# What documentaries moved you the most? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2006, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992 "2006-04-02T23:44:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/21 "2006-04-03T12:47:16Z")
> [@yojimbo](#): > > Ken Burns _Civil War_ had many very moving moments. The diary entries of the normal soldiers really brought the horror that those poor men on both sides had to live with daily. Yeah, that was a good one. I also like William Wyler’s _The Memphis Belle_, Thor Heyerdahl’s _Kon-Tiki_, and Bruce Brown’s _The Endless Summer_. (Okay, the last two aren’t really _moving_, but I like them.) ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/22 "2006-04-03T12:58:33Z")
_Monterey Pop_, D.A. Pennebakers’ documentary about the Monterey Pop Festival, captures as no other flim ever did (not even _Woodstock_) the positive side of the 60’s counterculture, the heady feeling that freedom was in the air and anything was possible. Ravi Shankar’s performance is one of the finest musical moments ever caught on film. Not a film but a series, Ken Burns’s \*The Civil War \* captured the tragedy and heroism of the American nation’s most crucial era. If anything, it deepened the profound respect, I might even say reverence, I feel for Lincoln. Also a series and not a film, the BBC’s \*World at War, \* so ably narrated by Lawrence Olivier, broght home to me the immense sweep of the mid-20th century struggle that literally determined the fate of the entire planet. It first aired on Saturday night in the mid 70s, and I made a point of staying home to watch it. Nothing could pull me away from the TV when it was on. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/23 "2006-04-03T13:44:21Z")
I’ll have to put in a vote for [Eyes on the Prize](http://imdb.com/title/tt0092999/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9ZXllcyBvbiB0aGUgcHJpemV8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1). More directly relevant to my life and those I love than any other documentary. It often makes me wish that I had lived to experience the Civil Right’s era first hand. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/24 "2006-04-03T13:48:37Z")
Oliver Stone’s JFK–I never realized before what a massive conspiracy was pulled off to hide the truth from us. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/25 "2006-04-03T13:52:37Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > But there’s a scene later in the movie where the dead soldier’s mother breaks down on the Mall, crying “I want my son, I want my son.” It was a moment of true heartbreak, a person suffering the most unbearable loss a human being can suffer. Just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. Rarely has the true cost of war been so effectively shown on film. Oh god, yes. I’d fogotten about this…it did the same thing for me. It breaks my heart to see parents grieving for their children. Parents should not have to bury their children. I have a lump in my throat thinking about it. I know Saving Private Ryan is onyl fiction, but there’s a scene in there, when the black car drives up Ryan’s driveway, and the mother, who has all four sons in the war sees it and just collapses to the ground. That was a beautiful scene, IMO, and certainly showed the fear every parent with a kid at war felt. (And feels). ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/26 "2006-04-03T14:05:38Z")
> [@Dorjän](#): > > I’ll have to put in a vote for [Eyes on the Prize](http://imdb.com/title/tt0092999/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9ZXllcyBvbiB0aGUgcHJpemV8ZnQ9MXxteD0yMHxsbT01MDB8Y289MXxodG1sPTF8bm09MQ__;fc=1;ft=21;fm=1). More directly relevant to my life and those I love than any other documentary. It often makes me wish that I had lived to experience the Civil Right’s era first hand. I popped in to mention this, **Dorjän** beat me to the punch. Quiet and understated, but it packed a wallop, and used the music of the era, mostly gospel, very effectively. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/27 "2006-04-03T14:15:39Z")
I do not know the title of it, but I once caught a documentary about the genocide in Rwanda on an obscure satellite channel. Though I had known of the suffering that the people in that area endured, the film did an incredible job of making it strike you to the heart. I will never forget it. ---
**Author:** ![supervenusfreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@supervenusfreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/supervenusfreak)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/28 "2006-04-03T14:25:05Z")
\*\*[Paragraph 175](http://www.tellingpictures.com/films/5.html) \*\* made me think ALOT about what some people sacrificed in order for me to be here. ---
**Author:** ![hellotherepoodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8797f3/32.png) [@hellotherepoodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hellotherepoodle)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/29 "2006-04-03T14:27:28Z")
_Regret to Inform_ is another moving documentary about Vietnam, where the widows of American soldiers visit the country. And I agree with _Grey Gardens_ too. A strange film - even by documentary standards - and I’m not sure everyone would get it - but those who do will be really touched. Other neat documentaries are _Off the Charts: The Song-Poem Story_ (about the musical equivalent of vanity publishers),\* Devil’s Playground \*, about partying Amish kids(!), and the Up Series (kids interviewed when they were 7 years old have been re-interviewed every 7 years - I think they’re in their mid 40s now - the film titles are _14 Up_, _21 Up_, etc). Among Errol Morris films, I find _The Thin Blue Line_ to be the best. And I almost hate to pass along a link to it, because it’ll probably overload their servers, but [Folk Streams](http://www.folkstreams.net/) is an impossibly cool resource - full length documentaries on folk arts available for free. I haven’t watched them all, but _Born for Hard Luck_ and _Possum Trot_ are well worth watching because they center on some unforgetable characters. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/30 "2006-04-03T14:44:16Z")
The movie by the two French brothers that was just documenting a day in the life of a New York City Fire Department and ended up getting the only footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Tower (HOLY SHIT!) and ended up documenting that whole day. ---
**Author:** ![stegon66](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee59a6/32.png) [@stegon66](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stegon66)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/31 "2006-04-03T14:44:22Z")
> [@](#): > > Most recently, it was The God Who Wasn’t There. Shoot, I GOTTA see this one! Just got done watching the sad and chilling _Pripyat_, about the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. ---
