I think the most recent documentary film I saw was Sicko. Saw it being shared after the insurance CEO issue.
Just shared a recent example I remember, films from all language or region are ok.
I found The Ambassador by Mads Brügger to be particularly gripping, he goes too far and realizes that he’s gone too far and many uncomfortable truths are revealed:
- The Farthest (about NASA’s Voyager missions)
- Hurt Locker Hero / The Deminer (about Fakhir Berwari, a bomb disposal expert who disarmed thousands of landmines in Iraq with just a pocket knife and a pair of wire clippers)
- The Devil We Know (tells the story of DuPont’s decades-long cover-up of the harm caused by chemicals used to make its popular non-stick Teflon products)
All three are very good, very moving documentaries.
Thanks for these. Will add them to my list.
I love documentaries. There are so many amazing ones and I regret that they don’t get as much attention as the biggest fiction films, even though I love those too.
Here are two documentaries that immediately spring to mind because they made a big impression on me:
Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
Kneecap. Say no more.
God Loves Uganda - about the impact of American Christian missionaries from megachurches on the people and politics of Uganda. It’s from 2013 and is in desperate need of an update, but it’s still very good.
The Punk Singer - documentary about the life and music of Kathleen Hanna, pioneer of “riot grrrl” punk feminism. I love the music and vibes, and Kathleen Hanna is also just a really interesting [real-life] character.The Last Repair Shop.
Very moving documentary about assisted suicide.
Dave not coming back
I have a bit of an ocean/diving fear and some mild claustrophobia, so this is the perfect doc to scare the crap out of me
Pig butchering scams
My co-worker was a victim of one of these scams for 5 years, and she wouldn’t listen when we tried to tell her because in her mind the guy was totally real
Darknet Diaries has a good episode on these… he ends up linking them to death cults in Africa and how around a trillion ( 10^12 ) USD in pandemic relief money was lost to scams. It’s wild.
Heres a list of documentaries i made (loosely) of a niche genre. They are all documentaries that started about one thing but ended up being about something else.
9/11 (2001)
American Movie
An Honest Liar
As the Palaces Burn
Calabasas 1/26/20
Capturing the Friedmans
Capturing the Light
Citizenfour
Collective
Dave Not Coming Back
Dear Zachary
Dig! It
Fairytale of Kathmandu
Gimme Shelter
Grizzly Man
Hearts of Darkness
Hoop Dreams
Hurricane on the Bayou
I am Trying to Break Your Heart
Icarus
In the Jinx
Into the Deep
Into the Inferno
Life With Murder
Lost in La Mancha
Marjoe
Minding the Gap
My Kid Could Paint That
Operation Odessa
Overnight
Rock and Roll Nerd
Sasquatch
Savile
Searching for Sugarman
Seaspiracy
Shemans March (1985)
Sherpa
Stevies
The Estonia
The Hamiltons
The Imposter
The Jinx
The Queen of Versailles
The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
The Sweatbox
The Thin Blue Line
The Woman Who Wasn’t There
There Are No Fakes
Tickled
Vernon, Florida
Weiner
Wrestling With Shadows
What are some good documentaries?
Lists every documentary ever made
3 - 5 titles would be an appropriate number of documentaries to suggest here.
I disagree. 2 suggestions and maybe a back up, 4 suggestions is excessive and five, well you might as well list them all anyway at that point because you are halfway there…
