Documentary Series?

[A_Wanderer]

I was wondering what peoples favourite documentaries are; this does in many ways relate to politics, religion, history and science ~ an ideal and broad topic for discussion really.

I think that David Attenborough's 'Life on Earth' is really great; the coverage gives a great overview of life and is able to communicate the concepts so well. It really is a joy to watch.

I would also say 'The World at War', which gives coverage of so much in WW2 and does not sanitise the subject matter; from the frozen battlefields of the Eastern Front in winter to the bloodied and burnt corpses on Pacific Islands. Then the interview material with soldiers, civilians and a whole manner of those involved in the war effort. An impressive (as in horrific but important); if often hard to watch (the Einsatzgruppen death squads for instance). The production qualities are first rate, I would rate it very highly.

 

[Sherry Darling]

Aliison Hewson "Black Wind, White Land" (on Cherenobyl)

Control Room (on the coverage of the Iraq War--the documentary Michael Moore wishes he'd made)

Supersize Me (forget the guy's name) was great too.

 

[deep]

Legacy: The Origins of Civilization

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I have lately been listening to an audiobook reading of Simon Schama's three-part series called "A History of Britain". It's fascinating and very well written, witty and dry in a very Brit way.

 

[whitehead]

Not sure if this classifies as a documentary but....

I recently bought the IMAX film "Cosmic Voyage" on DVD. It is narrated by Morgan Freeman and really makes you realize how big/small we really are by using the mathmatical powers of 10.

It didn't answer my question of "What is bigger than the universe?" though!

 

[phanan]

The Civil War by Ken Burns

 

[Sherry Darling]

Anyone happen to see "Fog of War?" about Robert Macnemara? It looks great.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

The Civil War by Ken Burns

Jazz by Ken Burns

and yes to the above, the Fog of War was excellent.

 

[Teta040]

The Fog of War is FANTASTIC. But there's no way to compare it favorably to anything Moore has done, becuase nobody at the highest levels involved with any of Moore's subject matter has yet come out and made the kind of confessions MacNamara did. For whatever reasons, he made them. Granted, it was all water under the bridge by then; but do you think Rumsfeld is ever going to open up the way this guy did?

My faves: "Walking With Dinosaurs". For sheer great story-telling, (oh! the suspense! Who gets eaten and who survives? I LOVE the "National Geographic" -style life stories of one animal.) This is a desert isoland DVD for me. The others in the series are great too, the the origional is still the best.

Ric Burns: "The Way West". (1994, I think.) He's the brother of Ken--they worked on "The Civil War" together. But all the dark and melancholy stuff in that epic, it turns out, came from this guy. Ken is more gung-ho. Ric is MUCH more introspective. Not to be confused with Ken's later doc, "The West." I think he was jealous of this series' success and made "The West" in response. Out of all the docs you've seen, this, along with The Civil War, is the best about 19th-century America.

Only bring a box of Kleenex. Time called this "a tragedy in four parts" and it IS. It is without a doubt the ONLY film in American history that convincingly tells the story of the West from BOTH sides, the whites and the Native Americans, and neither is lionized nor victimized. By the end, you feel sorrow for both. Not only is the story-telling as good as that of "The Civil War", the music, without a doubt, is 10 times better (if you can believe it. I am trying to hunt down a copy of the soundtrack.) I am a film buff, and I can without a doubt tell you that this is one of the most haunting pieces of celluoid you will see and hear in your life. And you won't be able to so much as look at a pic of a Western person or scene without hearing this hauntingly beautiful music. Sweet Jesus, where did Ric FIND these pieces? The first time I saw this (I had to buy it from PBS), by the time I got to Episode 3 (there are 4) I was crying so hard I had to shut the TV off and didn't finish it for a week. The first time I saw "The Civil War" in 1991, I was hooked 10 minutes in, but I didn't cry until the hour. Not even the Sullivan Ballou letter made me cry!)

And "The Civil War", still the best, IMO. Jazz was great, but it went on too long. As did Baseball. I think after 1993, as Ken became a brand name, he didn't lose his moxie but he did start to get a little full of himself and went overboard.

 

[Harry Vest]

Coney Island (Ric Burns)
The Civil War (Ken Burns)
The Mayor Of The Sunset Strip
The Donner Party (Ric Burns)
Jazz (Ken Burns)
New York (Ric Burns)
Ramones:End Of The Century
American Movie
The Way West (Ric Burns)
The Great War (PBS/BBC Documentary on World War I)
Baseball (Ken Burns)
to name but a few.

 

[Earnie Shavers]

The Mayor Of The Sunset Strip
.

Tell me more about this one. Looks good...

 

[U2DMfan]

Rodney Bingenhemier doc, I saw it, It was good.

 

[anitram]

Anyone happen to see "Fog of War?" about Robert Macnemara? It looks great.

I enjoyed it a lot. It's a very well told, very simple story, no huge effects, not particularly slick.

 

[neutral]

Are TV documentaries okay? I watch Discovery Times A LOT, I could (and have) watched it all day... I like the cultural/social ones best.

Some Discovery Times I've seen recently that I liked a lot:

My American Girls:A Dominican Story

The Hajj: Journey of a Lifetime

Off To War, can get kinda hokey though.

Survivng Sudan

I really like this one called Locked Up that used to air on Discovery about a Louisiana prison.

I got Super Size Me and Spellbound recently from Netflix, liked both of those pretty well.