Your favorite documentaries

[AngelBee]

Please list them! Add a brief description too.

I am in that kind of mood tonight!

:

Thanks

[AngelBee]

Nobody has any?

[MamaJenese]

I posted a question similar to this last week or so! Check out this thread
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=1087680

[Ms Apricot]

Here are a couple for you (off the top of my head):

Spellbound - about the Scripps-Howard National Spelling Bee in the U.S.

Shut Up and Sing - about the Dixie Chicks, (not so) free speech and crazy censorship, but most importantly about a wonderful working relationship between women

Planet Earth series

[savannah smiles]

Grey Gardens

[cappuccinosmom]

A Walk To Beautiful--documentary about the fistula hospital in Ethiopia and how they help women. Part of the reason I love it is because dh is Ethiopia so they are where "home" is for us. But the stories of the women there are so tragic and it's just glorious to see them helped. : (The featured doctor has also written a book with a much more detailed history of the place, how she got there, and what they do--The Hospital By The River/Catherine Hamlin)

Grey Gardens was fascinating too.

[MysteryMama]

Walmart: the high cost of low prices

A real eye opener and very interesting.

[bajamergrrl]

Jump! - Fun movie about kids/teens who participate in competitive jump-roping.

[MusicianDad]

Another for the Walmart one.

The other ones:

This Film is Not Yet Rate: It gives an look at the MPAA and provides a very interesting look on some of the inconsistencies surrounding MPAA ratings.

F*ck: Um, that one is pretty self explanitory. It's about the F word. Very informative.

Jesus Camp: I have a weird facination with this one. I follows three Fundamentalist Evangelical families.

Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room: It's about the fall of Enron.

Paperclips: It's about a group of kids in a small town who create a Holocaust memorial for their school.

Two other are more of psudo-documentaries. CSA: Conferderate States of America is an alternate historical documentary created by the BBC in a world where the South won the US Civil war. The other is Radiant City which follows the fictional Moss family as they move into a modern suburban neighbourhood.

[Brittany93]

The Business of Being Born is about alternate birthing choices, specifically home birthing, and other people's view on it. I've watched it a lot of times, it got some great birth in there!

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by cappuccinosmom

A Walk To Beautiful--documentary about the fistula hospital in Ethiopia and how they help women. Part of the reason I love it is because dh is Ethiopia so they are where "home" is for us. But the stories of the women there are so tragic and it's just glorious to see them helped. : (The featured doctor has also written a book with a much more detailed history of the place, how she got there, and what they do--The Hospital By The River/Catherine Hamlin)

LOVED this one! Truly moving. I will have to check out the book.

[AngelBee]

Originally Posted by MysteryMama

Walmart: the high cost of low prices

A real eye opener and very interesting.

Watched this. Very disturbing. Totally made me feel guilty about my consumer choices. Very eye opening.

[BookGoddess]

Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices. Very eye-opening.

9/11 Mysteries: The Demolitions It's open-minded and balanced. Presents information about 9/11 that haven't been shown in the mainstream media.

Originally Posted by cappuccinosmom

A Walk To Beautiful--documentary about the fistula hospital in Ethiopia and how they help women. Part of the reason I love it is because dh is Ethiopia so they are where "home" is for us. But the stories of the women there are so tragic and it's just glorious to see them helped. : (The featured doctor has also written a book with a much more detailed history of the place, how she got there, and what they do--The Hospital By The River/Catherine Hamlin)

I saw this! It is a great documentary.

[fruitful womb]

zeitgeist

[Kirsten]

Another vote for "The Business of Being Born"!!

Also, "Born in the USA" is good. My midwife is in it, and asked if we'd film our birth for it, but we declined. It compares birth choices in this country.

I LOVE "It's Elementary". They picked a number of schools in the Bible Belt and included homosexuality into their sex ed curriculum. This was done in three grades (think it was 1st, 5th and 10th?) in response to the high suicide rate of gay teens.

[Caneel]

I really liked Enon, the Smartest Guys in the Room. Even if your not into accounting and finance, it is a real eye-openner about big business going terribly wrong.

I recently watched King Korn and thought it was interesting.

Now I might have the name wrong - Windsor Castle about a year spent at the British Royal Family's castle. It is behind the scenes like how the farm works, conservation efforts, etc.

[november]

What's the one with the men and the 'real dolls' / lifesize dolls they have as their girlfriends companions? That one is quite...interesting! I think it's called "Guys and Dolls" or something similar.

[MsVyky]

Oooh! I love documentaries

Feature length favorites are:

Sharkwater- about the shark finning industry and it's effects on shark populations, and the overall health of the oceans and global ecosystems that become effected by dwindling shark populations

SuperSize Me- We've probably all seen this one- the effects of eating an all- Mc Donald's diet for a month.

Sicko- I tend to not enjoy Michael Moore very much, but this one made me so sad for all the people in America who don't have access to free and almost unlimited health care like us.




TV/Miniseries:

Whale Wars- If you can catch it on Animal Planet, this one is our favourite- it's a documentary series about the Sea Shepherds on a mission in the Antarctic seas trying to stop the Japanese whaling fleets

BBC Planet Earth- Awesome cinematography! I managed to buy the whole series on DVD for super cheap not long ago.

30 Days- I think there's only been one season so far, but this one is Morgan Spurlock again, with his girlfriend, and they live a different lifestyle for a month- ie, trying to live on minimum wage, live as a religion or culture different from their own, etc. I really enjoyed this one.

[Thalia the Muse]

some other interesting ones:

Dark Days, about homeless people who built a fairly elaborate city in an abandoned subway tunnel.

The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill -- a delightful movie!

I like American Movie a lot, about a very determined indy filmmaker trying to put together a no-budget horror movie with his untalented friends. You get his entire complete movie as a bonus feature on the DVD, and it's much better than you'd expect it to be -- he'd be a good DP.

Some TV documentary series I've liked:

The Farmer's Wife, from PBS.

Connections, with James Burke - very old, but readily available on DVD.

Nova, obviously.

No Reservations with Anthony Bourdain, for just sort of pleasurably mindless viewing. He smokes, drinks, has a potty mouth, and there are occasional on-camera animal demises, as a warning for the sensitive.

[MusicianDad]

Originally Posted by MsVyky

30 Days- I think there's only been one season so far, but this one is Morgan Spurlock again, with his girlfriend, and they live a different lifestyle for a month- ie, trying to live on minimum wage, live as a religion or culture different from their own, etc. I really enjoyed this one.

There's 3 seasons, the first two are on DVD. The first episode is Spurlock and his girlfriend, the others are people who live in a lifestyle they look down on, like the homophobe who had to live within the gay comunity.