflix. I also liked the previously-mentioned **American Movie** and **Dark Days**. Wait, not **American Movie**. **Home Movie**. By the same director. ---
**Author:** ![KJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b2d939/32.png) [@KJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KJ)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/28 "2007-01-26T04:42:02Z")
PBS’s **Nova** is a good source of documentaries on various topics. The [science/astronomy](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/archive/int_spac.html) ones are usually particularly good. I’d recommend “Mars: Dead or Alive” and the followup “Welcome to Mars.” “The Elegant Universe” is also pretty decent, but they simplify a lot of stuff and you might as well read the book. I don’t know if you can get it on DVD (I have this recorded onto my hard drive) but I saw a great PBS documentary a while ago called **Story of 1**. It’s an hour long documentary hosted by Monty Python’s Terry Jones explaining the history of numbers and the invention of arabic numerals. It’s pretty interesting. [Scientific American Frontiers](http://www.pbs.org/saf/) is also a great documentary series, but again, I don’t know if they have it on DVD. You can watch episodes online, though (although the website seems to have been totally stagnant since 2005.) ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/29 "2007-01-26T04:57:57Z")
Crumb Vietnam: A Television History Murderball Dialogues with Madwomen Grizzly Man I teach with all of these. Edit: And Powers of 10, which I used to watch over and over at the Air & Space Museum as a kid. And Rivers and Tides. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/30 "2007-01-26T05:29:38Z")
Since _Crumb_ has been mentioned, _American Splendor_–though not a documentary–makes a good double-bill with _Crumb_. I’ll second \*Roger & Me \* as Michael Moore’s best documentary, and still very relevant. _Spellbound_ is very good, about the annual national spelling bee. It was much more interesting and exciting than I was expecting. ---
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/31 "2007-01-26T06:14:37Z")
I love documentaries! Many of my favorites are already listed (Spellbound, Grizzly Man, Roger & Me), but I would add: Mad Hot Ballroom Wordplay Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room Stevie Touching The Void March of the Penguins Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill Super Size Me Word Wars Paradise Lost The Staircase Inside Deep Throat ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@Miss\_Purl\_McKnittington](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Purl_McKnittington)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/32 "2007-01-26T06:48:32Z")
[Touching the Void](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379557/) is really good. It’s about some British mountain climbers who nearly die in attempting to climb a peak in the Andes. Here’s the summary from IMDB: > [@](#): > > In the mid-80’s two young climbers attempted to reach the summit of Siula Grande in Peru; a feat that had previously been attempted but never achieved. With an extra man looking after base camp, Simon and Joe set off to scale the mount in one long push over several days. The peak is reached, however on the descent Joe falls and breaks his leg. Despite what it means, the two continue with Simon letting Joe out on a rope for 300 meters, then descending to join him and so on. However when Joe goes out over an overhang with no way of climbing back up, Simon makes the decision to cut the rope. Joe falls into a crevice and Simon, assuming him dead, continues back down. Joe however survives the fall and was lucky to hit a ledge in the crevice. This is the story of how he got back down. It’s an amazing story. And this isn’t really a documentary, but told in a sort of mockumentary style. [A Day Without a Mexican](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0377744/) is both hilarious and will make you think about the role that Mexicans play in American society. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/33 "2007-01-26T07:00:05Z")
Two people have mentioned it already, but I want to third the recommendation of [Dark Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235327/) as an absolutely fascinating look at the lives of a group of “homeless” people who had set up makeshift homes in an abandoned NYC subway tunnel. The filmmaker, Marc Singer, got some incredible footage down there, using the indigents themselves as his crew, and the “Making Of” featurette is as fascinating as the film itself. One thing that really strikes me about the characters he interviewed was that, although many of them admitted to getting into their current situation in no small part due to substance abuse (especially crack), they were all very fully and painfully aware of the problems it had caused them, and spoke of it in a remarkably mature and insightful way. All of them were really much brighter individuals than I ever would have expected. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/34 "2007-01-26T07:05:35Z")
My favorite recent one is [little man](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430303/). > [@](#): > > Little man is the story of how a micro-preemie brought a family to its knees. Throughout his struggle for life, so struggle filmmaker, Nicole Conn and political activist Gwen Baba to keep their family from disintegrating under the unrelenting stress and chaos of hospitals, emergency medical crisis and a crushing blow to trust. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/35 "2007-01-26T07:33:01Z")
My personal top three documentaries: \*\*\*[Nanook of the North](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/10253_NANOOK_OF_THE_NORTH) [The Celluloid Closet](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/13509_CELLULOID_CLOSET) [The Gleaners and I](http://onfilm.chicagoreader.com/movies/capsules/19687_GLEANERS_AND_I)\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/36 "2007-01-26T07:56:40Z")
A few stunning documentaries that haven’t been mentioned yet: _Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey Radio Bikini_ (first-hand accounts of US atomic tests at Bikini Atoll) _Fastpitch The Cruise Hearts of Darkness_ I’d provide IMDb links and synopses, but I’ve burned my hand and typing is a little slow tonight. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063/37 "2007-01-26T12:49:07Z")
One I saw last Saturday :- [Sisters in Law](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0474361/) . This is a fascinating documentary about a group of women lawyers and judges in a small town in the Cameroon, and their efforts to bring to justice wife-beaters and child molesters. The film has won over a dozen awards in in various international film festivals. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/want-to-suggest-some-good-documentaries/389063.md?page=1)