# Documentaries worth watching



## Hollowway (Sep 18, 2011)

I love a good documentary. If you guys have any you'd recommend, list them here. I'll start:

Bigger, stronger, faster. About steroid use.
Beyond the lighted stage: about Rush
High Score: about this guy trying to break the WR on Missile Command
I also generally like Michael Moore's stuff, but I've only seen a few.


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## TRENCHLORD (Sep 18, 2011)

A couple I've seen of late which I really enjoyed were; The Pat Tillman Story, and the one on Travis Pastrana (101 Lives or something like that).

Neither one was full of stuff I didn't already know, but they were both fairly entertaining.


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## MrGignac (Sep 18, 2011)

if you like High score youd love : fistfull of dollars: the king of kong. its about guys competing for the donkey kong world record. 

i mostly watch science and conspiracy documentarys

Science:
Most of the universe is missing
dangerous knowlege (bbc)
parallel universes

conspiracy/war/polotics
Americia from freedom to facism
Esoteric agenda (very good)
kymatica
human resources
taxi to the dark side

i love the shit about physics, im addicted to that show "into the wormhole with morgan freeman"

hope you like a few


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## Grand Moff Tim (Sep 18, 2011)




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## Sebastian (Sep 18, 2011)

Great thread! I also like documentaries, mainly about art, biographies etc.you can find some really cool stuff on youtube too
Born28thMay&#39;s Channel - YouTube


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## Hollowway (Sep 18, 2011)

Oh yeah, I forgot about The Pat Tillman Story! That's one I've been meaning to check out.


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## Explorer (Sep 18, 2011)

King Corn - Two recent college graduates plant a single acre of corn and set out to follow it on its journey from the seed to the dinner plate. This documentary caused the corn industry to launch a huge ad campaign in order to counter it. The ads have since been pulled from YouTube, but the parodies are still there. Can you imagine what the original ads were like, that a simple parody caused them to be pulled?

Super Size Me - the documentary which made me stop eating at McDonalds and other fast food chains.

My Kid Could Paint That - A 4-year-old girl is said to be the painter of high-end art.

Heavy Metal Parking Lot - Just what the title suggests.

Private Life of Plants

Planet Earth


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## MickD7 (Sep 18, 2011)

Heavy Metal Baghdad 
Heavy Metal A head Bangers Journey- I think its called the guy also did another one called Global Metal as well


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## Jakke (Sep 18, 2011)

Cults: Dangerous devotion
- Documentary and analysis of some of the most horrifying cults of modern times. The Davidians in Waco, all the way to The Family

Ku Klux Klan: A Secret History
- It's what it sounds like, a history of the Klan. From the beginnings as a gentlemens club, to a terrorist organization, and to the gathering of white supremasists it is today... 

Indoctrinate U
- It's about how the freedom of thought is supressed at american universities, from speech codes (Wirginia West for example thinks it's inappropriate to say "boyfriend" or "girlfriend", instead they want everyone to use the gender neutral words "partner" or "lover"), to downright mobbing of students with non-mainstream ideas. They don't even have to be offensive thoughts, libertarians and other conservatives are often victims of this. Quite a scary watch...


And of course the Life-series, a huge catalogue over some of the marvelous life on our planet.


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## Necky379 (Sep 18, 2011)

epicly later'd john cartiel-it's about a skateboarder who was paralyzed and how his life has changed from the accident. i usually hate "inspiring" type documentarys but this one is really good.

someone above mentioned the travis pastrana doc, it's called 199 lives and it's also worth checking out. danny chandler has one too challed magoo. that guy was fucking nuts on a bike. he, like cartiel, was paralyzed later though.


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## Dan (Sep 18, 2011)

This Thread is deemed true 

Check out:

Bruce Parry: Tribe
Blue Planet
Ross Kemp: On Gangs

Thats a few atm, when i look through my collection i shall give you guys a million more


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## Infamous Impact (Sep 18, 2011)

While I'm not a pothead, this was quite the eye opener.


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## Murmel (Sep 18, 2011)

Dan said:


> Ross Kemp: On Gangs
> 
> Thats a few atm, when i look through my collection i shall give you guys a million more



I  Ross Kemp. EVerything he does is awesome to me.


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## Ninetyfour (Sep 18, 2011)

Horizon - What Is Reality?

Hands down best documentary I've ever seen, it blew my mind.

http://www.megavideo.com/?v=8AGH998Y


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## DVRP (Sep 18, 2011)

Infamous Impact said:


> While I'm not a pothead, this was quite the eye opener.



