Is This The Real Life? Documentaries You Love

[tamaradixon]

TiaMaria said:

Hands on a Hard Body is probably my favorite documentary. Set at a car dealership in East Texas, it follows a contest to win a truck -- the person who can keep his or her hand on the (hard body) truck the longest wins it. It is hilarious, touching, exhausting...a great movie.

I liked this one too. Did you know Arnold Vosloo helped finance it? Weird but true.

[Deleted]

Darn! The Farmer's Wife is not available through Netflix. That sounds excellent.

[marywebgirl]

I love the Paradise Lost films. I had to watch the first one in college for a class about witchcraft, and it hooked me on both the story and documentaries in general.

If you liked Riding With Giants, check out Dogtown and Z Boys, which details the 70's skateboard stars from California.

I loved Dogtown! I heard the director is making a surfing doc now. Along those same lines, I'm not positive if Step Into Liquid qualifies as a doc, but it's gorgeous just the same. I saw it for the first time on the beach in Waikiki, which was pretty much the most perfect movie-viewing experience I've ever had.

[vacationland]

Note: spoilers re: the Up documentaries follow.

Who are Bruce and Neil? Is Bruce the black man who spent part of his childhood in a children's home?

Bruce was the posh kid who grew up to teach in Bangladesh, then later got married. He was such a little po-faced twit in the first movie, it was kind of cool to see what a decent human being he turned out to be.

Neil was the middle-class kid from Liverpool who had it together (albeit in a sort of tightly-wound way) until he developed serious mental illness in college. I didn't think he was going to make it there for a few of the films.

The black kid from the children's home, Symon, dropped out of the series in his 20s, though last we saw him, he'd married and had a bunch of kids. Which kind of makes sense, since his little childhood self had been utterly focused on having a family.

Re: upward mobility? Well, Tony did well, considering his humble origins, but it's all within the context of his working class roots: he succeeded in areas where guys from his social class (and age; remember, he's a Baby Boomer) have traditionally done well: sport, taxi driving (which is a more specialized trade in London, requiring a lot of study; it's the equivalent of becoming a plumber or electrician in North America, salary-wise), acting (although just as a bit player) and pub ownership. He's the archetypal "local boy done good" and it doesn't ruffle any class-conscious feathers because he's not trying to portray himself as anything other than a savvy little guy from the streets who worked hard and didn't squander his money.

The greatest upward mobility was probably experienced by the ones who emigrated to other, less class-concious countries: the kid from the children's home who went to Australia (Paul) and ended up a contractor (& married with kids) probably did better for himself than if he'd stayed in the UK, in terms of finances and quality of life. There's not as much stigma attached to coming from humble origins in Australia; in fact, it's kind of admired. And Nick, the physicist, had to move to the US to do the kind of research he wanted to do; he most likely has a much better standard of living in the US than he would've if he'd stayed in the UK doing less financially (and personally) rewarding work, much less stayed on the farm...although I think he's paid the price of being separated from his culture and family ties.

The women do get shortchanged, in that they're of a generation that was a little more limited by cultural expectations. The working class women, especially, were somewhat at the mercy of their choices re: motherhood and marital status. They didn't have it easy, and yet--culturally--are expected to suck it up and be cheerful and soldier on, because that's the attitude that is admired in their strata of society. The closest fictional equivalent to them is Brenda Blethyn's character in Secrets and Lies.

Dang, I'm going to go to the library and see if they've got 42 Up...I want to see it again! For those having trouble finding docs at Netflix or Blockbuster, try your local libraries...lots of them have videos or DVDs and the selection is heavy on documentaries. Just one more source for folks who like to keep it real, cinematically speaking.

[decormaven]

Step Into Liquid is great; love the camera work. Netflix has really expanded the # of documentaries the DM household now views. Now if Eyes on the Prize would be released on DVD, that would be awesome. As I understand it, copyright snags on the music used in the film are holding up the re-release on DVD/VHS.

[ribbue]

Hi Mulva. I did a little research on The Farmer's Wife because I wanted to re-watch it again. Unfortunately, it looks like it's only available in VHS.

If you can, I'd follow Vacationland's advice and seeing if it's available at your local library ... it really is that excellent. When I initially saw the promos on PBS (they were, thankfully, heavily promoting it) and positive media reviews for it, I was still apprehensive because I wasn't sure that six hours about a farming couple would be appealing. However, I was hooked right away and am so glad to have seen this gem.

BTW, I absolutely love your name (Seinfeld?).

[Deleted]

Thanks for the info and suggestion Vacationland and ribbue. I'll definitely have to check it out. Hmm... wonder where my local library is anyway. :-)

Yup, "Mulva" is from Seinfeld. I thought "Gipple" would be a little too obvious. :-)

[Deleted]

My people!!!

I will watch just about any documentary that I come across. Several excellent one's have been mentioned: Paradise Lost, Spellbound, The "Up' series and The Farmer's Wife (which I actually caught first-run on PBS). Don't forget about the HBO fabulous docs. I'm not sure if I remember all the names but the most disturbing is probably the one with Swan, the child pageant queen. Another excellent one was My Brother's Keeper, I'm pretty sure that's the name. Aileen Wuornos had a doc, as did another woman (can't recall her name) that was executed. Sad stuff.

I've walked by Fog of War so many times thinking it would be propaganda. I will now be jogging to my nearest rental outfit to watch it thanks to you guys.

Can I pick your brains? One of the most interesting docs I've ever seen was back in the late '80s, I believe on HBO, but am not sure. It was an hour of film of many, varied animals mating. It was unbelievably fascinating and not because it was sexual in any way really. Anyone have any recollection of this? I've tried to find it for years.

[topher]

I heard the director is making a surfing doc now.

MaryWeb, it called Riding with Giants and it is out on DVD.

[foxfair]

Mulva - Re: The Farmer's Wife - you could also try contacting PBS/Frontline through their website - they are generally very helpful about locating tapes etc.

And word to whoever said they are wondering how things are for them now - in no way did I necessarily think they were in for a happy ending, although it would be nice to hear. Their children must be near-grown now, too.

Spoilers ahead:

Vacationland I agree with everything you've said about the 7-Up docs - your basic take is about the same as mine. Your take on Tony is correct - I think one of the things the documentary indirectly shows is just how rigid class is in England. In N America you're much more able to simply buy your way into a higher class, but in England, money or no, that accent'll nail ya everytime. I lived in London for a couple of years recently and I have spent a lot of time in the UK (I have a UK passport) - it's fascinating to observe. I'm also aware of 'The Knowledge' re: becoming a black cab driver. Didn't Tony's wife do it as well? I LOVED that! It would be so fun to hop into a black cab and have a woman driving it and zooming up all these obscure little streets. I don't think that happened to me once in London (with the woman driver).

When did 42 Up come out? I.e. when will 49 up be coming out? These people are getting on in age now, aren't they? I remember one of the working class women had a quite serious brain condition, didn't she?

OK, not to be too long winded but I saw Control Room recently - it was good. Not eeeexcellent, but good. I think the US military should use that Marine (the main guy - I am so bad with names!) as a propaganda tool - he definitely puts the lie to the 'All American soldiers are bloodthirsty, brainwashed brutes" line - he was pretty great.

Aaaand last but not least, has anyone seen Gunner Palace yet? I've seen extended previews and would lvoe to hear reviews - I def. want to see it.