Look, it's not like we're going out safely anytime soon.
Why not take some of that time you're spending at home in quarantine and learn a little something about the world? Maybe how an octopus can be your best friend? Or that murdering scumbag husbands really don't need that much motivation to be murdering scumbag husbands? The world is full of interesting documentaries and these are the top ones to check out first.
Reddit user, u/ultimatepupper909, wanted what to watch next when they asked:
(Serious) What is a documentary that blew your mind?
Such An Obvious Motive
Many, but most recently American Murder; The Family Next Door.
I remember reading about it in 2018, so I knew the outcome (who murdered whom), but I had no knowledge of the details.
I've met pathological liars in my lifetime, yet it still blows my mind (to answer the question) that people truly think they can get away with blatant and obvious lies. It's laughable when murder isn't on the table.
The documentary was well edited using pre-recorded data, so it felt more chilling to me.
Mario Is So Ashamed Of You
Two immediately spring to mind:
Inside Job (2010): A documentary about the financial crisis of 2008 and what caused it. A really interesting documentary that more people need to watch. Makes the boring world of finance interesting. Narrated by Matt Damon.
King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters (2007): I mainly recommend this because it has aged so incredibly well. When it first came out, it was criticized heavily by those in the know for turning Billy Mitchell into the villain of the piece. Then, in 2018, it came out that Billy Mitchell achieved the score shown near the end of the film on MAME, which is very much against the rules of the competition as it becomes very easy to cheat. He's had all of his records wiped from Twin Galaxies. Very interesting film to watch with all the recent information that's come out.
A Daunting Expedition
Diving into the Unknown A cave diving expedition goes wrong and two divers die. Documentary starts with that dive, then covers the dive teams planning and execution of a recovery dive to bring their friends back, after the authorities say that nobody can recover them, it's too dangerous.
It's all in Finnish, so you need to be good with subtitles.
The World Is Ever Shifting
Go and watch David Attenborough: A life on our planet.
Brought into perspective the situation we as a people have put ourselves in and how great of an impact we are having on our surroundings.
I honestly cannot recommend this more highly. Should be made mandatory for any world leader to watch before having to make any decisions regarding climate change initiatives and decisions surrounding fossil fuels.
Stealing Under Our Noses
For me it were Inside Job (2010) about the origins of 2008 crisis and Enron: the smartest guy in the room (2005). Both exceptional pieces that could explain how big finance could be fraudulent and how people should pressure for more responsibility on the sector.
Geister_faustLies And Truth
Edge of democracy.
It's a documentary of a brazilian party (known as Worker's party or PT as known there) that manipulated half of the population, there are many lies tho, like for example Dilma (an ex-president) told the truth and such, but it was proven that she wanted her partner to be in a position where he couldn't be arrested. She denied this (obviously)
It blows my mind that someone that wanted power for 40 years managed to divide the population.
You Either Care For Animals, Or The Internet Comes For You
I'm surprised no one has talked about "BlackFish". Really opened up my mind to what SeaWorld and zoos in general do with animals in captivity such as Orcas. Only went to seaworld once when I was 17 and I'll never go again.
Oh my gosh, I agree. I watched this randomly in the first two hours of a flight from NYC - London, and was so shook that I immediately turned to the stranger sitting beside me and asked him to watch it so we could talk about it. We ended up spending the rest of the flight talking about it and it stuck with me for days afterward.
Wait, They Believed Him?
The Imposter (2012). About a boy who went missing in Texas, then a young man from Spain makes the claim he's the missing boy 3 years later, despite an accent, different colored eyes, hair, etc. And the family supports the claim, but there's more to it. One of those stories that if it weren't true, no one would believe.
Huh, Russia Cheats. Who Knew?
Icarus - Russian State sponsored cheating
This one was such a f-cking ride. Imagine going from simply trying out doping to see if you could win a small biking competition to literally uncovering one of the biggest doping scandals in Olympics history.
My Friend, The Octopus
My Octopus Teacher on [Netflix.]
I knew that the octopus are pretty smart, but the documentary took it to another level. The documentary was based on this guy who went diving every day for 300+ days to befriend an octopus and earn her trust. He recorded the octopus playing with fishes, develop hunting strategies, etc. The octopus even wanted scratches from him. Amazing cinematography too. 10/10 would recommend.
