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The Ken Burns documentary series on the Vietnam War is excellent. Probably the best documentary I've seen.
That one was really outstanding. I’ve seen it twice completely.
- The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (maybe my all-time favorite)
- Dear Zachary (IT WILL RUIN YOUR DAY, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED)
- I Think We're Alone Now
And reiterating all of the Adam Curtis recommendations. I especially like HyperNormalisation. I don't know of anything else like his documentaries.
- Burden of Dreams
- Cats of Mirikitani
- Tickled +1
- The Hermit of Treig
- Free Solo
- Into Eternity: A Film for the Future
- Bureau 39: Kim's Cash Machine
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi
- The Silence of Others
- Palio
- The Ambassador
- The Babushkas of Chernobyl
- The Act of Killing
- The Kingmaker
- Grande Hotel (2010)
- He Dreams of Giants
- HyperNormalisation +1
- The Extraordinary Voyage (2011)
- The Power of Nightmares
- Feng ai ('Til Madness Do Us Part)
- Dominion
- Cowspiracy
- What the Health
- The Game Changers
- Forks Over Knives
- That Sugar Film
Plenty of others, but there’s a theme here.
Koyaanisqatsi, while not a traditional documentary, is a truly fascinating time capsule featuring a great soundtrack from Phillip Glass. It's all images/video with no dialog or voiceover. It's a unique experience (especially in an altered state of mind)
Dick Proenneke - Alone in the Wilderness
This isn’t so much a documentary as it is a video blog, but it’s so worth it.
Recorded back in the late 1960s it is a self documented story of one man moving to remote Alaska and building a cabin/homestead in that untamed wilderness.
I cannot recommend this enough. It’s thoughtful, peaceful, and heartwarming.
Adam Curtis, HyperNormalisation (2016)
‘It argues that governments, financiers, and technological utopians have, since the 1970s, given up on the complex “real world” and built a simpler “fake world” run by corporations and kept stable by politicians.’
Searching for sugarman
Sick Around the World, a PBS Frontline documentary, is a good one for Americans. Comparing healthcare systems in multiple countries.
They Shall Not Grow Old, and the bonus "making of", is an incredible WW1 documentary and one of my favorite documentaries I've ever seen.
I recently watched, "Russia 1985–1999: TraumaZone" and greatly enjoyed it.
It's about what it was like to live in the Soviet Union at the end of communism and then the end of democracy. The story is entirely told with footage from the time.
I'd like to also recommend my two favorite documentaries about labor unions, Harlan County, USA and American Dream.
Closer to the Edge - Available on youtube for free, and is a glimpse inside the madness of the Isle of Man TT. I am not a huge fan of motorsports, but this is a fantastic and epic watch that follows a bunch of rides in the run up and through the TT.
Dirty Wars is a 2013 American documentary film about American foreign policies and war crimes. It was the first time that I heard about their manipulations, wars and assassinations.
Mine was 9/11 because it was obvious the official story was ridiculous and literally impossible.
I really loved The Stories We Tell, altho it's not a traditional educational doc
Dark Side of the Moon It seems like it is about how the moon landing was faked .. watch until the end because it is actually about something much more important
The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari
New fear unlocked
Shiny Happy People Victim/Suspect Invisible war Lularich Keep Sweet Pray and Obey Wild wild country
Here, take theae: ,,,,,
Fed Up
Good way to know how truly messed the food industry is because of the lobbying from the sugar industry
‘Kiss the Ground’
I'm surprised not to see this one anywhere on the list:
Planet Earth
And I saw one recommendation, and want to second:
Free Solo
Planet Earth is just an absolutely stunning visual spectacle showcasing nature at it's most beautiful. And Free Solo had me glued to my seat like no other documentary that I've ever watched. Alex Honnold's brain is just wired differently, so he has no fear rock climbing without a harness or a rope up an insanely difficult vertical climb of El Capitan.
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara
https://archive.org/details/TheFogOfWarElevenLessonsFromTheLifeOfRobertS.Mcnamara