The best documentary you’ve seen?

[hmmwjst]

I want to learn something..!

Tales by Light - really loved that series on Netflix recently.

Blackfish. It's about the capture of killer whales for SeaWorld in Florida. Heartbreaking but a really good documentary.

Keep sweet, pray and obey on Netflix about a Mormon cult pretty shocking . ..

All of Molly Dineens, on bfi player. Home from the hill is especially good, and The lie of the land will inform about the realities of farming. She didn't do many but they are all magnificent.

I was absolutely absorbed by The Last Dance even though I’m not really a basketball fan. I can remember Jordan mania and it was so interesting to watch.

I agree with Blackfish. It was so maddening and hard to watch.

Its an oldie, but goodie. Bowling for Columbine. Its about the gun laws in the USA, and the survivors of the Columbine High School massacre. Michael Moore is the writer and director

I’ve just finished Take Care of Maya - very interesting and moving, especially as the final development of the case is in the news at the minute

I agree with this.

The Netflix does c about the Fyre Festival is great.

Recently Take Care of Maya and so glad she won the legal case but her poor Mum and all the other Mums who went through similar. Was distressing but good to get this in the open. Similar ones in UK but getting much less coverage around inpatient / autism / deaths, sexual abuse and cover ups and parents threatened if report abuse. Locked Away Our Autism Scandal Dispatches is one.

An old one but Touching the Void

Seconding this!! I have rewatched many times over the years, it’s fabulous and very funny in parts (the Andy scene!)

Capturing the Friedmans
The Jinx
(both by Andrew Jarecki)

Tell Me Who I Am
Three Identical Strangers

I also recommend Blackfish & Fyre Festival!

Navalny. Recent Netflix documentary about the Russian political activist of same name.

Before that it was a documentary about Fleetwood Mac. There have been several but this one was a long time ago, mid 1990s or something like that.

I also really enjoyed Fyre as mentioned by pp.

Really enjoyed Val despite not being a Val Kilmer fan. (Netflix I think)

A bit random but I love The Barkley Marathons - The Race that Eats Its Young. About an ultra marathon, with a big difference.

Recently watched The Mission (2023 documentary) about a young evangelical American who decides he's going to bring Jesus to remote islanders in the Indian Ocean who have previously been hostile to outsiders. As a not-religious person I watched it like I watch strange animals in a zoo - such a foreign mindset, to me.

When We Were Kings is an Oscar-winning doc about Mohammed Ali going to Africa for a big fight. I hate boxing and don't care about Ali but it's really good.

Greatest documentary I've ever seen is Ken Burns's The Civil War, made in 1990. Groundbreaking then and remains an extraordinary piece of television.

Looking for Milke - a man dies and then his friend / work colleague finds out he was using a fake identity, the friend gos to look for his real ID.

Three identical strangers. A teen goes to uni, loads of people think they know him but by a different name.

The bridge - about suicides cause by jumping from the golden gate bridge.

Conspiracy road trip is worth a watch, it is a series, Andrew Maxwell takes conspiracy theorists on a road trip to try to find the truth about their theories.

The (Full) 9/11 Iceberg Chart Explained - it's more of an amature put together and is 3 hours long, it goes in to all the conspiracy theories and evidence for and against, looks at the images of the day, and some 'catch up' eg the photographer who took the 'falling man' picture decided to not share any others, until the husband of a victim asks to see them and identifies his wife.

Anything by Ken Burns. I particularly enjoyed the one about Country Music and his Vietnam War docu is a classic.

Supersize Me
Three Identical Strangers
Making a Murderer

Once upon a time in Northern Ireland is very compelling

The Gatekeepers

We watched the BBC programme about Lucy Letby last night. It was very well done and very moving to see and hear from those involved.

Making a Murderer is amazing as is Three Identical Strangers.

It's not available at the moment, but the BBC did a series on how techniques like DNA fingerprinting was developed during ongoing investigations. Really interesting. I'll try to find the title.

How the holocaust began - should be able to find it on iPlayer.

Blackfish and Free Solo.

The last Breath and the deepest breath.

And now I’m so scared of the ocean!