# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/41 "2006-04-05T02:51:27Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > For the most part I wasn’t thrilled with Fahrenheit 9/11; I oppose the war but a lot of the movie was transparently misleading, and it seemed too focused on the wrong things at times. > > 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. I had a similar experience with “Bowling for Columbine.” Felt so-so about the movie as a whole, but the scene where they showed the video footage from Columbine really got to me – actually brought tears to my eyes, the first time a movie had done that in years. I was those kids’ age, and it was all so inexplicable… > [@Anaamika](#): > > Dunno if it’s offically considered a documentary, but Boys Don’t Cry, the store of Brandon Teena, broke my heart. It’d already gotten to me when I read it on the Crime Library, and the movie only made it worse. I still kind of think about Brandon sometimes, and about small-town America. I’ve never really experienced small-town America, but I’ve heard so many horror stories about it (even on these boards!) that I’d rathr not. Don’t be too quick to judge small town America from that – or from other anecdotes you’ve heard. After all, there are terrible stories about bigotry and intolerance from cities too – IIRC, didn’t some homophobe go into a gay bar in Boston a couple months ago and start shooting people? That, plus occassional race riots, etc. It’s a cliche, I know, but there lots of good and bad in both urban and rural areas. I haven’t seen “Grey Gardens,” but I read an interesting piece in the New Yorker a month or two ago about how they found the “Marble Faun” from that movie – sounds like he’d had an interesting life. Check the New Yorker archives. For me, I’d have to say “Eyes on the Prize” as well. At turns frustrating, inspiring, awesome – it was great; one of my very favorite documentaries. I’ve only seen a few episodes of “The World at War” but those have been excellent as well. “Cold War,” a documentary series made by CNN in the late 1990’s was also excellentl. A good mix of history, culture, suspense and drama. The most emotional sequence was on the fall of the Berlin Wall – very personally effecting. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/42 "2006-04-05T04:14:25Z")
I’m quite fond of _[Brother’s Keeper](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00008DDJ6/103-9546188-4755837?v=glance&n=130)_, about a murder trial in rural New York. I also like _[Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000AKY42/103-9546188-4755837?v=glance&n=130)_, about one of the longest-lived victims of cystic fibrosis. He became a masochist and performance artist in an attempt to introduce some pain into his life that he _could_ control. And yes, there’s a reason why the film title includes the phrase “and death”. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/43 "2006-04-05T05:19:08Z")
> [@The Gaspode](#): > > 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. I saw this about a month ago and I agree, it was a very powerful film. Also, the interviews with the Bikini Atoll natives who could not understand why their home had been taken from them was quite moving. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 8:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/44 "2006-04-05T08:14:04Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > For the most part I wasn’t thrilled with Fahrenheit 9/11; I oppose the war but a lot of the movie was transparently misleading, and it seemed too focused on the wrong things at times. Also overlooking those issues: the footage of the aftermath of the attack, with “Cantus in Memory of Benjamin Britten” playing as the papers drifted down from the Towers, was incredibly effective. I never would have thought Michael Moore was capable of anything like that. I only saw part of [The Execution of Wanda Jean](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303282/) on HBO a few years back, but I remember the funeral scene left me really shaken. I hadn’t been watching the thing more than half an hour and I’m pretty sure I cried. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 9:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/45 "2006-04-05T09:56:48Z")
> [@Lissa](#): > > 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. I suspect that was what I watched last night -[Ghosts of Rwanda](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/). I’ve read a little about the genocide in Rwanda, but the documentary revealed a depth of suffering that I hadn’t ever considered, as well as highlighting the failure of the international community to intervene at all. I’m planning to rent Shake Hands With the Devil, about Romeo Delaire, as soon as late fees allow. ---
**Author:** ![manx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/65b543/32.png) [@manx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manx)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/46 "2006-04-05T10:00:11Z")
> [@manx](#): > > I suspect that was what I watched last night -[Ghosts of Rwanda](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/ghosts/). I’ve read a little about the genocide in Rwanda, but the documentary revealed a depth of suffering that I hadn’t ever considered, as well as highlighting the failure of the international community to intervene at all. I’m planning to rent Shake Hands With the Devil, about Romeo Delaire, as soon as late fees allow. Roméo Dallaire, rather. ---
