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The Documentary Film Thread

The Nal

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The Nal
The Nal

Downloaded a load of the Classic Album series. The Doors first album was on Sky Arts the other night. Hadn’t seen it before. Amazing stuff. Haven’t listened to it in a year or so. Hearing the individu

t8yman
t8yman

What an incredible piece of work "Bitter Lake" is. Everything about it is so incredibly well done. I can't recommend it highly enough. It starts fairly slowly, and I thought I knew where it was go

t8yman
t8yman

Flim Flam is all you need. But I watched so much YouTube stuff about him, and he was always on Penn Jilettes podcasts in the early days. His work on Sylvia Browne is fantastic, as well as the geller a

Rufus Gwertigan Proficient

Rufus Gwertigan

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Enron: The Smartest Men In The Room (enron scandal)

Grizzly Man (about Timothy Treadwell, the guy who lived with bears)

Animal Love (austrian docu about people who replace human friendships with animals)

King of Kong (about donkey kong players.... this is the best docu i have ever seen, seriously gripping movie)

I would recommend Grizzly Man. The man presents with some disturbing psychology (he wants to be a bear ffs!!) the ending is very disturbing and I was shouting at the screen

OF COURSE YOU ARE BEEN KILLED BY A f**kING BEAR. THAT'S WHAT PISSED OFF BEARS DO, KILL THINGS. IT'S A f**kING BEAR NOT A f**kING PLAYTHING!!!!!!

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the_frame Newbie

the_frame

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not a film, but a documentary none the less, I have just watched part 1 of the 4 part documentary series the century of the self by adam curtis, who is the man who made "The Power Of Nightmares" and does stuff for brookers screenwipe. Well the first episode was incredibly interesting, a lot of stuff about mass manipulation, a lot about PR and freud's theories on the self.

Quite deep but truly fascinating, and the parallels (not drawn, but made by me) between the wall street crash and the current "credit crunch" are quite amazing, including the re-nationalisation of failing companies and corporations etc.

I got it here for those in the know. (neil remove the link if you disapprove.)

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worm Newbie

worm

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not a film, but a documentary none the less, I have just watched part 1 of the 4 part documentary series the century of the self by adam curtis, who is the man who made "The Power Of Nightmares" and does stuff for brookers screenwipe. Well the first episode was incredibly interesting, a lot of stuff about mass manipulation, a lot about PR and freud's theories on the self.

Quite deep but truly fascinating, and the parallels (not drawn, but made by me) between the wall street crash and the current "credit crunch" are quite amazing, including the re-nationalisation of failing companies and corporations etc.

I got it here for those in the know. (neil remove the link if you disapprove.)

Read or watch a documentary on Zizek. He uses Lacan, who is far more indicative of the manipulation of desires through political means than Freud ever was. You like film, so The Perverts Guide to Cinema should be a good start.

Freud was a rationalist. All rationality leads to modernism (capitalism). The documentary is old hat though. Foucault's (who sadly wasn't mentioned) account of how rationality and psycho-analysis is, and has been, used in the modern age is far more substantial, compelling and above all harrowing.

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the_frame Newbie

the_frame

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Purchased Taxi to the Darkside, Should arrive next week sometime. Will post my thoughts

an amazing doc. very frank.

Read or watch a documentary on Zizek. He uses Lacan, who is far more indicative of the manipulation of desires through political means than Freud ever was. You like film, so The Perverts Guide to Cinema should be a good start.

Freud was a rationalist. All rationality leads to modernism (capitalism). The documentary is old hat though. Foucault's (who sadly wasn't mentioned) account of how rationality and psycho-analysis is, and has been, used in the modern age is far more substantial, compelling and above all harrowing.

where to start with Foucault? any recommendations?

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worm Newbie

worm

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where to start with Foucault? any recommendations?

Discipline and Punish.

It gives a much more sinister take on the 'control society' historicised (incorrectly, in my opinion) in the BBC documentary of the self. It shows how humanitarianism and the laws associated with it are simply a much better means of controlling behaviour than the 'barbaric' forms of the past that belonged in the prisons. It shows how the self has been dissolved, rather than brought out, in the control society so that behaviour is counselled and we are policed by our institutions. Essentially, we are imprisoned within a society of self.

He states rather indicatively that:

"The judges of normality are present everywhere. We are in the society of the teacher-judge, the doctor-judge, the educator-judge, the 'social-worker'-judge; it is on them that the universal reign of the normative is based; and each individual, wherever he may find himself, subjects to it his body, his gestures, his behavior, his aptitudes, his achievements"

The BBC documentary is based upon a liberal perspective and the notion that we were free and were listened to and that the model of the self that informed this change in society was the primary drive. In truth, this notion of the self was a well constructed form of self regulation and both 'self expression' and the very idea of a 'self' were normalising agents used to deny the self.

He traces this to what he called 'bio-power', which is the institutional means by which we attach socialised abstract concepts ('the self') to our bodies, thereby giving it authority over our desires, aspirations and even reality itself. This is massive today, 25 years after his death. For example, diets and food that is good for you is a way in which the body is used in relation to the self which is regulated through advertising. He also attributes this to politics.

Shame that there's seemingly no documentary around that utilises Foucault. It's probably perceived as unsafe or too difficult to produce.

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dayzee Newbie

dayzee

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Food Inc - a look at how food is now processed and how it has effected the food, farmers, and our expectations of food.

Not Quite Hollywood - a look at Australian cinema in the 50's to 80's. Really interesting.

This Film is not yet Rated - a look at what it takes to get a film rated and what happens if you do not comply with the regualations. Very very interesting.

Age of Stupid - an intersting look on climate change and what the future holds.

End of the Line - is a documentary about fish. It is not very well made (the message is shoved down your throat many times), but the message is important fish is not an endless source and we need to do something about it now.

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