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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?

#531

Post by michaelcampbell »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #183
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…

Any of Ken Burns' documentaries are good, The Civil War and Vietnam being two of the best. Even his take on Prohibition and Baseball are very watchable.

I loved the Civil War, and I think the quality of Vietnam was great too, but it made me so angry I had to stop watching it. I am not of an age where I was in danger of going, but I had siblings that were. They luckily did not go.

I liked his Jazz one too.

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

#533

Post by stzsch »

0x45696e6172 wrote: post #273

I enjoyed Branching Paths, which gave provides a unique window into the Japanese indie game developer scene -- If you liked Indie Game: The Movie 2012 and are interested in Japanese media, then watch at least the trailer: https://store.steampowered.com/app/494680/Branching_Paths/

Second this. For those who enjoyed, the director also has a youtube channel hosting interviews with japanese artists:

https://www.youtube.com/c/ArchipelDocks/videos

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

#534

Post by arethuza »

WickyNilliams wrote: post #525
arethuza wrote: post #378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I watched The Ascent of Man when it first came out - I was probably 8 or 9 at the time. That scene at Auschwitz where he walks into the pond is burned into my memory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltjI3BXKBgY Edit: It was many years later that I noticed the reference to Leo Szilard, reminding me of this quote from The Making of the Atomic Bomb : "In London, where Southampton Row passes Russell Square, across from t…

I'm not sure how I originally came across it, it was certainly well before my time. But I'm glad I did. It is incredibly dense - especially when compared to today's TV shows - but perfectly understandable. Bronowski's passion for the subject matter is evident at all times, and his humanist take on science lends an endearing quality. That's a beautiful excerpt, thanks for sharing.

I doubt if I actually took very much in from watching it - other than wanting to be a scientist! My dad seemed to thing getting me to watch it would be good for me.

However, I still remember that scene nearly 50 years later.

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

#535

Post by mixmastamyk »

nl wrote: post #449
BMc2020 wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What were the lies? Lies of fact please, not opinions. This is a good place to start: https://michaelmoore.com/movies/fahrenheit-911/ click on the facts tab

I generally like Michael Moore, but I think there are better documentaries about 9/11. I think George Bush's politics were abhorrent and his war in Iraq was probably the worst US intervention in history in terms of consequences, so I'm far from a defender of Bush. But conflating a documentary about 9/11 with a documentary about Bush's politics makes a worse documentary than doing both separately IMHO.

Agreed. Bush was only in office eight months or so when it happened. His biggest 9/11 blunder was ignoring security advisors who were sounding vague alarms for several months.

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

#536

Post by Theory42 »

orasis wrote: post #63

“The Century of the Self” by Adam Curtis. https://youtu.be/eJ3RzGoQC4s It goes through each decade of the 1900s and explains how Freud’s psychology and the new field of marketing completely reshaped society. For the first time in my life I feel like I understood the “why” of how things work in American society. This film is probably best if you’re age 40+ and actually remember some of the events.

This is a work of art--I must say though that I remember thinking of his subject as a bit of a mirror for his work: in the first episode he remember him talking about propaganda in its many forms, and then getting the impression that he was using those exact techniques on the viewer within the documentary itself.

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

#538

Post by defterGoose »

AnonC wrote: post #510
defterGoose wrote: post #375

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can you explain why? I found it such a deft exposition on both zoology and philosophy. So good.

Not GP. Instead of duplicating what I posted in another comment on the criticism of it, here’s the link to my HN comment. [1] [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32806378

Umm yeah, just couldn't make it past the whole "post-colonial meta-narrative [for white people]" bit. That's pretty much a good summing up of all the criticism I've read of the film: that because it was made by some relatively-well-off white dude in South Africa, that there can be nothing of value to learn from it.

I'll take the one that required dedication and hard work to obtain never-before-seen footage of animal behavior over a snarky YouTube hot-take criticism any day.

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

#539

Post by 9935c101ab17a66 »

wyclif wrote: post #499
Archelaos wrote: post #114

"The Civil War" by Ken Burns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries) Detailed. Unagitated text. No reenactment. Based on contemporary documents only (almost). Competent experts, some quite characters. Reserved but impressive music.

The historian Shelby Foote is the star of the series.

First of all, Foote isn’t a historical, or he wasn’t during filming. He’s a cloying sycophant who egregiously who thinks the civil war wasn’t in fact w war to abolish the institution of slavery. No, Mr Foote (a writer by trade) wants you know the whole thing was just the result of a “failure to compromise.”

Yikes.

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

#540

Post by 9935c101ab17a66 »

Archelaos wrote: post #114

"The Civil War" by Ken Burns https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Civil_War_(miniseries) Detailed. Unagitated text. No reenactment. Based on contemporary documents only (almost). Competent experts, some quite characters. Reserved but impressive music.

It’s received a fair amount of criticism the last few years and in my opinion a lot of it is valid. I would never recommend it to someone who isn’t already familiar with the politics of the several war — at least they’ll be able to have a good chuckle when Foote opens his mouth.
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