Grizzly Man still gives me goose bumps:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/
Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
21–30 of 245 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#22Wild Wild Country on Netflix is outstanding:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80145240/
I'm also a big fan of BBC Horizon's episodes, they cover a wide range of topics and generally are quite excellent and well researched. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006mgxf
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#23The Century of the Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s The Mystery of the Gnome Homes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLoBWpiOczQ The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2xz5fs
>The Century of the Self: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ3RzGoQC4s
I think all of Adam Curtis' documentaries are worth a watch:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL617BE1DB723DB1D6
Some others favourites off the top of my head:
808 (about the drum machine): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2268622/
Scratch: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0143861/
Hoop Dreams: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110057/
Startup.com (a classic!) : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0256408/
The Fog of War: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#24Maybe not a documentary, but I can watch "How it's made" like people binge-watch netflix shows...
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#25Absolute zero was really interesting, Found some 720p ones but the audio is super quiet
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#26Titicut Follies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titicut_Follies
The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Emperor%27s_Naked_Army_Mar...
Grizzly Man: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grizzly_Man
Burden of Dreams: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083702/
Boatman: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106445/
For wild-life I'll pick any Cousteau or BBC documentary
---Below are French movies (but worth trying to find in English)---
Depardon's Profils Paysans trilogy : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0284409/
L'Inde fantôme : https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063914/
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#27Quincy - just out on Netflix about Quincy Jones. What a fascinating life he's had. Watched it with a smile on my face the whole time.
Also worth seeing is another doco made about him years earlier, 'Listen Up: The Lives Of Quincy Jones.'
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#28I watched some ' extraordinary lives' documentaries with modern day video footage
1. Stalin's Daughter : https://www.amazon.com/Stalins-Daughter-Svetlana-Alliluyeva/...
2. Last emperor of China Puyi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KnlcJk2w4E
Crazy ups and downs.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#29The Secret Life Of Waves. It made me think differently about life, the universe and the nature of complex systems. I also found The Brain with David Eagleman a series that gave me revelations about all sorts of things.
You’d probably enjoy David Eagleman’s book Incognito and also maybe his quirky book of short stories Sum.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#30Restrepo is a 2010 American documentary film about the Afghanistan war.
The 2nd Platoon is depicted defending the outpost (OP) named after a platoon medic who was killed earlier in the campaign.
The huge success of this film and what separates it from the hundreds of other war pictures is that Junger puts us right in the middle of the action without any political agenda. He simply decides to film these groups of soldiers who have been deployed to one of the most dangerous locations in Afghanistan and lets us experience their day to day lives without making any pro or anti war comments. We are allowed to see a small glimpse of what the American soldiers have to go through and how they live amongst the villagers. In a way Junger allows the soldiers being filmed to tell their own story. We experience what they are going through in this dangerous war zone and how they interact with the local people. The cinematography is actually quite astonishing and I really felt like I was there with the soldiers.
The movie isn`t pro or anti war; it simply places the camera in the middle of the action and lets us experience what is going on. No one`s opinion about War is going to change: those who favor Americans involvement in Afghanistan will still do so after watching this documentary and those who don`t will still feel the same because the directors don't try to manipulate us into thinking the way they do. There aren`t any personal opinions about politics or war; it's all about experiencing what these soldiers have to go through every day whether or not they actually understand what they are fighting for.
It is only 90 minutes long so it is really worth your time.