You must also remember that this movie is extremely biased.


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## Blind Theory (Sep 18, 2011)

Restrepo
-Simply amazing documentary. The best documentary of the war in Afghanistan. It is really powerful stuff and gives you a damn good view on what those guys go through. 

Iron Maiden Flight 666
-MAIDEN!!!


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## liamliam666 (Sep 18, 2011)

an idiot aborad


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## Jakke (Sep 18, 2011)

Infamous Impact said:


> While I'm not a pothead, this was quite the eye opener.



Just watched it, although biased, it was entertaining


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## the fuhrer (Sep 18, 2011)

The God Who Wasn't There

The Transcendent Man

Microcosmos

Religulous

Thumbs Up - Almost like a show but it is a bunch of short episodes following 2 Korean dudes hitch hiking and train jumping around the country.


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## daemon barbeque (Sep 18, 2011)

COSMOS: By lovely Carl Sagan. I was waiting in front of the TV as a kid to catch it.
Microcosmos: Watched in a Cinema. Awesome experience, especially the Hornet's first moments.
Get Thrashed: Awesome history of Thrash Metal. Watched it many times. Blitz Elsworth cracked me up 
Occupation 101: What happens in Israel and Palastine.


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## TemjinStrife (Sep 18, 2011)

Senna is probably the best documentary I have seen in a LONG time.


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## heminder (Sep 18, 2011)

The Corporation
"The documentary shows the development of the contemporary business corporation, from a legal entity that originated as a government-chartered institution meant to effect specific public functions, to the rise of the modern commercial institution entitled to most of the legal rights of a person. The 2003 Canadian film is critical of the modern-day corporation, considering it as a class of person and evaluating its behaviour towards society and the world at large as a psychologist might evaluate an ordinary person. This is explored through specific examples. The film was written by Joel Bakan, and co-directed by Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott."

download here: ThEy LiE We DiE - resources - videos in english (scroll down a bit)
other good ones worth watching from there are "Surplus", a Swedish documentary on consumerism; and "Money as Debt", a documentary on how the money system is broken.


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## heminder (Sep 18, 2011)

Into Eternity - a documentary on the huge problem with dealing with nuclear waste, and some solutions to it. was pretty cool i thought, with cool cinematics and it's very relevant. 

"Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world's first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock - a huge system of underground tunnels - that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous."



here's one you can watch right now:
Steal This film is about filesharing and the movie and music industries. this will probably interest quite a few people on here.
you can download a hi-res copy from their site: http://www.stealthisfilm.com/


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## cwhitey2 (Sep 18, 2011)

I was watching the documentary channel one day and there was one called "bike". I thought it was about biker gangs...wrong it was about bicycle 'gangs'. These guys take 2 or even 3 bikes and weld them together to make a super bike. It's porobably one of the most interesting things I have seen. Deff check it out if you can find it.


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## MFB (Sep 18, 2011)

"This Film Is Not Yet Rated" discusses the MPAA and some of the bullshit that goes on with ratings and such

also...


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## Infamous Impact (Sep 18, 2011)

DVRP said:


> You must also remember that this movie is extremely biased.


While it is biased there's still a good amount of info in it.


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## Scar Symmetry (Sep 18, 2011)

heminder said:


> Into Eternity - a documentary on the huge problem with dealing with nuclear waste, and some solutions to it. was pretty cool i thought, with cool cinematics and it's very relevant.
> 
> "Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world's first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock - a huge system of underground tunnels - that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous."



I _really _ want to see this film.


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## CFB (Sep 18, 2011)

Into eternity is a really cool film.


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## Mexi (Sep 19, 2011)

gonzo, food inc., the corporation, march of the penguins


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## Jakke (Sep 19, 2011)

Just watched "The Worlds Greatest Conspiracy Theories". It's really interesting, and also hilarious, thanks to the dry british voiceover.


FYI, hearing voices usually means that you are crazy, not that the government tries to control your mind...


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## Cadavuh (Sep 20, 2011)

The Century of the Self - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Incredible documentary. I highly recommend it to anyone willing to watch. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjP2gHoBLvA


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## Alberto7 (Sep 20, 2011)

I agree with Explorer; "Super Size Me" was great. Also, as somewhat of a parody to "Super Size Me," there's another one called "Super High Me," which basically is the same concept, but is super-biased, and incredibly funny . I watched it purely for comical purposes.

