Recommend a documentary!

[Maril]

I am absolutely addicted to watching documentaries. I blame it on dropping out of college several years ago, I decided that dropping out wasn't going to keep me from learning more. Documentaries might not be the best way, but I quite enjoy it. My personal favorite sub-genres are social/culture and health. 

 

I've seen many, but I'd love to hear recommendations from others! 

So, recommend a documentary or documentary show that you enjoyed watching and feel free to say why  

 

As a sidenote, I'll link to these sites: 

http://documentaryaddict.com/

http://documentaryheaven.com/ 

 

As well as youtube.com and dailymotion.com - A lot of documentaries end up on these sites and none of them take anything for letting you watch them.

As a paid alternative, Netflix also has a good chunk. I use the Hola browser extension to get to stuff that they wont include in the selection for my country. 

 

First one I'll recommend is:

"The Internet's Own Boy"

 

It's about Aaron Swartz who co-founded Reddit, his tale is both tragic and amazing. I personally had no idea he'd done so much, and what all came of his actions until I'd seen this documentary. Reddit is such a big part of the internet today, I can really recommend seeing this.

[Edvyn]

Zeitgeist and The Great Global Warming Swindle, two documentaries that are basically a warning to not trust everyone with a degree

 

both of them are irrelevant nutjobs backing up other irrelevant nutjobs, the former relying on tinfoil conspiracy shit mixed in with some high-school philosophy and the latter relying on outdated science, conveniently missing information (their chart stops at the year 1970, i wonder why) and Thatcher. Margaret Thatcher is blamed for the climate change movement. I am not kidding.

 

they're both exceptionally well-made, however, and they're pretty fun to watch - not in spite of but because they are both fucking delusional

 

if you want something that's not in the so-bad-it's-good category, I recommend everything Louis Theroux's done, in particular:

 

"The Most Hated Family in America", which deals with the westboro baptist church,

 

"A Place for Paedophiles", which looks into a mental hospital that houses convicted pedos,

 

the "Extreme Love" two-part series, which is about autism and dementia respectively, investigating the lives of those affected and

 

"Behind Bars", where he goes to San Quentin, one of America's most notorious prisons.

 

I also highly recommend John Safran's "John Safran vs God" and "Race Relations" series, which are both somewhat satirical glimpses into the cultural and religious spheres that stir up all kinds of conflict

 

this youtube channel has a bunch of weird videos made by religious fundamentalists during the satanic panic of the '80s, covering things like D&D and why it is turning our children into devil worshippers. there's also some old safety and anti-drug PSAs. all in all, goofy retro fun

 

this is my absolute favourite from that channel, a scare film which boldly claims that the smurfs are all gay zombies

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[DreamedReality]

If you're a fan of the old David Attenborough style documentaries that are more observational than the the sort of reality TV and sensationalism style documentaries that you get a lot of on TV lately. (I'm looking at you Meerkat Manor.)

 

This channel has a lot of pretty nice ones. Both about nature/animals as well as cultural.

https://www.youtube.com/user/PlanetDocChannel

 

Same with:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYwDp3hlpvvUNY--qI_lpLg

 

Uhhhh... what did I find interesting on netflix lately...

 

Restrepo/Korengal was interesting. War documentaries.

 

PBS's North Korea one was interesting. Don't quite remember the name of it atm.

 

And I liked the 'Wildest' series.

[Zhavi]

Declining by Degrees

- by PBS, talks about the US college/university system. Had an adjunct professor who had us watch this in class. Interesting stuff.

 

All of the following can be found on netflix:

 

Trash Dance

- A contemporary dance choreographer has a group of city trash collectors agree to let her coordinate them in a contemporary dance number using trucks and props to highlight what it is they do in their job. Surprisingly good.

 

It's a Girl

- Looks into Chinese/Indian society that promotes keeping boy babies over girl babies. Interesting stuff. Definitely biased, though (primarily the goal of this documentary isn't to inform but to convince you how bad/shocking these practices are ... still an interesting watch, imo).

 

Somm

- About a group of sommeliers looking to gain the highest title you can get as a sommelier. If you like food/wine stuff even a little, watch. Otherwise, it's definitely a people-focused documentary; I found myself rooting for each of the guys. They're just eccentric enough to be charming and likeable. It's one of those documentaries I'd watch again with other people.

 

Red Obsession

- About China's recent obsession with red wine and the status it can convey. Also goes into why this is happening and talks a bit about recent Chinese history. I'm taking an East Asian Civilization class this semester (with a professor who has done extensive study of East Asia, and has lived there for a couple decades in the past), and found quite a bit of it to be pretty damn accurate.

 

Thunder Soul

- About a highschool soul band from the ... errr, 70s, I think? This band was professional quality, shows them getting back together after several decades, and dips its toes into how politics fucks over students and teachers. If you like music and warm fuzzies, this one is for you.

 

Dancing in Jaffa

- A man returns to his hometown in the middle east to teach children how to ballroom dance, with the goal of getting children from opposing cultural beliefs (who are taught to hate each other) to dance together. Interesting because of how much cultural differences he had to overcome, though the primary focus is on the kids and his evolving relationship with them. More of a feel good than informative.

 

Gotta Dance

- A group of senior citizens are hired to train as a half-time dance troupe show for a basketball team. Funny, charming, adorable.

 

First Position

- This one follows teenagers competing for the Youth America Grand Prix, which is touted as being a pre-eminent competition for aspiring ballet professionals. I don't know how accurate it is, but I was rooting hardcore for the little boy. Dude is a class fucking act at such a young age. Super enjoyable.

 

Happy

- A small, tiny little dip into not-really-psychology about what makes people happy. I don't care about how informative/accurate this one is -- it's feel good and made me happy.

 

Jiro Dreams of Sushi

- A brief look into the passion of a man who is supposedly (I have no idea how accurate this is) considered one of the tippity top sushi chef masters. Beautifully done. Would watch again.

 

Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's

- A fluff piece about blowing lots of money at a high fashion department store. If you like glimpsing into the life of those who have lots of money and can blow it on fashion, or just like looking at pretty things, or like the fashion industry, watch. This was a guilty pleasure for me.

 

 

and aw hell, why not

 

NSFW 18+ both on netflix:

 

Neither are particularly ... well, they're more of sort of stark looks rather than something I would trust to be non-biased or meant to be informative. Still interesting, still thought provoking.

 

After Porn Ends

A scattered look into the lives of porn stars after their careers have ended. How it has affected their lives, how it has affected them. I liked it because it covered a broad range from '10/10 would do again' to 'it ruined my life but I'm okay now' to 'this person is a total mess who needs help'.

 

Whores Glory

A look into prostitution in a couple East Asian countries as well as Mexico. Mostly follows random prostitutes and shows brief glimpses into their lives without being very thorough (surface glimpses only, no real depth or social commentary, though with what they showed it kinda seems like it was edited to sorta raise awareness about it). Mostly depressing. Depictions of sex acts towards the end.

[Melodia]

Two on Netflix which are really well done:

 

Freakanomics: A variety of issues and finding ways to deal with and address them. Very fascinating stuff and told in a fun way.

 

Waiting for Superman: This deals with schooling in America and some of difficulties in the modern system. Excellent piece.

[Zhavi]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/the-silence/

 

One more. This one is kinda depressing, but since I know some of the people in it irl, I can attest to how well it was done. I feel it covered both sides pretty well (and fairly), and I think it was pretty good journalism (though the voiceover was unnecessarily dramatic at times).