Documentaries that changes your life/improves your life/improves your knowledge - General

I think it would be interesting to hear and learn about documentaries suggested by people that can improve your life, change it, or any that is just plain useful once well informed. [B]Religulous [/B] [IMG]http://www.comingsoon.net/gallery/36716/Religulous_new_poster.jpg[/IMG] Summary - Bill Maher interviews some of religion's oddest adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers' Chapel. (Sign outside: "Jesus love you.") He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic. [I]How this Documentary affected me[/I] - This shut down any curiosity I had for a God. My best friend is a very religious Christian person who has been trying to convince me for a while now. This shut down everything he had ever asked me. I wish he could talk to Bill Maher so he looks like an idiot and would finally shut up. [B]Ken Burns, The War[/B] [IMG]http://www.hometheaterspot.com/fbbuploads/1191279391-THE_WAR.jpg[/IMG] Summary - THE WAR, a seven-part series directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, tells the story of the Second World War through the personal accounts of a handful of men and women from four quintessentially American towns. The series explores the most intimate human dimensions of the greatest cataclysm in history - a worldwide catastrophe that touched the lives of every family on every street in every town in America - and demonstrates that in extraordinary times, there are no ordinary lives.Throughout the series, the indelible experience of combat is brought vividly to life as veterans describe what it was like to fight and kill and see men die at places like Monte Cassino and Anzio and Omaha Beach; the Hürtgen Forest and the Vosges Mountains and the Ardennes; and on the other side of the world at Guadalcanal and Tarawa and Saipan; Peleliu and the Philippine Sea and Okinawa. In all of the battle scenes, dramatic historical footage and photographs are combined with extraordinarily realistic sound effects to give the film a terrifying, visceral immediacy. [I]How this Documentary affected me[/I] - Watching a few of these made me feel like I didn't learn shit in history class. The stories are so in-depth, the people are real and still around to provide their stories and experiences. I felt like I was in their shoes from when the war was first heard to when it ends. It has made me more knowledgeable and able to talk to older adults about WWII with knowing exactly any part people normally my age would have no idea about. WWII is the most fascinating war to me now. [B]Flow: For the love of Water[/B] [IMG]http://endthelie.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/34-Flow-For-the-Love-of-Water.jpg[/IMG] Summary - Water is the very essence of life, sustaining every being on the planet. 'Flow' confronts the disturbing reality that our crucial resource is dwindling and greed just may be the cause. [I]How this documentary affected my life[/I] - I had to watch this in a class in 2008. It made me stop buying bottled water(I always thought it tasted awful) so now I use a Brita filter for all my water. I always knew corporations were fucked up but after this documentary and seeing how we can easily make clean water with this mans invention within the documentary made me realize they are way worse than I already expected them to be. Our people are way too damn greedy and it's sickening. Please help contribute, I have only watched a few documentaries but am looking for ones that are very useful. Also stating what the movie had changed your ways or thoughts would be just as helpful.

[IMG]http://cdn-1.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/70112741.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://cdn-5.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/60024975.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://cdn-4.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/70118444.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://cdn-2.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/70084132.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://cdn-7.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/70066337.jpg[/IMG][IMG]http://cdn-9.nflximg.com/en_us/boxshots/gsd/60035199.jpg[/IMG] These are all on Netflix in no particular order 1.[B]The Cove[/B], probably the best documentary I've seen in terms of content and production. It's about the Japanese killing hundreds dolphins in a secret cove. 2.[B]Bowling for Columbine[/B], Micheal Moore despite his sarcasm and over the top antics really makes you think about what kind of world we live in, this is about the shooting at columbine high school and his opinions on why it happened and how our culture let something like this happen. 3.[B]The Union[/B], this documentary explains everything about marijuana, where it came from, how it was made, why it is illegal, etc. There are a lot of weed documentaries sand I've seen a few but I would recommend this one. 4.[B]Gonzo[/B] is the life story of author and journalist Hunter.S.Thompson, it is narrated by Johnny Deep who played the lead role in the movie based on his book Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. It's really really fascinating and enjoyable documentary 5.[B]The Devil Came On Horse Back[/B], this is the story of a private contractor who worked in Africa and took photographs of the genocide in Sudan. I really did not know much about this before but learned a hell of a lot from this. It's really shocking how the problems in Darfur are pretty much ignored by the major media. 6.[B]I Like Killing Flies[/B], a documentary that follows a chef/restaurant owner who has a unique look on the world. It's hard to explain but you should definitely check it out.

Needs more Koyaanisqatsi, though it's not necessarily a documentary per se.

Planet Earth? In 1080p HD-XD ofc.

Religulous was just perfect, loved it. Anything with David Attenborough or Prof. Brian Cox are very interesting.

zeitgeist :downs:

I love documentaries, but I never know wich one to see. Keep this thread going so I can do something about it [img]http://www.facepunch.com/fp/ratings/heart.png[/img]

Even though it's really a mockumentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop is really good.

[QUOTE=The_Marine;31429921]Needs more Koyaanisqatsi, though it's not necessarily a documentary per se.[/QUOTE] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOqtnU2faTc[/media]

I've seen a good amount of docs. The one that comes right off the top of my head is an indie one called [B]Black Mold Exposure:[/B] [img]http://planetthrive.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/blackmold1.jpg[/img] Made me realize and think about the disturbingly real possibility a little bit of toxic mold can do to you. And how fucking tough it is to get help and treatment. Symptoms are often so similar to other, less-severe conditions/diseases that a person's more "wild" symptoms make them come off as crazy. And the FDA itself doesn't seem to do much, even though its had employees suffer from black mold exposure. It's a bit scientific, so I do a bit of a bad job explaining it all, but it makes sense once you watch it (I haven't seen it in years. And only saw it once). [B]Sicko (Micheal Moore)[/B] is another life changing doc for me. Never again did I see my country's healthcare system the same way again. To this day I still have problems with it and think about Sicko a lot when I think of our healthcare. It's wayyyy too much of a business and not much of a service.

I can't remember the name of it but it was a movie about the military-industrial complex and the huge amount of influence corporations have on the US government

I foresee good things coming from this thread. I love a well-made and interesting documentary. They can teach you so much.

Restrepo is a pretty good one

Does [i]The Vice Guide to North Korea[/i] count? Because that was a fascinating one.

[img]http://iconogeek.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/king_of_kong.jpg[/img] It changed my life, and it will change yours too.

I'm surprised no one has said Food Inc. It's a really interesting film about the origins of our food.

[QUOTE=Zillamaster55;31443625]Restrepo is a pretty good one[/QUOTE]I can agree with that. It's a live filming of action in a post up in Afghanistan. You see a few soldiers die and it's pretty sad, seeing their friends mourn for them. It's the most real movie of war I've ever seen.

I'm currently watching America: The Story of Us. It's awesome. Complete demonstrations of what happened and interesting facts on everything. It's making me pissed I did not pay attention in school, and also when I did pay attention, they didn't give facts like these at all.

Just don't watch An Inconvenient Truth. It's Al Gore mainly complaining about his sister or something who died of cancer, I had to write a review for it for homework. Gave it 3.5/10 Got a motherfucking A.