My contribution:

"The Elegant Universe," by Brian Greene.
If you're into physics, cosmology, astronomy, particle physics, higher dimensions, parallel universes, and other sci-fi-like concepts, then this is definitely a must-watch. The documentary is divided into three episodes of 1 hour each. It's a TV adaptation of a book that goes by the same name, and written by Brian Greene, who's also the host for the TV documentary. Lots of neat animations and visual representations of all the incredibly complex and mind-bending concepts of particle physics and string theory. Go watch it. Nao.


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## Infiniti (Sep 20, 2011)

Since people have mentioned Super Size Me...

Hulu - Fat Head - Watch the full movie now.

^ Fat Head. It's certainly an interesting watch if you've already watched Super Size me, or even if you've never seen it. I would personally recommend watching both, though.



A description of the movie said:


> Fat Head is a 2009 American documentary film directed by and starring Tom Naughton. The film seeks to refute both the documentary SuperSize Me, a Sundance Film Festival award winning film, and the lipid hypothesis, a bedrock of nutritional science for decades in the United States and much of the Western world.
> 
> The first part of Fat Head focuses on ways the film SuperSize Me stretched credibility or used questionable reasoning. Though the debate that the two films encapsulate will likely continue for a long time, Naughton employs transparency in his effort. An article in the Houston Chronicle reports: "Unlike Spurlock, Naughton has a page on his Web site that lists every item (including nutritional information) he ate during his fast-food month."
> 
> ...


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## drjeffreyodweyer (Sep 20, 2011)

heminder said:


> Into Eternity (...) a huge system of underground tunnels - that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous."



Was interested in this movie, but this quote already ruined it...


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## Rock4ever (Sep 20, 2011)

I liked Gasland and Inside Job.


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## Homebrew1709 (Sep 23, 2011)

Last doc I watched was called "There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane".

From the HBO site: "Revisits the mysterious tragedy of Diane Schuler, who, on July 26, 2009, drove the wrong way on the Taconic Parkway in New York for nearly two miles and then smashed into an oncoming SUV, killing herself, her daughter, her three nieces and all three people in the other car."

It might not sound like much from the description but it's actually fascinating. Since the incident, the family of the woman has basically exhausted all of its resources desperately attempting to clear her name and disprove the notion that she had been drinking and getting high (as was found in the autopsy). Check it out!


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## AdAstra2025 (Sep 23, 2011)

I just got done watching Paradise Lost: The Murders at Robin Hood Hill about the West Memphis 3. It is very good and leaves you feeling torn between their guilt or innocence. It's on demand on HBO right now. Check it out...but a word of caution, there are some VERY graphic, disturbing scenes. Remember, you can't un-see something.


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## teqnick (Sep 23, 2011)




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## The Grief Hole (Sep 24, 2011)

teqnick said:


>



Great movie.


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## TRENCHLORD (Sep 25, 2011)

Just saw a documentary on History Channel from 2005 called THE LITTLE ICE AGE-The Big Chill about the abrupt global cool down that began in 1304 and lasted nearly 400yrs. 
The violin maker Stadivarius was born in 1644, so when he begun constructing those still unmatchable tonal masterpieces the world was decades in to the colder less hospitaple weather. This meant that he was primarely using wood from trees that had a tighter denser grain and cell structures.
They talked about how musicians and scientist alike have tried to figure out why his violins sounded so much better than other makers. Supposedly other makers were using wood from the same region but weren't able to duplicate his 300 or so works.

Thought this all was cool for how it relates to tonewood differences and possible eventual genetic manipulations. Like breeding a better fuller alder, or a louder clearer mahogany. Maybe they already do? Anyone know?

edit; fixed dates


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## Alberto7 (Sep 25, 2011)

Wait, what? I thought Antonio Stradivari was born in the 1600's... Still, that doesn't mean his instruments weren't among the finest ever produced. I'd be interested in watching that documentary. Do you remember what it's called?


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## Murmel (Sep 25, 2011)

Anyone got any good yakuza documentaries? I'm a total whore for that organization.


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## kung_fu (Sep 25, 2011)

Here are a couple i saw rercently:

"Dangerous knowledge" - Beneath the surface of the world, are the rules of science. But beneath them, there is a far deeper set of rules  a matrix of pure mathematics which explains the nature of the rules of science and how it is way we can understand them in the first place. In this one-off documentary, David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians  Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan Turing  whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.
The film begins with Georg Cantor, the great mathematician whose work proved to be the foundation for much of the 20th-century mathematics. He believed he was Gods messenger and was eventually driven insane trying to prove his theories of infinity.

