Documentaries reviewed for honesty as much as craft. The camera always argues something; these reviews name the argument and judge whether the film earns it.
DocumentaryThe production received exceptional access to the otherwise sealed cave, with Herzog's small crew filming the paintings using lightweight equipment that conventional documentary could not deploy. Cave of Forgotten Dreams shows how documentary could function through treatment of material whose…
DocumentaryMichael Moore's 1989 directorial debut. GM CEO Roger Smith and Flint Michigan plant closures.
DocumentaryAging death squad leaders reenact their killings as movie scenes. The Act of Killing is Joshua Oppenheimer's 2012 Danish-British-Norwegian documentary depicting former Indonesian death squad leaders who participated in the 1965-66 anti-communist purges that killed approximately five hundred thousand to…
BiopicMade viewers cry in theaters. The production combines archival footage from the program with new interviews and exploration of Rogers's larger cultural significance.
DocumentaryCitizenfour is Laura Poitras's 2014 American documentary depicting Edward Snowden's June 2013 meetings with Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald in Hong Kong, when Snowden disclosed classified National Security Agency documents revealing extensive surveillance programs. Citizenfour proves how documentary could operate…
DocumentaryArchive footage only, no talking heads. Brazilian champion's career through his 1994 death.
Documentary1997-98 championship season as spine. The production runs across ten episodes totaling approximately eight hours.
CrimeSimpson trial through race-and-celebrity prism. Won Oscar despite TV format.
DocumentaryNewly discovered 65mm footage of 1969 moon landing. Apollo 11 is Todd Douglas Miller's 2019 American documentary depicting the July 1969 Apollo 11 lunar landing mission through previously unreleased seventy-millimeter footage from NASA archives combined with mission audio.
DocumentaryCamera operators with PTSD from filming. The film was produced by National Geographic Documentary Films on a budget of approximately two million dollars and grossed approximately twenty-eight million dollars worldwide, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
Documentary
CrimeRandall Adams case in Texas. The film that freed an innocent man.
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