Best Documentary of All Time

[Psychosis Media]

Endless Summer
Endless Summer II

Both are the most well known and best filmed Doc's ever made!

Another good one is Riding Giants.

[Zensteve]

Confessions of a Superhero : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlaHeASLq9A

The King of Kong : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMJZ-_bJKdI

Lord of the Dance Machine : Can't find a trailer, but it's amazing.

Heh, nerds

[Cracker Funk]

Great thread. For no other reason than I now want to watch all of these documentaries that have been mentioned, that I haven't yet seen.

Originally Posted by brianluce

Hoop Dreams.
And the one about the Ali v. Foreman in Zaire. I think it was called "We Were Warriors"?

"When We Were Kings" is the title you're searching for. AWESOME movie. You don't have to be a sport-fan, or even give a damn about boxing. You will undoubtedly leave this movie loving Ali.

My favorites?

"Born into Brothels"
"Why We Fight"

For something a little more recent, I do highly recommend "The Cove". But I also STRONGLY recommend that you look away, when the gruesome scene comes. It won't catch you off-gaurd, you will definitely know when it is about to begin, and the auditory experience should be strong enough to move you.

You DO NOT want that gruesome image painted on the back of your eyelids. I wish I could un-watch that scene. I like the movie, overall, and I think it's terrific that the movie actually made a difference in government policies. But I didn't need to literally see such real-life horror, in order to understand how horrific the situation is.

[Cracker Funk]

Oh, and if you want to talk about a documentary that packs a mighty punch, try "Dear Zachary". You can read the synopsis, and what you'll read is basically an accurate description. However, it's not until the last few minutes of the movie when you realize what THE ENTIRE FILM has actually been about, and it's simply beautiful. It's a love-letter, for sure.

[insert_cliche_here]

I think my favourite documentaries would have to be...

Earthlings - about the main ways human exploit other beings.
And
Lords of Dogtown - the birth of skateboarding.

Yep. Those are my choices ^_^

[Wombat]

Originally Posted by Cracker Funk

Oh, and if you want to talk about a documentary that packs a mighty punch, try "Dear Zachary". You can read the synopsis, and what you'll read is basically an accurate description. However, it's not until the last few minutes of the movie when you realize what THE ENTIRE FILM has actually been about, and it's simply beautiful. It's a love-letter, for sure.

I recommend against this movie actually, unless you enjoy feeling helpless, hopeless rage. And depression.

[JoshL]

Another vote for ANYTHING by Herzog. Personal favorite was "Bells of the Deep", though that's a documentary in the Disney sense...he made it up. Herzog is brilliant if you appreciate blurring the line between fact and fiction. His features are more real than most, and his documentaries are more fictionalized than most. Once you get that, everything makes perfect, brilliant sense.

I watch a lot of music documentaries, generally better if you are interested in the subject, but of particular interest was "The Fearless Freaks" about the Flaming Lips (who I haven't really liked since Zaireeka). I also really enjoyed "Until The Light Takes Us" about the Norwegian black metal scene. Again, not crazy about the music, but an interesting culture and the film did a good job of having people in and out of the scene talk about it, sharing their often contradictory thoughts.