"Parallel Worlds, Parallel lives" - Novas Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives finds Mark Oliver Everett, singer of the band EELS, on a quest to get to know his later father, 
quantum physicist Hugh Everett III, who first proposed the many-worlds interpretation (MWI) of quantum physics. The film follows Mark on his journey across America, where he meets old friends and colleagues of his father. Hugh died of a heart attack in his home in 1982, where his body was found by 19-year-old Mark. Even though they had lived in the same house, the two of them were alienated. Only by entering the paradoxical world of quantum mechanics can Mark hope to understand why he was such a stranger to his own father.

also anything by Ken Burns (Jazz, Baseball, War, Jack Johnson, etc.), Richard Dawkins, or Carl Sagan


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## Chickenhawk (Sep 25, 2011)

199 Lives
Super Size Me (I still eat McDonalds, but very rarely)
Super High Me (extremely biased, and not very well planned...but funny as shit)

There was a BBC Documentary on pot, but I don't remember the name. A female reporter plans out and smokes pot and does various IQ tests and everyday activities. That's pretty funny, too.

I'm extremely against anything Michael Moore does. There is some good info in some of what he does, but it's all blown horribly out of proportion, and he's one of the worlds biggest hypocrites. Zero credibility, in my eyes. 

There were also a few science related ones, but I can't remember their names. There's also one about an instrument maker that my dad had me watch...but for the life of my I can't remember much about it, besides it being very, very good. I'll dig around and see what it was.

EDIT:

Since I noticed I'm horrible at the their/there/they're thing, if you can find me a documentary on the practical uses of their and there (I'm good with they're), I'll gladly watch it


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## TRENCHLORD (Sep 25, 2011)

Alberto7 said:


> Wait, what? I thought Antonio Stradivari was born in the 1600's... Still, that doesn't mean his instruments weren't among the finest ever produced. I'd be interested in watching that documentary. Do you remember what it's called?


 
You might well be right as I always seem to mis-remember details anymore(sucks gettin old). I'm gonna search it right now, but I think it was titled THE LITTLE ICE AGE-The Big Chill.

edit; YEP your right on, he was born in 1644, so the wood he was using were trees grown exclusively durring the worse conditions. The wikipedia talks about the tonal mystery as well.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stradivarius


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## kung_fu (Oct 21, 2011)

I'm in the mood for some more documentaries, so i decided to give this thread a lil bump. Here are a few more that haven't been mentioned:

"How about Free Jazz?" - features trevor dunn, jim black, and a lot of other newer experimental jazz artists

PBS's Niklas Tesla documentary

.....i can't think of the name, but a few months ago i watched a sweet doc about the history of sci-fi novels. It may have been a bbc series, I'll try finding it


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## MFB (Oct 21, 2011)

"The Pixar Story" is definitely worth watching


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## ZXIIIT (Oct 21, 2011)

Anvil! The Story of Anvil


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## MikeH (Oct 21, 2011)

Jesus Camp: Follows a group of kids and a female pastor of an evangelical church who are raising children to be one-track-minded individuals at a very young age.


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## Explorer (Oct 22, 2011)

I've been trying not to comment on or shout "me too!" about others' enjoyed documentaries, but I just watched the documentary about Rush last night, and will do so again this weekend. Very interesting. 

There is a series of documentaries on Instant Netflix about the making of various classic albums. I've watched the one on Queen's "A Night at the Opera," Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon," and Duran Duran's "Rio." Very interesting.

And, during that time I had my hand propped up, I finally watched "Freakonomics," which was entertaining.

I was taken aback by "Mail Order Bride," a horrifying film about a documentary filmmaker who puts up cash to enable a guy from NY to bring over his dream bride from Burma. I cringed at how shitty the people in this film could be.


Spoiler



I later found it wasn't an actual documentary, which shocked the hell out of me by how genuinely stupid I found the characters to be. Very well done... and a great relief when I found out.



Food Inc.
The Yes Men.


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## ry_z (Oct 22, 2011)

heminder said:


> The Corporation





Cosmos, obviously, if you want to consider it a documentary series. It was completely life-changing for me.

Planet Earth as well, of course. 

A few others:

This Film is Not Yet Rated (about the MPAA film ratings system)
Red Without Blue (about a pair of identical twins, one of whom transitioned from male to female)
Helvetica (about the typeface, great for any fan of graphic design)
The Times of Harvey Milk (about the slain gay rights icon)

The last is available (legitimately, for free) on youtube:


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## MFB (Oct 22, 2011)

^ "This Film Is Not Yet Rated" fucking infuriates me whenever I see parts of it


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## CapinCripes (Oct 31, 2011)

i agree with Heavy Metal Baghdad and Heavy Metal A head Bangers Journey, and would like to add get thrashed and if you want a more intellectual doc. Atomic Cafe.


