Dangerous Knowledge (2007)
Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
321–330 of 568 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#322The Death of Yugoslavia (1996) [1] [2]. Won the BAFTA and Peabody awards that year.
It's a BBC documentary in six episodes about the conflict that caused the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the wars in the Balkans.
It stands out among many documentaries for being a truly dispassionate moment-to-moment record of events. No sensationalism, no grand-standing, just the facts.
If you're tired of the Netflix style of documentary — lots of talking heads quickly edited together for sound bites, dramatic music, re-enactments — then this is for you. Sadly, too few documentaries are produced in this style anymore.
Edit: Looks like the episodes are on YouTube [3].
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Death_of_Yugoslavia
[2] https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gfbpy
[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tj9Zw5fN3rE&list=PLdw7wnKe0w...
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#323“Walk on By: The Story of Popular Song” was a BBC documentary in 8 or 10 parts that was — I think — alternatively titled “Popular Soundtrack of the Century” in the U.S. I had it saved on a DVR in ~2006, but that’s long gone. It’s in pieces on Youtube now, but they sometimes get yanked down. It covered multiple eras of popular Western music in the 20th century, from big band, to the interesting era of countrified-blues, all the way to the Monkees and boy bands. I loved watching and rewatching it. Lots of great interviews.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#324The greatest documentary to me is not a film but a series - The Ascent of Man by Jacob Bronowski.
It charts the cultural and technological milestones that brought humanity to where it is today. Well, the 1970s rather than today, since it is quite old. However don't let that put you off! It is a BBC documentary of the highest calibre. David Attenborough commissioned its production.
Bronowski is an incredible, if unusual, presenter - he has an interesting history (he personally knew Einstein, Von Neumann, and others), is knowledgeable in many fields, and doesn't waste a word. His off the cuff monologue at Auschwitz where some of his family died at the hands of the nazis is both heart-wrenching and profound. But thays just one of many incredible moments.
I have watched this countless times, and am always struck by the scope, scale, and beauty of the production.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#325Isle of Flowers: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097564/
It is one of the best, if not the best short-documentaries (13 min) made in Brazil.
It starts by telling the saga of a tomato, that is planted, goes to the supermarket, rots and then goes to the garbage dump site. From there it uses an acid humor to talk how tomatoes, pigs and humans (that live by collecting food from the dumping site) are different.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#326Anyone into music production would love “Tom Dowd & the Language of Music”: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0343107/
It covers all the obvious stuff about Dowd’s music-production career, but also gets into his work on the Manhattan project.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#327Brian Cox was mentioned in one of the replies, but without any context so I'll add some here.
The stories he tells are beautifully constructed and he addresses fundamental questions like why are we here? Why is the universe the way it is? How can a handful of natural forces produce the stunning diversity we see on our planet?
He does this by travelling to visually stunning places that are somehow connected to the story (e.g aurora in Iceland, ancient astronomic clock in Peru etc).
My favourite is this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonders_of_the_Universe But all of them are worth watching.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#328"Jiro Dreams of Sushi" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiro_Dreams_of_Sushi If you're a developer / engineer you'll admire the professionalism. And more importantly value proposition of your work.
What do you mean by value proposition? I don't remember seeing much that would apply to my work.
The waiting list is like a year long - even with high cost! Most of us would devalue our craft by opening up bigger restaurant or even multiple locations.
For me that translated to valuing my craft enough that people are willing to wait for and pay for it at whatever cost I set.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#329"Abstract: The Art of Design," a series that profiled a notable designer in each episode. It's a bit uneven, and some of the episodes spent too much playing up how clever and amazing the designer is instead of their work, but on the whole it provided an interesting glimpse into the design process in various fields. I particularly liked the typography episode with Jonathan Hoefler.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#330F for Fake by Orson Welles. Documentaries on art forgers (not 'how this art forger was caught!' which is of secondary importance) all tend to be interesting, but this is transcendent.
The Pervert's Guide to Ideology' by Slavoj zizek/Sophie Fiennes.
Hypernormalization* is an Adam Curtis doc so you'll love or hate it, but I think it's his best one.