Five Favorite Documentaries

Well my last post about my five favorite directors was fairly popular, and i have been going through a documentary phase, and so i decided to list my favorite documentaries. Documentary film making is a powerful genre, and one that cannot be replicated by narrative film, it is retrospective, fascinating and real.

• In Bed With Madonna

Also known as Truth or Dare, In Bed With Madonna offers a unique insight into the world of Madonna, before she was really Madonna, she was just a young girl from Michigan with a dream, and that shines through in this movie. Part documentary, part concert film, In Bed With Madonna is a small snapshot of a time in which Madonna was far more carefree and much less self serious, unafraid to take risks, push boundaries and have fun. The film was hugely influential, becoming the highest grossing documentary of all time, and becoming the blueprint for countless other mimics such as Katy Perry: Part of Me, Believe and Never Say Never. Madonna subsequently followed this up with I'm Going To Tell You A Secret.

• Blackfish

 I have already written about this film rather a lot and i invite people wanting to know more to see my review HERE. Blackfish is less of a documentary and more of a thriller, about an orca named Tillikum, who is responsible for the deaths of three people. The film analyzes the reasons for his being kept in captivity, and is a critique of SeaWorld Entertainments ecological and ethical policy.

• Waking Sleeping Beauty

 This documentary focuses on the Disney renaissance, the era of Disney animation in which i grew up, and by far the most successful and prolific era of Disney animated movies. Waking Sleeping Beauty (review HERE) despite being released by Walt Disney Pictures is a fascinating and unfettered look at the infighting and tension occurring behind the scenes, and is a fantastic tribute to the monumental artists who are solely responsible for the success of that era.

• Bowling For Columbine

This film was also once the highest grossing documentary of all time, and won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2002. Directed by Michael Moore the film revolves around the columbine massacre, a high school shooting in Colorado. The film is a critique of the accessibility of guns in modern America, and looks at issues such as weapons of mass destruction, the climate of fear and the war on terror. The title refers to the fact that the perpetrators were known to have played bowling the morning of the attack, the documentary is fascinating, consuming and infuriating, and will change your opinions of the way we look at violence in modern culture.

• The September Issue

I reviewed this film rather recently, The September Issue is a documentary film about Anna Wintour and the creation of the September issue of Vogue Magazine. An interesting look at the fashion industry, the publishing industry, and the sheer control that Anna Wintour has over the publication, the film offers an insight that can't be found in narrative films such as The Devils Wears Prada, and succeeds in showing us the woman behind the sunglasses and the pageboy bob.