Documentaries that have stuck with you.

[LetsGoCrazyPurpleBanana]

I remember in the early 9Os watching a documentary about 2 men who were partners, living with and ultimately dying from AIDS. Found it on YouTube and watched it again at the weekend. I've not stopped thinking about them. It's called "Silverlake life,the view from here" 😭

Also another one,again early to mid 1990s called "The dying room" about China's orphanages.

Thank you for that link! I will look through.

The Bridge- about people who have taken their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge. Really moving.

Dreams of a Life is definitely one I can’t get out of my head even so many years after watching.

There’s something wrong with Aunt Diane- think this is harrowing because we will never know her motives or what actually happened, and why those children died.

Louis Theroux’s Edge of Life. There were two cancer patient’s, one had been in hospital for a year. The doctor’s kept offering invasive treatments and surgeries even though there was zero chance of survival, costing millions of dollars. I was so upset because they had spent their last months in hospital. I thought they should have gone home and spent time with their families and making memories. It really upset me, I couldn’t sleep at night.

I forced myself to rewatch it recently and now feel so much better. The patients really wanted to keep fighting and refused to believe they were dying. I think they just have different attitudes in the USA, there’s this hope you can achieve the impossible.

A documentary about Romanian orphanages. I cried for hours afterwards.

Sunshine & Oranges

The boy whose skin fell off. Heart breaking.

The Bridge- about people who have taken their lives at the Golden Gate Bridge. Really moving

The footage of the long haired chap at the end stuck with me for so long afterwards. Also, what his friends said about him... that maybe he wanted to feel he could fly.

‘Swansea - A love story’ it’s on YouTube and it’s absolutely heartbreaking about two young heroin addicts which such tragic lives and upbringings. I watched as part of my social work training and it has always stuck with me.

‘earthlings’ - NOT for the faint hearted I can never watch it again. It’s about the way we abuse animals as humans all over the world.

’How to survive a plague’ - on Amazon prime about AIDS epidemic.

excellent post will deffo be watching some of these!

I want to watch Dreams of a Life but can I check there’s nothing too upsetting or graphic in it first?

There’s nothing graphic or gory in it, it’s just a bit upsetting because you realise how isolated or shut off people can become.

Ok thanks

@Organictangerine
It's not gory. It's mainly interviews with friends about their relationship with her talking of her life history.

I have just watched To Courtney with love after this thread
Such a sad documentary,Becky was only sixteen it must have been heartbreaking for her family and Courtney.

Yes I watched ,in plain sight a few weeks ago
I agree WTF ,not only did he abduct their 12 year old daughter twice ,but he also slept with the mother and had sexual relations with the Dad!

@NightmareSlashDelightful , I read a book about Aileen Wournos. Her childhood was the stuff nightmares are made of. I'm with you - she committed horrendous crimes and had to pay, but her case was so complex.
I read a lot of true crime, and often think the parents should be charged, too.
Sorry, derailed.

Searching for Sugarman.

i know PPs have mentioned really life changing docs about serious subjects… but honestly this one just broke me. I don’t know why but I think knowing that he could have been the next Leonard Cohen or Cat Stevens and no one knew about him simply because of racist money grabbing wankers….. it just breaks my heart.

I just watched Rain in My Heart after reading this thread. My late father was an abusive alcoholic. I am an alcoholic too but gave it up two years before this film was made in 2006 and haven’t had a drink since, so 16 years clean and sober, and hope to continue until the day I die. I’m the same age as Vanda from the film, who I believe died a few years after. Thanks to the universe or whatever power that I’m fortunate to have had a different fate: I still have demons but I’m healthy, happily married, great job, solvent, running half marathons aged 60 and content most of the time. None of this would be the case if I’d carried on drinking. I wish I’d stopped sooner so I could have had kids and I wish I’d been able to help my dad, despite his terrible behaviour, but I try not to have regrets. This is such a powerful documentary and made me so grateful I’ve been able to turn my life around. Thank you to those who mentioned it.

@motherofchihuahuas

Thanks for suggesting this, and if others did too, not sure. My heart lurched seeing a newborn calf being birthed into an empty pool. I'm at the part where they separate the mum and baby.

I always assumed the whales were rescued, the fact they just thrived whales from the ocean is insane and disturbing. Money makes people's conscience fly out the window.

I've downloaded dreams of a life. Thank you everyone for all the recommendations x

Etre et Avoir (available on Apple TV I believe). Just delightful. A good feel doc which on paper I would have thought wasn’t for me but I recommend to all.
Man On Wire (French again) about the tight rope walk of all time between Twin Towers, the guy is wonderful!
And anything that Storyville (BBC iPlayer) put out. All sorts of topics (the Mole in North Korea a highlight).

There are 2, both from donkeys years ago, both terrestrial TV.
The first one from about 2000 about people who had sex with animals. They were interviewed, actually showing their faces discussing it !!!! I remember there was a guy with a horse and someone with a large dog. Really odd.

The other was from about 2001 and was about De Clérambault’s syndrome and was fascinating.

I have a broad range of interests clearly 🤣

I’ll track this documentary down.

Good to know you’re doing so well Trixie.💐

I've just watched Rain in my Heart. I wonder what happened to Mark?

I forgot about the Up series....7up etc. Also a Dispatches programme about a wet house. The staff were incredible.

Did anyone ever watch Christiane F? Not quite a documentary but based on an autobiography of a 14 year old heroin addict in Berlin.

Re a few pps wondering what happened to the subjects of documentaries they've seen, whenever I drive past the Angel of the North I remember a programme made when it was being built. In one scene a group of people who lived in the area met Anthony Gormley at the site and were almost all very opposed to the project and got in quite a heated argument with him. I'd love to know if they stayed in the area and how they feel.about it now.

The boy whose skin fell off - heartbreaking documentary where a young man who had a epidemis bullosa (or something like that) - it is a disease where your skin literally comes off - told all about his life. The final scene showed him after his death - so so sad but he was very inspiring x