What’s the best documentary you’ve ever seen?

[LovelyQuiche]

Mine is is “The Rescue” about the Thai cave rescue where those young footballers were trapped. Totally enthralling, even though I knew the outcome already, and seeing what they had to deal with actually helped me mentally for giving birth a fortnight later. Like, if they can do that, then I can do what millions of other women do and give birth

what’s yours?

The Woman Who Wasn’t There- about a 9/11 survivor. Completely baffling and batshit… I’ve watched it (and read the book) several times and it still has me absolutely speechless.

Agree the Seven-Up series was phenomenal, and Child In Our Time came close to being as compelling.

Hail Satan is one that stayed with me. Satanism turns out to be not at all what I had imagined and the doc follows Satanists trying to expose the hypocrisy at the heart of the decay of the US political system. Pretty successfully.

Kings of Pastry. French patissiers compete to be awarded the right to be known as a Master of Patisserie. I know. But really, it's ridiculously gripping and will make you cry.

Sorry if I sounded rude, I didn't mean to.

Watch Mojo has a 'top 20' or documentaries of the century too far.

Lots of ones already mentioned

Which reminds me of 'Sound and Fury' - I watched it at a Deaf film festival for added impact. It's about a family with several Deaf people and whether to give the children cochlear implants.

There's a brilliant podcast called Bad Women. It's mostly focused on the original ripper but does also discuss how little has changed😢

House of Secrets The Burari deaths
11 members of the same family are found dead in mysterious circumstances

Watched Dear Zachary last night, how very sad for those lovely grandparents

Voyeur - although probably don’t watch it if you travel a lot 😂

Marilyn unheard tapes/recordings is also really worth a watch

I can remember this documentary from when I was young. It's always stayed with me.

Apparently Billie Eilish is named after Eilish.

Had anyone else watched The Falling Man? So sad. It really makes you think about the individuals in the World Trade Centre that day and the choices they had to make

So many good documentaries here.

One I recommend is It follows a group of male lions in a game reserve in South Africa over a period of years. Such a well made documentary, I couldn't stop thinking about it for months after I watched it.

This isn't necessarily favourite ever, but I want to placemark and should contribute!

Last Breath - from 2019, on Netflix, about saturation diver Chris Lemons.

The Boy David which was a series in the 80s about a badly disfigured boy from the Peruvian jungle and how a Scots doctor operated on him and how his life flourished and progressed. Moving and heartwarming.

The Bridge (2006) Golden Gate San Francisco. Heartbreaking.

It can be seen on Facebook

www.facebook.com/watch/?v=568439330816973

F to return later

I don't think I've seen Cuba and the Cameraman mentioned but I loved that one. Filmed by one guy over 45yrs from late 60s/early 70s I think following the lives of 3 main families. Gives an amazing glimpse into life in Cuba over that time. It is SO good

Inspired by this thread, I've just watched 14 Days in May again. It's a hard watch, and just as when I watched originally as a teenager I ended up in tears, but it is a great documentary.

I found this article written by his lawyer Clive Stafford Smith reprieve.org/us/2020/07/08/no-steps-forward-for-some-edward-earl-johnson-at-sixty/ Over 30 years later he still blames himself for Johnson's death. Interestingly, the prison warden became a campaigner against the death penalty.

There are two that stand out for me.

The World At War, made in the 70s I believe, and another called People's Century, which was made before the turn of the millennium, about how far we'd come in the last 1000 years..

Both were series. I've watched The World At War, about WW2, so many times and it never fails to shock & sadden me. People's Century was amazing, too.

I also remember this documentary that was on 6 or 7 years ago. But I forgot the title. It was about exercise as an alternative to drug medicine. One woman, who was dependent on opioids for physical pain was prescribed Kung Fu classes and this woman with mental health difficulty, prescribed cold water swimming. Would like to see it again

Aww. I saw the clip on YouTube and was instantly obsessed I bought the book. Beautiful story I think that's the one for me.

Oh, I'd forgotten about series. There is a fantastic American one called "The West", by Ken Burns. It tells the history of the colonisation of the American West with a heavy emphasis on stories from ordinary people. Among many memorable moments for me is a woman living on an isolated farm who was given a live chicken to kill and eat. Instead she kept it alive to talk to, as she had no other company.

"The Civil War" (also Ken Burns) is incredible as well.

The Ice Cream Wars, recently on BBC iPlayer. Well done but so harrowing. Regularly pass one of the locations and it chills me know I know.

On a lighter note, definitely Christian the Lion Cub, as pps have said.

The Hunt for Bible John & The World’s End Murders were interesting, especially the World’s End one as it covered the founding of Rape Crisis by strong, determined women, for women and by women.

Agree about Amy. At the end of it I felt like I'd been run over by a bus. Bloke in front of me just said, quietly, 'Jesus Christ.' Absolutely the right responses in the circumstances.

Also Nostalgia for the Light. Filmed at the dark-sky observatory in the Atacama Desert. They talk to the scientists who work there about why they do it, what it means to them to look into space etc, and also to locals who have not stopped combing the desert and demanding answers from the authorities about their loved ones who were disappeared by Pinochet and almost certainly buried in the desert. It's like nothing else I've ever seen.

On a lighter note, a short but lovely one about the Hampstead swimming ponds, following staff and punters through (IIRC) a year.
And Summer of Soul, about the summer-long series of festivals of black music in New York in 1969. The highlight for me was a young but already magnificent Nina Simone, but the whole thing is absolutely thrilling.