**Author:** ![Einmon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Einmon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Einmon)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/47 "2006-04-05T10:39:06Z")
[The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0466710/) about Johnny Kennedy (not related), who had a condition called Dystrophic Epidermolysis Bullosa, where your skin blisters and falls off when touched. I saw this on the BBC a couple of years ago and even if it felt a tad voyeuristic, it seemed to be what the guy wanted (he was narrating it himself in part). He kept such an incredible optimistic outlook in the face of his terrible condition…I dare you to watch it and keep a dry eye when he goes and jokes around while selecting his coffin. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/48 "2006-04-05T12:38:21Z")
[_Night and Fog_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0048434). Need I say more? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/49 "2006-04-05T12:59:23Z")
Not sure if docudramas count, but \*\*\*Sometimes in April \* \*\* shook me to my very core. It depressed me for days. The things human beings do to each other… ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/50 "2006-04-05T13:05:45Z")
[The Real Cancun](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360916/) was heartbreaking. The tragic tale of Sixteen American college students who drink, flirt, fight and canoodle during their Spring Break vacation in Cancun, Mexico. Seriously. . . Paradise Lost was definitely moving… Also, “Capturing the Friedmans” and “Grizzly Man”. Maybe I read too much between the lines of “Grizzly Man” but I thought it was really excellent. Without specifically showing it, I thought Grizzly Man was so sad, and so lost and the documentary made the point in such a subversive way. It was a really tragic story, and I don’t mean his death. ---
**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 5, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/51 "2006-04-05T15:30:52Z")
> [@manx](#): > > I’m planning to rent Shake Hands With the Devil I saw this last year and can definitely recommend it. Some very powerful stuff. You’ll vibrate with anger when you see how Belgian diplomats try to shift attention away from their own failures by making Dallaire a public scapegoat for a particular incident. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/52 "2006-04-11T02:40:32Z")
Grey Gardens was absolutely amazing. I watched it twice over the weekend and I can’t get it out of my mind. I’ve been reading about it on the internet all day. I think I’m obsessed with Little Edie! "I only cared about three things: the Catholic Church, swimming and dancing, and I had to give them up. "–Little Edie “If you can’t get a man to propose to you, you might as well be dead.”–Little Edie The documentary is so beautiful and tragic and compelling. ---
**Author:** ![vivalostwages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d07c76/32.png) [@vivalostwages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vivalostwages)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/53 "2006-04-11T02:44:13Z")
_The Fog of War_. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/54 "2006-04-11T03:36:26Z")
_The Nazis: A Lesson from History \* and Auschwitz_: The Nazis and The Final Solution\* remind us how prone we are to backing winners, and the consequences of doing so at the cost of our right judgement. ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/55 "2006-04-11T03:58:26Z")
…or, as C.S. Lewis puts it with such simplicity and impact, ‘those who begin by worshipping power soon worship evil’. ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/56 "2006-04-11T12:53:41Z")
I found _Waco: The Rules of Engagement_ to be very disturbing in that there was so much presented that I’d never been privy to before even though, like many of us, I’d followed the story closely during the entire conflict (I could see the smoke from my house). Directed by William Gazecki, it contains a good bit of audio between Koresh and the various agents, FLIR video of the final push on the compound and a somewhat biased assessment of the events and motivation behind them. While I didn’t necessarily agree with all the director’s accusations, it certainly gave me much more to go on than I’d ever had before and helped bring the staggering magnitude of incompetence by a number of agencies to light. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/57 "2006-04-11T15:30:51Z")
Has anyone mentioned _My Brother’s Keeper_? It’s about a surprisingly premodern part of rural New York State, where a man was accused of killing his brother, but most of the community defended him, on the grounds that it was like putting a sick farm animal out of its misery. Thought-provoking (moral relativism and all that). ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2006, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/58 "2006-04-11T16:45:01Z")
