Is This The Real Life? Documentaries You Love

[thecupcakekid]

I thought Treadwell was insane. That bit towards the end where he was just cussing out the world showed how unbalanced he was. He named the bears, gave them personalities. He got what was coming. You don't try to make friends with wild animals.

[topher]

I was thinking he was trying hard to be the American Crocodile Hunter.

[hussypurr]

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.

This movie absolutely fascinates me. I've seen it six or seven times already. My theory is that Werner Herzog made this picture because Timothy Treadwell reminded him so much of Klaus Kinski, the whack job actor who was featured in his most famous films.

[workgeordie]

I would like to put forward for your consideration New York Doll.

This documentary follows Arthur "Killer" Kane, former bass player of the legendary New York Dolls, who as a recovering alcoholic has found god in the Mormon Church and is given a chance to reunite with the band after 30 years for a one-off concert in London.

This documentary is inspirational with a surprising ending. Running at 75 minutes it is nearly the perfect length for the subject.

[Deleted]

I probably see more documentaries than regular movies and I'm a sucker for any kind of TV nature documentary (but only if David Attenborough is the narrator).

My all time favourite documentary, though, is by french filmmaker Agnes Varda - Les Glaneurs et la Glaneuse (English title is The Gleaners and I). I just can't recommend it highly enough.

[fantagrape]

Children of Beslan, the story of the Beslan school massacre,told by the children that lived through it, is one the single most horrifying things I've seen on television; I could not stop crying over the evil human beings can perpetrate. Apparently there is a new documentary, Three Days in September narrarated by Julia Roberts, on the same subject, that premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival recently.

[JDub]

Just finished the entire Up series, with the exception of 49 up, which hasn't been released on DVD yet. Gah, I was barely able to go to sleep this whole week, because all I wanted to do was sit up and watch them one after the other. I was fascinated with getting to see them grow up and learn what became of them.

SPOILER WARNING:

I really liked Tony. I was a bit surprised when I found out in 42 Up that he and his wife were still together. I was not surprised to learn in 35 Up that he'd ran around on her a bit. I can't really explain why, but it just didn't surprise me. I laughed in 42 when he was trying not to say that he likes the attention he gets when he's recognized, and his wife just says "you do".
I liked Nick, but I agree with others that his wife sucked. Apparantly Apted admits in the 42 commentary that when he interviewed them, he figured the marriage wasn't going to work out and his questions reflected that. I love though, that he thought she was a beeyotch to and didn't really try to hide it. I'm going to watch the commentary tonight.
There's a little more info on the series on Wikipedia. I learned that the one who works for BBC and who refused to participate after 21 had tried to sue Apted.
I loved Paul and his wife Sue. Such a great couple.
I was so touched by Bruce helping Neil out. Wikipedia says Bruce and his wife have two kids, so I look forward to seeing that.
I would never have guessed Suzi would turn out the way she did.

I cannot wait to see 49 Up, especially now that I know that Nick and Jackie have since divorced. I wonder if Neil has gotten any better, if Jackie is still living in Scotland. I think it is going to be hard to watch them as they are getting on in age, since there's more of a chance of illness or worse. Although, I just found an article on Neil, where he says he thinks this will be the last one, but he's basing that on the fact that Apted and others involved in the production are much older now. I'm also interested to see John coming back, since he didn't want to participate in 28 and 42. He's one of the ones I most looked forward to seeing each time, for some reason. I think it was because he seemed so serious as a child that it cracked me up. I love that in each installment of the series, they show him saying to the other little boy, "stop it at once!" Hee. Am I the only one who found myself thinking they looked a million times older than their ages once they got past 21?

[Deleted]

My heart skipped about 10 beats last night when I saw The Decline of Western Civilization part 1 (about punk rock) listed on the on-screen guide as being on VH1 Classic. Sadly, when I turned the channel on, it turned out to be Decline Part 2 (about metal bands). I hadn't seen Part 1 since '81 when it first came out and the darned thing isn't available on either VHS or DVD. ::SOB::: Damn you, wrong on-screen guide!

[JDub]

I was at Netflix the other day and saw that they have The Farmer's Wife available. I know some people here were let down that they didn't have it.

[nitenurse]

The UP series is brilliant. I looked in this thread to see if anyone was thinking of it and was happily surprized to discover that I'm not the only one waiting for the next installment.