I'm just interested in seeing what documentaries people like, and why. They can be films or they can be documentary mini-series. I'm going to rule out documentary TV series like PBS's Frontline and POV but specific episodes are okay though.
My favorites
- Revolution OS: I'm a fan of Open Source Software, and in my opinion this is the best documentary on the movement, and it's presented in a pretty approachable fashion.
- Triumph of the Nerds: This is sort of the sibling documentary to the docu-drama Pirates of Silicon Valley, done by infamous computer industry rumor-monger Robert X. Cringely for PBS. It stopped before the internet got really big though. However, the follow-up Nerds 2.0 covers that (I haven't seen the mini-series, but I have read the book).
- Connections: An interesting little documentary mini-series from James Burke. The idea behind the series is (as Burke was a Science correspondent for the BBC), to follow the chains of inventions and events that linked scientific developments together, to take us to where we are today. There are two follow-up series, but season 1 is probably the best.
- The Day the Universe Changed: This is a sort of companion series to James Burke's documentary series Connections. The series sort of uses the Connections narrative style (of chaining together historical events and scientific developments), but the goal here is to determine what brought us certain scientific developments which changed the way we perceive the universe, and thus (for us) changed the universe.
- Dear Zachary: This is radically different than the other 4 documentaries on my top 5. This is a more narrative documentary about a documentary film-maker, sort of recording a record about his best friend from childhood who was murdered by his ex-girlfriend, for his friend's son (whose mother was the ex-girlfriend), so he'd know what his father was like. The narrative is also framed around the custody battle between the ex-girlfriend and the friend's parents over the child, and the extradition hearings to get the ex-girlfriend to the US so she can face trial. It has a pretty twist though, one that's pretty depressing. (Note, if you've seen Dear Zachary, don't spoil it, at least not without the spoiler-guard. I'm not going to spoil it in my post.)
So, duders, what are your favorite documentaries?
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