Seems Like A Smart Investment?
Welcome to Leith. Follows Craig Cobb, a white supremacist who buys 12 plots of land in Leith ND in an attempt to take over the town and turn it into an Aryan stronghold and the residents fight to keep that from happening. It was incredibly fascinating and I spent hours after researching more about the story and Cobb.
Changing The View Of Canada
The Secret Path- The incredibly sad story of Chani Wenjack, a young aboriginal boy from Canada who was taken to Residential school. What this kid went through will absolutely destroy you.
His story is told through animation and song by the late Gord Downie of Tragically Hip.
Apparently its shown in classrooms throughout CANADA as part of the Aboriginal reconciliation. I hope these kids see how goddam lucky they are.
People outside of Canada need to see this. Our rosy reputation definitely isn't as deserved as it appears to be.
We've All Seen The Memes
The Jeffrey Epstein documentary on Netflix.
I never knew who he really was other than a meme for a long time and it opened my eyes to how disgusting the man really was.
All Walks Of Life
Hot Girls Wanted - it details how young girls (18-19 years old) from both good and bad homes, small cities and large towns end up in the porn industry. All of these girls have different views on what they do for money, what their families and partners think of their occupation, what impacts it has had on their life, and how they came to work in the industry. It also focuses on the "man of the house", where all the girls live. It shows how he finds them, how he treats them, and how he keeps a never ending pool of "talent" coming to live with him.
It's an interesting watch, but it broke my heart to how these girls are lured into the industry, and how they are essentially churned out for their 5 minutes of fame, then tossed to the curb like yesterday's trash.
Don't Let Go
Free Solo is one of the craziest things I've ever seen
I climb as a hobby and when I tell new people they always say," have you seen free solo?" Every time.
I have no idea how much time honnold has on this earth. My partner has been climbing for over 3 decades and has known a lot of free solo guys and every single one has died. And these are skilled climbers. As a climber that movie made me too anxious.
So Close
The Fog of War took me by surprise. I didn't know much about the Cuban Missle Crisis beforehand but I learned a lot about how close we came to all-out nuclear war. There's a ton of other details from that era as well that really surprised me.
The part where they just rattle off all of the Japanese and German cities and the percent to which they were destroyed by conventional bombing was pretty mind blowing. Particularly since they listed the U.S. equivalent population-wise to each.
Age Shall Not Weary Them
They Shall Not Grow Old. Incredible WWI remastered footage
Agreed. I saw it in the cinema with my dad's girlfriend's father (who's interested in history like I am) and we were both just amazed when it transitioned from the original film to the remastered versions. I also like how all the narration was from the archived interviews of the WW1 soldiers.
Not A War We Freely Walked Away From
Ken Burn's The Vietnam War.
It should be seen in every history classroom in the US.
One of the most comprehensive and horrifying documentaries I've ever seen. Soldiers on both sides, diplomats, spies, and citizens who were caught in the middle all share their experiences and perspectives.
US education doesn't come close to painting a clear picture of the war. What a tragic waste of life. That era was so monstrously f-cked up that anyone who watches it will think: "today isn't so bad."
As the New York Times put it, the documentary "Will break your heart and win your mind."
One of the most memorable parts of that series was from when one of the US soldiers being interviewed was telling the story about how he had to tell his son why he needed a night light as a grown man because he was absolutely terrified of the dark after his experiences getting ambushed by the VC while on patrol at night.
The look on his face alone told me everything i needed to know about what that experience must have been like. It was a very moving scene.
Bye Bye, Birdie
The Devil We Know.
I got rid of everything Teflon.
Teflon killed two of my baby handford parrots years ago, before we knew it was dangerous.my dad had gotten the new pots and pans set from JCPenney and was so excited.they were dead a couple of hours later and he was so upset he didn't return it but rather just threw it out onto the curb.
you would think they would have banned the stuff, but they only banned the brand name in the US --the chemical involved is still legal and still widely used in non-stick pans. our taxi driver last week was telling us that he lost his Umbrella Cockatoo to Teflon and how much he missed her :-(
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