There's a documentary on almost every subject imaginable, from apes to zebras. How to choose?
Good question! Wealth of Geek is able to help with some of our favorite options.
1. Won't You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
It was a beautiful day when this documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. A loving look at the life and contributions of children's entertainer and advocate Fred Rogers, it's the top-grossing biographical documentary ever made. Mister Rogers' Neighborhood‘s had an impact on so many people's lives and this documentary is able to perfectly showcase that.
2. The Woman Who Wasn't There (2012)
Alicia Esteve Head claimed to have survived the attack on the World Trade Center buildings, during which she lost her fiancé. She became an integral part of post-9/11 organizations. But in 2007, The New York Times revealed that she wasn't in the Twin Towers at the time of the attack but in her native Spain at the time of the attack. This documentary film featured interviews with Head and others involved in the 9/11 groups before and after the lie was revealed.
3. The Vietnam War (2017)
Ken Burns and Lynn Novick collaborated on this 10-part PBS series, one of the few to bear a TV-MA rating due to its subject matter. Rather than using talking-head pundits or historians, the directors talked with ordinary people who lived in that era. That includes soldiers, protesters, Vietnamese citizens, and reporters. An adoring fan called it a “monumental” work, praising the thoroughness of the research, and said the soundtrack is perfect.
4. The “Up” series (1964 to 2019)
This British documentary series interviewed 10 boys and four girls every seven years, beginning in 1964. The kids were chosen to represent a mix of socioeconomic backgrounds, and their stories fascinated audiences worldwide. One fan said they “accidentally” started watching the series, but then they couldn't stop! All but one of the films were directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner's Daughter, Gorillas in the Mist, Nell, The World is Not Enough). The late reviewer Roger Ebert called28 Upone of the 10 greatest movies of all time.
5. Grizzly Man (2005)
Werner Herzog took a deep dive into the life of Timothy Treadwell, a man who believed he could communicate with grizzly bears in Alaska. Ultimately, one of the animals killed him and his girlfriend (and partially consumed). Herzog (Fitzcarraldo, Heart of Glass, Aguirre: The Wrath of God) used footage of Treadwell's mission to “protect” the grizzlies and interviews with bear experts who had a different view of the animals' need to be saved.
6. Fantastic Fungi (2019)
Mushrooms are more than pizza add-ons! But seriously: Fantastic Fungiuses time-lapse photography and CGI to explain how fungi affect the planet. One admirer was blown away by the notion of trees “talking” to each other and the explanations of how the ecosystem works to stay balanced. Far out!
7. Weiner (2016)
New York mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner was disgraced when he got caught sending naked photos of himself to women. His wife forgave him, and his public relations team thought having a documentary crew tag along to see Weiner's campaign would be great. Bad idea. The filmmakers were there the day that a new series of photos was revealed. They also captured the look on his wife's face.
8. Blackfish (2013)
Tilikum, a wild-caught orca whale that performed at SeaWorld for years, killed two of his trainers and a SeaWorld trespasser. Blackfish uses Tilikum as an object lesson of the consequences of keeping orcas in captivity. The film included footage of orcas being captured for sale.
9. Paris is Burning (1990)
The costume ball culture among New York's gay/transgender communities in the 1980s is the topic of this deeply moving documentary. One fan said the film gives viewers direct insight into the dangers faced by the LGBTQ+ community at that time and the meaning behind these glamorous celebrations. The U.S. National Film Registry selectedParis is Burningas a “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant film.”
10. Gates of Heaven (1978)
After reading about a pet cemetery being dug up and moved, Errol Morris borrowed money from family and friends to make this documentary about the pet cemetery business. Morris went on to make docs likeThe Thin Blue Line, The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara(a 2003 Academy Award winner), andFast, Cheap & Out of Control. One fun aftereffect of Gates of Heaven is that Werner Herzog swore he would eat the shoe he was wearing if the movie ever got finished and shown to the public; since Herzog was a man of his word, another film, called Werner Herzog Eats His Shoe,was released.
11. They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
New Zealand director Peter Jackson made this in honor of his grandfather, who fought in World War I. The documentary uses film from that time, colorized and spiced up with sound effects and voice actors. Since that footage did not have sound, Jackson hired lip-readers to get the dialogue right.
12. The Bridge (2006)
In 2004, documentary filmmaker Eric Steel shot nearly 10,000 hours of footage of the Golden Gate Bridge – capturing 23 of the known 24 fatal jumpings that year. The Bridgefeatures interviews with the families of those who died by jumping that year and with one person who survived an attempt.
13. Harlan County USA (1976)
Barbara Kopple spent four years on this film about a strike involving 180 Kentucky coal miners and their wives, showcasing the poverty and danger faced by workers who helped the power company increase its profits by 170% in a single year.
Any movie with a woman pulling a pistol from her bra is bound to draw attention sounds fascinating. The film earned Kopple her first Academy Award, and she went on to win a second Oscar for another labor film, American Dream, about the Hormel strike in Minnesota.
14. My Octopus Teacher (2020)
Image Credit: Netflix.
A couple of cinephiles claimed they stopped eating octopus after seeing this documentary! A diver spent almost an entire year filming the relationship he developed with an octopus in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa; the result won a Best Documentary Oscar.
15. The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)
Frank Marshall, who co-founded Amblin Entertainment with Steven Spielberg, went the documentary route for his film about the Bee Gees. The three brothers started as pop balladeers and broke up before getting back together to create the ultimate disco sound, winning five Grammy Awards for theirSaturday Night Fever album. Other musicians weigh in on that unmistakable Bee Gees sound, including but not limited to Eric Clapton, Lulu, Nick Jonas, and Justin Timberlake. Fun fact: Only Elvis, the Beatles, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, and Garth Brooks outsold the Bee Gees.
