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Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

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Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#231

Post by wslh »

kerbalspacepro wrote: post #223
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suggest following up with Chef's Table on Netflix, which is a documentary series in a very similar vein from David Gelb, the creator of Jiro .

People seem to think that _Jiro_ is good because it is about food. It's not. It is good because it's about Jiro . Chef's Table might get the people who salivate over a upward pan over a pan, but it doesn't have the same secret sauce in my opinion.

Let's see then Chef Table S01E03 about the Argentinian Chef Francis Mallmann [1].

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Mallmann

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#235

Post by everybodyknows »

Cartel Land. Spoiler: Includes serendipitously captured footage of a local thug's takedown by vigilantes.

  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126304/reviews
Shows how Mexican drug lords aren't so much entrepreneurs, as rather players within a bigger system. This came as a much-belated epiphany to me.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#236

Post by everybodyknows »

iaresee wrote: post #33

Grizzly Man: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/ -- the folly of humans when it comes to interacting with wild animals well illustrated The Fog of War: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/ -- whoa. Just: whoa. The Thin Blue Line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(1988_film) -- when a conviction goes wrong. I guess I really like Errol Morris and Herzog? Probably.

More pathos from Werner Herzog: Little Dieter Needs to Fly

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0145046

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#237

Post by richev »

If you have any interest in the Apollo missions...

In the Shadow of the Moon [0]

The film follows the manned missions to the Moon made by the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The documentary reviews both the footage and media available to the public at the time of the missions, as well as NASA films and materials which had not been opened in over 30 years.

For All Mankind [1]

A 1989 documentary film drawn from original footage of NASA's Apollo program which successfully landed the first humans on the Moon from 1969 to 1972.

Moon Machines [2]

The miniseries features interviews with around 70 of the 400,000 engineers who worked on the Apollo program during the 1960s and early 70s.

These are variously available on DVD and YouTube.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Shadow_of_the_Moon_(fil...

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_Machines

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#238

Post by crtasm »

lalos wrote: post #219
crtasm wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read about it after though, they told a story that doesn't really match reality.

I've seen those criticisms but you have to remember this is before the Internet and before cross communication with other countries, etc. It's a stretch, do those critics expect them to be investigating something and spending hard earned money visiting all countries around the world to verify some random fact of an artist? The documentary is based on the personal experience of some fans in South Africa and people tha…

Fair points, also I see this on Wikipedia

> South Africans were unaware of his Australian success due to the harsh censorship enacted by the apartheid regime coupled with international sanctions that made any communication with the outside world on the subject of banned artists virtually impossible.

Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?

#240

Post by c0nducktr »

bartcobain wrote: post #59
lofo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another great Adam Curtis : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperNormalisation

Do you know any other documentary as good as this one? Any suggestion?

Sticking with Adam Curtis, I greatly enjoyed The Power of Nightmares.
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