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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?

#261

Post by nyokodo »

LaserDiscMan wrote: post #87
alexilliamson wrote: post #80

The Act of Killing - it's hard to even describe the premise. Its a present-day (2012) profile on participants in the 1960s mass killings in Indonesia. An absolutely brutal look into human nature.

I watched that shortly after release. Very memorable. It was quite bizarre to hear someone freely discuss his day job of murdering people in such a casual context.

> fter release. Very memorable. It was quite bizarre to hear someone freely discuss his day job of murdering people in such a casual context.

Sadly this is pretty common https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eichmann_in_Jerusalem#:~:tex....

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

#262

Post by expensive_news »

A few people have mentioned Apollo 11 but I prefer (and my favorite documentary of all time is) For All Mankind (1989). They’re similar, iirc they share a lot of the same footage, but For All Mankind gives you a great sense of what it was like for those early astronauts to take that trip to the Moon. It has all the best footage of the moon we have ever taken. For All Mankind is a must, but both are worth a watch if you’re a space fan.

Crumb is also pretty good. It’s about an offbeat artist and gives you the look into the mind of someone that wouldn’t normally be in the spot light.

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

#263

Post by sassycharacter »

AndrewOMartin wrote: post #250
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #26

The World at War - BBC documentary series about WWII. Shows humanity simultaneously at it's best and worst. The Vietnam War - Ken Burns documentary series. Very balanced and sobering take on the Vietnam war, events leading to the Vietnam war, and unrest in the US during that period. The Fog of War - Errol Morris doc about Robert McNamara. The Salt of the Earth - Doc about photographer Sebastião Salgado Alone in the W…

Sorry to nitpick but The World at War is Thames Television. I think they became ITV. I also used to think it was BBC because of the quality and dignity of the production, I wouldn't be surprised to hear some people claim this is an example of the Mandela effect.

Yes it was originally made by Thames Television. Now only available on DVD as far as I can tell.

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

#264

Post by giantg2 »

2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #26

The World at War - BBC documentary series about WWII. Shows humanity simultaneously at it's best and worst. The Vietnam War - Ken Burns documentary series. Very balanced and sobering take on the Vietnam war, events leading to the Vietnam war, and unrest in the US during that period. The Fog of War - Errol Morris doc about Robert McNamara. The Salt of the Earth - Doc about photographer Sebastião Salgado Alone in the W…

Is that actually Dick building the cabin, or is it a reenactment based on his diary/book?

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

#265

Post by swalberg »

asdfqwertzxcv wrote: post #70

Fires of Kuwait - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tUzkF_Dp8M A first hand account of the firefighters who were sent to cap the oil wells that Saddam set on fire during his attempt to invade the country. Senna https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aPLOQeSHrM The story of famed F1 driver. I'm not a racing fan but this one was amazing. Apollo 11 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Co8Z8BQgWc Completely new footage was found of…

If you like documentaries about the space race, the Washington Post has a fantastic podcast series called "Moonrise" (https://www.washingtonpost.com/podcasts/).

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

#266

Post by denton-scratch »

I saw a 2-hour-long documentary about the Standard Model of particle physics, sometime around 1980. It was basically a presentation, by one man, with graphics (which were pretty good for back then). The presentation was sober, and completely free of gee-whizz hype. I think it must have been BBC.

As I remember it, it was a really good presentation of the discoveries that had recently been made in particle physics. I've spent hours searching archives, just to find a trace of evidence of this programme having ever been broadcast. Nothing. If I only knew the name of the presenter, that would help, because he wasn't a famous TV presenter; I believe he was a physicist. But the presenter's name is linked to the documentary - his name might be in the title.

I'd love to get a clue about how to track down this show.

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

#270

Post by asiachick »

DizzyDoo wrote: post #107
pkrotich wrote: post #94

"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.

I think Jiro Dreams of Sushi is a fantastic documentary and recommend it also. I came away with a different impression, in that I certainly don't admire or want to share Jiro's attitude to work, because the perfection-at-all-costs approach looked like it had a pretty devastating fallout on his wife and his two sons. It's a fascinating documentary in that you'll either come away saying "how inspirational!" or "I'm run…

as someone that lived in Japan for over a decade I found it made up. The documentary people could have picked almost any indie sushi restaurant in Japan. I'm not sure what made Jiro special

I agree tho it's a good documentary for seeing someone taking their work so seriously and the fallout from it as well as for seeing how much work might go into certain kinds of food prep and therefore making me appreciate it more.

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