**Author:** ![LonesomePolecat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a88e57/32.png) [@LonesomePolecat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LonesomePolecat)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/32 "2006-04-03T15:27:03Z")
Dang, I forgot all about _Koyannisqatsi._ Despite a disturbing and even depressing subject–it’s basically about how North America and most likely the rest of the globe aw well are probably heading towards ecological catastrophe–the combination of music and image in this film is mesmerizing. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/33 "2006-04-03T15:44:04Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > Oliver Stone’s JFK–I never realized before what a massive conspiracy was pulled off to hide the truth from us. Just a hint of vermouth, bartender. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/34 "2006-04-03T16:11:20Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The movie by the two French brothers that was just documenting a day in the life of a New York City Fire Department and ended up getting the only footage of the first plane hitting the World Trade Tower (HOLY SHIT!) and ended up documenting that whole day. That film was horrific. I still get shudders when I think of the sounds of the bodies hitting the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/35 "2006-04-03T17:38:20Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > Oliver Stone’s JFK–I never realized before what a massive conspiracy was pulled off to hide the truth from us. _Please_ tell us this is a whoosh. :rolleyes: Much as I enjoyed Ken Burns’s _The Civil War_ documentary, Jonathan Demme’s bio of Nelson Mandela moved me the most. I came away from it incredibly impressed by Mandela’s courage, determination and and willingness to forgive. I would’ve been much more embittered than Mandela, but he walked out of his prison cell and went on to lead South Africa and avert a widely-predicted race war. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/36 "2006-04-03T18:40:06Z")
> [@LonesomePolecat](#): > > the BBC’s \*World at War, \* so ably narrated by Lawrence Olivier Slight nitpick: It was ITV, not the Beeb. I have the DVD set. And related to WWII: [Radio Bikini](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093817/), a deeply disturbing documentary containing footage from the Pacific where nuclear tests were being made. It shows U.S. soldiers swimming in the lagoon shortly after the device is set off, being assured by their superiors that there’s nothing dangerous about atomic explosions. Ignorance was surely at play, but it was a very, very upsetting movie. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/37 "2006-04-03T18:45:29Z")
> [@Elendil's Heir](#): > > _Please_ tell us this is a whoosh. :rolleyes:. Consider yourself told. Prety amazing, though, the numbers of people who see JFK and take it as a biased documentary. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/38 "2006-04-03T19:00:11Z")
Oh, crap – how could I forget the National Film Board’s [_The Sterilization of Leilani Muir_](http://www.nfb.ca/trouverunfilm/fichefilm.php?lg=en&id=33077&v=h). Synopsis - in the twenties, eugenics had more respectability in North America, and Canada was on the vanguard. Some provinces enacted laws mandating the forced sterilization of those deemed to be unfit to reproduce. A little later, Canada was cited as a shining example of forward thinking by some European folks looking to remake their own country as they embraced eugenics. Light was thrown on that, of course, and the whole mess was cleaned up in fifteen years or so. Meanwhile, Canada’s less ambitious program continued, and (surprise) most of those declared “unfit” to reproduce were natives, immigrants, and the “morally unfit.” This went on (fairly quietly) until _1972_. The film’s subject is a one of the last women to be forcibly sterilized (without notification, at hospital for some other reason) who only found out about it after trying to get pregnant for some time, and being told by her doctor, “Uh, apparently you have no uterus.” Huge WTF? film for me. “True North, strong and free.” ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/39 "2006-04-04T17:12:18Z")
> [@Baraqiyal](#): > > I knew it! It’s all true! > Most recently, it was _The God Who Wasn’t There_. It was probably the angriest documentary I’ve ever seen. A former fundamentalist Christian makes a case against Christianity – its absurdities, its hypocrisies. He comes off so angry at his Christian upbringing, it’s almost sad. The feeling I got from him was that he was pissed off that he wasted most of his life worshiping a non-existent god. At the end of the movie, he interviews the dean at the Christian school he attended and he was barely able to hold back years of pent-up anger. The dean finally just walked out of the interview. I thought the same thing of this one. It was actually a good documentary when he was letting the various experts speak (folklorists and what-not), but Bryan Flemming came across as a bitter little git who in my opinion lost in the confrontation with the schoolmaster. I was also surprised at how much he used of the _Passion of the Christ_ footage- I know that Fair Use is a gray area in some regards but I think he went a bit overboard (he used about 4 minutes of footage). The best part was actually the extended interviews in the Special Features. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2006, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/40 "2006-04-04T19:08:16Z")
Some very good suggestions here. I’m regularly pleased to be on a board whose members display such good taste. 🙂 > [@Stranger On A Train](#): > > Errol Morris has a knack for making astonishingly insightful documentaries, but [Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0192335/) and [The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/) are the best of the lot. Errol Morris does some remarkable work, it’s true. I personally think his first, _Gates of Heaven_, is his best, though it’s not exactly what I’d call _moving._ He maintains just enough of a distance from his subjects to stay objective, but he doesn’t pull back so far as to detach completely. Thoughtfully emotional, I’d call it. His films definitely stay with you for a long time. I’d also like to point out that there are a couple of very good documentaries making the repertory rounds at the moment. _Shakespeare Behind Bars_ goes into a Kentucky prison and meets a group of inmates as they discuss and rehearse a production of _The Tempest_, and the cumulative power of their stories is pretty amazing. There’s also _Darwin’s Nightmare_, which uses a smallish subject (the ecology of a particular lake in Africa) as a lens through which to view a much, much larger canvas. Harrowing. _The Devil and Daniel Johnston_ is also in circulation, but I haven’t seen it yet. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992.md?page=3)