My Favorite Documentaries of 2009
This year I utilized our family’s Netflix subscription to go on a documentary binge. There’s something about documentaries that stirs my spirit in ways regular films cannot.
Maybe it’s their ability to capture raw snapshots of real life with its twists and turns, leaps and falls without the padding of “it’s just a movie.”
Maybe it’s the sometimes daunting, other times whimsical voice of the narrator who guides you along throughout the story like a father teaching a son. Or maybe documentaries are special because of their ability to reveal a unique angle to people, places, things and ideas that otherwise would be lost in the shuffle of life.
No mattter the reason, this year I watched some really great documentaries. In no particular order, here are the best:
1) Man on Wire – Directed by James Marsh
2) I.O.U.S.A. – Directed by Patrick Creadon
3) A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash – Directed by Basil Gelpke, Ray McCormack, Reto Caduff
4) Why We Fight – Directed by Eugene Jarecki
5) Tyson – Directed by James Toback, watch trailer here.
“While I’m in the dressing room five minutes before I come out, I’m breaking my gloves down, I’m pushing the leather to the back of my gloves, so my knuckle could pierce through. When I come out I have supreme confidence. I’m scared to death. I’m afraid. I’m afraid of everything. I’m afraid of losing. I’m afraid of being humiliated. But I’m confident. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get. The closer, the more confident. The closer the more confident I get. All during training I’ve been afraid of this man. I think this man might be capable of beating me. I’ve dreamed of him beating me. For that I’ve always stayed afraid of him. The closer I get to the ring the more confident I get. Once I’m in the ring I’m a god. No one could beat me. I walk around the ring but I never take my eyes off my opponent. Even if he’s ready and pumping, and cant wait to get his hands on me. I keep my eyes on him. I keep my eyes on him. Then once I see a chink in his armor, boom, one of his eyes may move, and then I know I have him. Then once he comes to the center of the ring he looks at me with his piercing look as if he’s not afraid. But he already made that mistake when he looked down for that one tenth of a second. I know I have him. He’ll fight hard for the first two or three rounds, but I know I broke his spirit. During the fight I’m supremely confident. I’m making him miss and I’m countering. I’m hitting him to the body; I’m punching him real hard. And I’m punching him, and I’m punching him, and I know he’s gonna take my punches. He goes down, he’s out. I’m victorious. Mike Tyson, greatest fighter that ever lived.” – Mike Tyson
What did I miss? Did you watch any amazing documentaries this year that need to be on this list? Please leave a comment below.
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5 comments
Rent the doc “Running on the Sun”– I’ll just leave it at that.
Got a few: The Smartest Guys In The Room which is the story of Enron is a classic that I recommend to everyone. Hollywood couldn’t write a story as good as the story of Enron. There are a lot of things that went on behind the scenes that never made their way into common knowledge: fake companies, affairs, government manipulation, extreme corporate vacations, death, stripper addictions…..yeah its all real.
I think you should also add a documentary that you actually recommended to me….Obama’s War. I think it is a must watch for anyone curious on the state of the war in Afghanistan. Very eye opening.
And I also recommend The Fixer which I reviewed on my blog. The fixer is a person who facilitates interaction between journalists and those they are out to capture on film. In this case the fixer resides in Afghanistan and connects journalists with the Taliban. Incredible documentary that also highlights many of our challenges in Afghanistan.
I will have to check out your recommendations.
Badski
@ Gruber,
Sounds very hot, I’ll check it out!
@ Badski,
You’re right on “The Smartest Guys in the Room” – that was a great documentary! Watched it a couple years ago and felt like it encapsulated the entire scandal quite well. Amazing what greed can do to men. “Burn, baby, Burn!!”
I completely forgot “Obama’s War” – not sure it would have knocked on of the above off the list for me, but I think the main reason is not the documentary itself, which is incredible (love the HD), but more because it didn’t have as big of an impact on me. It’s not that I didn’t learn a lot, but since I follow Afghanistan daily it didn’t have the “change your life” factor that the others had on me since they involved subjects I knew little about. Don’t know if any of that makes sense…
Also, I remember reading on your blog about “The Fixer.” Still want to check it out.
Just watched, “Food Inc.” a couple nights ago – definitely deserves a spot on this list, maybe even in the top three! Watch it! You’ll never look at your food the same again.
Great list. Definitely Food, Inc. You don’t often watch a film that actually makes a change in the way you live but this one did for us.
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