I’ll second _Paradise Lost_. I was in Memphis when West Memphis child murders happened, and it was clear to me from the beginning that the West Memphis Three had been set up. The documentary was incredible. _The Fog of War_ is another incredible documentary. “Reason will not save us.” Damn. Another Earl Morris doc I love is [Fast, Cheap, and Out of Control](http://imdb.com/title/tt0119107/), which has not been mentioned here yet. A great Iraq war documentary is [Occupation: Dreamland](http://www.occupationdreamland.com/), which is about the army garrison in Falujia before the city was leveled in 2005. One of the best portraits of the insanity of war you will ever see. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/59 "2006-04-12T00:22:12Z")
There are so many documentaries here that I hadn’t heard of and want to see, and so many I have seen and agree with. One movie that hasn’t been mentioned becasuse it’s almost completely forgotten is **[Brother Can You Spare A Dime?](http://imdb.com/title/tt0072742/)** (check out that “cast” list!). It tells the story of the Crash of '29 and the Great Depression through use of archival footage, newsreel footage, movies of the day, and songs of the day. There’s no narration. The Depression was always a big abstract for me, something that old black and white movies were set it. This documentary brought home to me how it affected people, and how both movies and songs either pretended it didn’t exist, tried to put a happy face on it, or, told it like it was. I’d heard the song “Nobody Knows When You’re Down and Out” before while growing up, but it was just a nice old song sung by a long-dead black lady. Seeing Bessie Smith sing the song, and hearing the lyrics after what I’d already seen, brought home what that song really meant. I cry every time. > [@](#): > > Nobody knows you when you’re down and out. > In your pocket, not one penny > And your friends – you find you haven’t any. > But as soon as you get back on your feet again > Everybody wants to be your long-lost friend > It’s might strange, without a doubt > Nobody knows you when you’re down and out. Hearing the title song in context was pretty moving too. > [@](#): > > They used to tell me I was building a dream > And so I followed the mob. > When there was earth to plow or guns to bear, > I was always there, right on the job. > They used to tell me I was building a dream > With peace and glory ahead – > Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread? > > … > Say, don’t you remember they called me Al, > It was Al all the time. > Why don’t you remember, I’m your pal – > Say, buddy, can you spare a dime? I finally understood what was so awful about the Great Depression: it took away people’s dignity. When you’re starving, when your kids are starving, you have to ask for help, and you hate every single second of it. Some of the movie is quite funny too. Hearing “Bei Mir Bist Du Schon” (sp?) while watching cows diving into water probably wouldn’t be as funny to me today, but it sure was back then when I saw it. I also credit the movie for making me realize that Ginger Rogers sings a portion of “We’re In The Money” in pig latin! That has to be the only song to land on the Hit Parade with pig latin in it. Anyone who has any interest at all in those years of the Great Depression should seek it out. If nothing else, it’s worth seeing for the wealth of songs and movie clips. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2006, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992/60 "2006-04-15T23:42:12Z")
I’m rather stunned at the lack of love given to [Rize](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0436724/), the best documentary, hell the Best Picture of 2005. The finest American documentary since [Fog of War](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/), Rize traces the rise and development of two distinct, but related, topics: 1. The growth of krumping, a form of dance that is very staccato and emotive. I can’t stand dance, but what these kids have done on the streets of Compton, Torrance, etc is nothing less than the creation of a new art form. 2. Clowning. Since the Rodney King riots, groups (“gangs”) of young men (and women) have taken to the streets, in clown regalia, to entertain children and each other through their krumping skills. Eventually, “splinter groups” split off from the first person to start clowning (“Tommy the Clown” - google him up), eventually allowing for a competitive dance environment, which has done more to evolve the art of krumping than anything else. But these people still live in a violent environment, which is shockingly (especially so since nobody gets physically hurt) brought to the fore during one of the main characters night of triumph. This is an awesome, revealing look at an America that I don’t know, a location where a sense of provincialism and home, friends and family, faith and fear prevails, one that is lost (some for the better, true) in White Suburbia. I found it moving, touching, and honor-worthy: the fact that it wasn’t nominated for Best Documentary at the Oscars was… typical. Anyway, I strongly urge all of you to put this on your Netflix queue. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-documentaries-moved-you-the-most/350992.md?page=4)