Is This The Real Life? Documentaries You Love

[Britty]

I was still captivated by the story and how the filmmaker was able to turn Treadwell's story into a cautionary tale about how good intentions can go awry.

It was so interesting to watch. I kept wondering what Treadwell thought he was actually accomplishing. The fox was adorable.

You haven't seen creepy until you've seen the dad of one of the boys who was killed in Paradise Lost 2.

He gives me the heebie jeebies. I've seen him in person.

[Malle Babbe]

carolinarice said:

I've always enjoyed documentaries about nature, and recently saw a fascinating documentary called Grizzly Man - about Tim Treadwell, who was killed in Alaska by the very bears he was trying to protect. Even though I found Treadwell to be a naive, narcissictic whackjob, I was still captivated by the story and how the filmmaker was able to turn Treadwell's story into a cautionary tale about how good intentions can go awry.

If you enjoyed that, check out this parody of Grizzly Man; it's hysterical!

[Deleted]

You haven't seen creepy until you've seen the dad of one of the boys who was killed in Paradise Lost 2.

I've seen both of the Paradise Lost docs, and while I agree that Mark Byers is creepy, weird, and bizarre, I was never convinced that he actually could have been involved with the three boys' deaths. I thought it was more that the documentarians gave him free reign to be as out there as he wanted in the second doc and he was too stupid to know any better.

[pistachioofliberty]

Hey so I was at a premiere of Capturing the Friedmans and the filmmaker'd said that he would include something in the DVD: the video of the New York premiere. I wonder, did he? He described how amazing it was that, one by one, many of the "characters" in the film were revealed to be present in the audince (remember the woman with the GOP coffee mug?). Then there was an intense conversation.

[kanding]

I saw "The Smartest Guys in the Room" yesterday, and boy, would I like to see some people spend a loooooong time behind bars! It's about the people responsible for the downfall of Enron and you couldn't write better fiction. The way these men insulated themselves from any criticism of the way they conducted business and made money is staggering. I had read Conspiracy of Fools, so most of this wasn't new to me, but I guess actually watching footage of those to blame assuring employees and stockholders that everything was OK and to continue investing in the company made me rabid.

At least prosecution is underway and I can take comfort knowing that the prospect of jail time is hanging over some heads.

[Deleted]

A big word to all the love for Hoop Dreams. I'm not a sports fan so I wasn't expecting to enjoy it but it was about so much more than that. I would really love to know how the two guys and their families are doing. I read on imdb that there might be a new follow-up doc. but I don't know how reliable that info is.

Another one that well... I'm not sure I love it so much as I'm in awe at the absurdity of it is Project Grizzly. Not to be confused with the previously mentioned Grizzly Man, Project Grizzly is about this Canadian guy and his decade long journey to build a suit to enable him to fight a bear mano a mano. The best parts of this movie are when he puts his suit to the pre-bear test (more than a few of which seem really irrelevant). I was in hysterics when they hit him repeatedly with a huge log and later with a car. The sad thing is that anyone would take one look at this suit and realise that it was seriously lacking in mobility and all that bear had to do was knock him over and he would be trapped! The freaky thing is I vaguely remember some mention of his project having some kind of official funding!?! I'd love to see a follow up for this one too because he was such an oddball character.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

Classical music fans should check out The Cliburn: Playing on the Edge. It's a documentary about the 2001 Cliburn Piano competition in Fort Worth, Texas. The competition is only held every four years and it's quite a big deal to win it. You'll definitely have your favorite competitors and the suspense is good...plus they have the winning performance in its entirety on the other side of the disc.

I also loved Touching the Void, the documentary about the horrific experience of two British mountain climbers in South America. By the end I was absolutely drained, and could not fathom this story was actually real.

[pistachioofliberty]

Yay for Hoop Dreams! And since I had dinner with him once, I can vouch for the fabulousness that is filmmaker Frederick Marx. Oh well, Google him; he has some great ideals and a heart on just the right place. He made a great short about his father's experiences with the HUAC,

[indygirl]

I just finished watching Grizzly Man on the Discovery Channel. It will come on again tomorrow night for anyone who hasn't seen it and wants to. I'm still trying to decide how exactly I feel about Treadwell.

[Baby Fish Mouth]

I just watched Grizzly Man. Fabulous documentary. Ultimately I felt that Treadwell was selfish and an egotist, with extremely misguided notions of how the bears could best be helped. Um, hello, it's not helping bears when you teach them not to be afraid of humans. I think he cared more about fighting the "system" than he did about the bears. Of course no one deserves to die this way but the irony of it all is kind of amusing.

It's a shame his girlfriend died with him. It seemed as if she had some common sense.