As an alternative if you have suggestions for documentary sources please do share them.
Mine would be United States of Secrets by PBS Frontline.
LEMMiNO is also great! One of the best documentary makers ever!
As an alternative if you have suggestions for documentary sources please do share them.
Mine would be United States of Secrets by PBS Frontline.
LEMMiNO is also great! One of the best documentary makers ever!
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Wow, thank you for the list sir! this list… is totally hidden gem for me who’s know nothing about many documentary movies.
I”ve watched all Curtis’ stuff apart from TraumaZone and I couldn’t agree more. I watched the first episode of that one a couple of night ago, I’m still processing.
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I put it off because there’s no narration in TraumaZone, just captions but it works so well.
The Ken Burns documentary series on the Vietnam War is excellent. Probably the best documentary I’ve seen.
That one was really outstanding. I’ve seen it twice completely.
- The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (maybe my all-time favorite)
- Dear Zachary (IT WILL RUIN YOUR DAY, YOU’VE BEEN WARNED)
- I Think We’re Alone Now
And reiterating all of the Adam Curtis recommendations. I especially like HyperNormalisation. I don’t know of anything else like his documentaries.
Plenty of others, but there’s a theme here.
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Second this, it’s amazing. I also like: Food inc PBS circus History of the bbs Brick city
Tickled blew me away!
Mister Organ, by the same guy, was also a wild ride.
Koyaanisqatsi, while not a traditional documentary, is a truly fascinating time capsule featuring a great soundtrack from Phillip Glass. It’s all images/video with no dialog or voiceover. It’s a unique experience (especially in an altered state of mind)
Dick Proenneke - Alone in the Wilderness
This isn’t so much a documentary as it is a video blog, but it’s so worth it.
Recorded back in the late 1960s it is a self documented story of one man moving to remote Alaska and building a cabin/homestead in that untamed wilderness.
I cannot recommend this enough. It’s thoughtful, peaceful, and heartwarming.
Searching for sugarman
Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation (2016)
Sick Around the World, a PBS Frontline documentary, is a good one for Americans. Comparing healthcare systems in multiple countries.
Closer to the Edge - Available on youtube for free, and is a glimpse inside the madness of the Isle of Man TT. I am not a huge fan of motorsports, but this is a fantastic and epic watch that follows a bunch of rides in the run up and through the TT.
I recently watched, “Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone” and greatly enjoyed it.
It’s about what it was like to live in the Soviet Union at the end of communism and then the end of democracy. The story is entirely told with footage from the time.
I’d like to also recommend my two favorite documentaries about labor unions, Harlan County, USA and American Dream.
If you like sports, Ballon sur Bitume: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhW2CwKXsfE
They Shall Not Grow Old, and the bonus “making of”, is an incredible WW1 documentary and one of my favorite documentaries I’ve ever seen.