Some of my favourite nerdy documentaries:
BBS: The Documentary https://youtu.be/nO5vjmDFZaI
The KGB, the Computer, and Me https://youtu.be/EcKxaq1FTac
8 Bit Generation: The Commodore Wars https://youtu.be/Jq_t-v0bDZ8
Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
91–100 of 245 posts
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#92Wild 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
Wild Wild Country completely blew my mind. It didn't happen that long ago, seems like it would have been major national news on a number of occasions, and yet I had never heard anything about it before watching the doc.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#93Asif Kapadia's 'Senna'.
'India's Daughter' by Leslee Udwin for an interesting record of modern India.
Generally I do think, documentaries work better when they avoid talking heads.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#94Touching the Void. Based on a book by Joe Simpson
Amazing story and perspective.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#95"Tickled" will absolutely blow your mind. It feels like you have a front-row seat to a real scandal in a way that no other documentary I've ever seen does. All the "Dirty Money" episodes are pretty good, but the best one by far IMHO is the one about the racecar driver / payday loan scam empire. Just amazing. "Plastic China" is really tough to watch (and may be even more deeply uncomfortable for people who pat themsel…
> It feels like you have a front-row seat to a real scandal I haven't seen it yet myself, but lots of people whose opinions I respect have told me that Weiner ( https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5278596/ ) is good for this as well.
As is "Icarus" (PEDs in cycling)
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#96Andrew Marr's History of the World https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQupjl7KjR5vqzfweATuw...
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2441214/
"Andrew Marr's History of the World is a 2012 BBC documentary television series presented by Andrew Marr that covers 70,000 years of world history from the beginning of human civilisation, as African nomadic peoples spread out around the world and settled down to become the first farmers, up to the twentieth century."
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#97Power of nightmare by Adam Curtis.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#98Happy People (2010). Focuses on isolated communities living in remote areas of Siberia and their way of life.
Also:
Chef's Table
Wild Wild Country
Tickled
Jiro Dreams of Sushi
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#99I loved Icarus; it was just amazing how more and more off track the filmmaker's original plan went as he got entangled with this Russian doctor and found himself documenting a much more interesting story than the one he originally set out to do.
Re: Ask HN: What are some of the best documentaries you've seen?
#100The Act of Killing - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2375605/ "A documentary which challenges former Indonesian death-squad leaders to reenact their mass-killings in whichever cinematic genres they wish, including classic Hollywood crime scenarios and lavish musical numbers."
Mr. Oppenheimer is one of the most interesting film makers I've had the chance to meet and hear in talks at Q&As. I strongly recommend his two films, and if you can ever find your way to see "Titicut Follies", do it. I saw it at Telluride with an intro by Oppenheimer and was blown away.
"Titicut Follies" is a documentary by Frederick Wiseman about a mental institution in Massachusetts, in the 1960's. It's a haunting film about the way the patients are treated, it's quite extreme and sad but fully worth a view. You've never seen anything like it, and probably can't imagine how truly horrifying it is.