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## espman (Nov 3, 2011)

Modify - All about body modification, there are some VERY graphic scenes in this one, so if the sight of blood etc bothers you, stay away from this one.


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## LamaSabachthani (Nov 7, 2011)

Murmel said:


> I  Ross Kemp. EVerything he does is awesome to me.



You should check out Kemp in Afghanistan. He was attached with 1 Royal Anglian for either a few weeks or a few months in Afghanistan. It's a great documentary because it's sort of more about the men and the Army than it is about the war. He keeps it pretty apolitical and the documentary is more about the men who fight in Afghanistan, rather than why they fight.


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## Sebastian (Mar 15, 2012)

BBC: Imagine Being a Concert Pianist
Documentary: Imagine Being a Concert Pianist - YouTube


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## MFB (Mar 15, 2012)

"Can't Stop"

Documentary about Conan O'Brien and his time in between losing his show and getting back on the air, how he did shows and stuff


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## jordanky (Mar 18, 2012)

Cocaine Cowboys, parts one and two. They're on Netflix and great if you're into 80's crime/drug type of viewing.


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## kung_fu (Mar 25, 2012)

"Beats Rhymes & Life The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest"


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## klami (Mar 25, 2012)

Just watched "The secret life of the manic depressive" with Stephen Fry the other day. Thought it was interesting!


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## vampiregenocide (Mar 25, 2012)

This is brilliant. Really breaks down barriers between us and apes.


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## Alberto7 (Mar 25, 2012)

I actually started a thread on a multi-episode documentary a while back... I didn't remember this thread's existence thus it not being here. But yeah, that thread had no success whatsoever . Perhaps by posting it here people will actually watch the documentary:

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/general-music-discussion/189110-great-music-documentary.html

There are 4 episodes about melody, rhythm, harmony, and bass, respectively. Each episode deals with both the history and the concepts of the topic being analyzed. Also, all episodes are on YouTube, so it's easy to watch.


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## areyna21 (Mar 29, 2012)

Bomb It- A graffiti documentary about the origins of graffiti and the rise in popularity. It covers almost every continent showing you artists and interviews them. It's shows how graffiti is one of the only voices young people have in some countries. Others show how some cities embrace it and let people do whole buildings. It will definitely show that there is more than bullshit gangs behind tagging. 

The Light bulb Conspiracy- A documentary about how Britain and America Controlled the light bulb market to get people to buy more. They even fined people for creating bulbs that lasted longer than 1000 hours. This was one of the original attemps to control consumer demand. They literally stopped designs from being patented to ensure people wouldn't produce more efficient light bulbs.


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## ilovefinnish (Mar 29, 2012)

Exit Through The Gift Shop


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## ilyti (Mar 31, 2012)

AdAstra2025 said:


> I just got done watching Paradise Lost: The Murders at Robin Hood Hill about the West Memphis 3. It is very good and leaves you feeling torn between their guilt or innocence. It's on demand on HBO right now. Check it out...but a word of caution, there are some VERY graphic, disturbing scenes. Remember, you can't un-see something.



There has been DNA evidence that exonerated these kids from the crime, and they've been released.

Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Memphis_Three

I started watching "An Idiot Abroad" from a recommendation in here, and oh lawd, I'm dying. Reminds me of another travel doc I saw years ago, Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days. Similar concept, but he tries to be more open minded than Karl.

Other docs I've seen and enjoyed: Good Hair (about African American obsession with having "good" or "right" hair. Very eye opening, and entertaining, despite Chris Rock being involved.)

The Greatest Movie Ever Sold - one of Morgan Spurlock's docs. It made me think a lot more carefully about what products I buy, and why. How the media can influence you to want something. I just like the guy's personality and delivery, because on one level, he's being a tool for the machine of product placement to pay for the making of the documentary, while systematically poking holes and exposing it as wrong and deceitful.


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## right_to_rage (Apr 1, 2012)

Loving the recommendations.

Here are some more:
Why You Do This - documentary about the band Car_Bomb and life as a touring progressive metal band.

Spirit Science - A series of animated youtube docs about Spirituality and Ancient Religion.

Ancient Aliens - Not a movie, but really entertaining to watch and interesting to think about. 

What The Bleep Do We Know - An educational doc about quantum physics and parallel realities.


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