The 10 best documentaries for challenging your view of the world
Early movies were dominated by the novelty of showing an event. They were single-shot moments captured on film such as a train entering a station, a boat docking or factory workers leaving work. These short films were called actuality films. The term documentary was not coined until 1926. Many of the first films made by Auguste and Louis Lumière were a minute or less in length due to technological limitations.
Documentaries are not always seen as exciting compared to new drama or action on Netflix. But the medium provides opportunities to learn something about the world without lifting a finger.
Here are ten of the best documentaries that are excellent and challenging to watch. Many of these will leave you thinking about obsessive hobbies, consumption-oriented everyday living and the terrifying politics that define our global world. It is time to change how you view the world.
1. The Century of the Self series
How the advertising and PR industries shaped consumerism by embracing an emerging understanding of the human psyche.
2. Senna
The incredibly fast Brazilian Formula 1 driver Ayrton Senna ended up dead. The tale of his intense and almost enigmatic persona lives on through this documentary.
3. The Act of Killing
A member of the Indonesian death squad turned national hero is forced to face atrocities he commanded through extensive reenactments.
4. Waltz With Bashir
A deeply personal animated walk-through of hazy and traumatic war memories from Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982.
5. Touching the Void
The story of a near-fatal attempt to climb Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes.
6. God Loves Uganda
On the horrendous LGBTQ human rights situation in Uganda where cruel anti-gay laws and general sentiment is sponsored by the US religious right.
7. The King of Kong
World class obsessives meet to challenge each other in breaking world records in classic video games like Donkey Kong and Pac-Man.
8. Beware of Mister Baker
You almost certainly heard some of the riffs of the early hard rock supergroup Cream. This documentary traces the group’s huge sound and crazy time signatures to the gift of totally crazy, impulsive, violent and career-wrecking drummer Ginger Baker.
9. The World Before Her
The movie follows two very different young women in India. The modern is represented by a Miss India beauty pageant finalist and her counterpart is a militant Hindu activist who says she is prepared to kill to prevent westernization.
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