I present here the best general interest true films I've found. I define true films as documentaries, educational films, instructional how-to's, and what the British call factuals - a non-fiction visual account.
As dogged as I have been in tracking down great true films, I have seen only a fraction of the estimated 40,000 that have been made. So I am ready for more. However I will only list true films and documentaries that are available as VHS tape or DVDs at consumer prices. In other words, films that are easy for most people to see upon request. I won't include films that are only shown in theaters, or available via high-priced rentals, or simply out of print.
If you know of an available amazing true film that I've missed please recommend it to me.
The Bridge
This film is about public suicides. They all take place on the world's most popular suicide destination, the Golden Gate Bridge. Every two weeks someone jumps off the Bridge. For 12 months filmmaker Eric Steel and crew kept a cinematic vigil and filmed the jumpers (when his radio calls to police could not rescue them). He then interviewed their surviving family and friends. The stories of the jumpers are sobering and dispiriting. Their departed selves share a common thread of depression, despair, and chronic mental illness. Although it shows sensational footage of their plunges, this is not a sensational film. Indeed it is depressing and immensely sad. There is nothing uplifting, heroic, or romantic about it, even when it succeeds in getting you into the mind-set of the jumpers. Regrettably the film does not explore why this Bridge out of all other bridges, why jumpers usually face the city rather than the ocean, why these suicides are so public and dramatic, and why the controversy around a proposed fence won't go away -- or any of another dozen frequent questions about suicides on this Bridge. Despite its title, this film is not about the Bridge. Rather it focuses solely on the lives and deaths of a handful of desperate people who jumped during the year of filming. It's a troublesome film, but memorable. You definitely need to be in the right state of mind to watch it.
-- KK
The Bridge
Eric Steel
2006, 94 min.
$20, DVD
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Bizarre Foods
Cooking show meets travel show. The gimmick works. Balding fat chef goes on a quest to eat the weirdest, strangest, most bizarre foods in world. He'll try anything twice, and then give his "review" of it. Humans somewhere will consume anything that moves, or grown, so there is plenty of material. Strict vegetarians may want to avoid watching. Not only is any animal, insect, fish, invertebrate eaten, any part of it is gobbled down is as well.
The host, Andrew Zimmern, is plain spoken and enthusiastic. Sort of the opposite of a food snob. While there's adequate background on each exotic host country and culture, the main emphasis is on Zimmern simply understanding and trying out bizarre foods. I've given my kids the DVDs in order to encourage them to eat outside the box. I think we owe it to ourselves to explore the world's cuisine and outer boundaries of food. You don't have to like it, just try it. Better than several books on the subject, this series will make you rethink your food limits. It's comparative foodology 101. All weird foods have a good story behind them, as revealed in these upbeat documentaries.
There is a competing cooking/travel show hosted by another globetrotting chef, Anthony Bourdain, but this series, No Reservations, is more about the chef himself than the food. I found Bourdain smug, self-centered, prissy, and uninteresting, but your mileage may vary. Some like his snarky style. For a fun journey to somewhere different stick with Bizarre Foods.
-- KK
Bizarre Foods
Andrew Zimmern
2007, 338 min.
DVD, 2 discs, $18
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Living with the Tribes
This series is the best exposition of a minimal-technological lifestyle that I have ever seen. It is far more revealing than most anthropological documentaries. Here, two white guys go native. For three months they live with a Papua New Guinea tribe that still adheres to traditional hunter gathering mode, using bows, stone and bone tools. Unlike most visitors, including anthropologists, these guys eat only what the tribe eats; indeed, they eat only food that they help find and process. They learn to make their own traditional tools and weapons. Seeing this process we get a very good sense of what is involved in living "in harmony with nature." It's tough. Each week the visitors give up more of their gear until they wear what the tribe wears, which is not much. The filmmakers record their own bumbling attempts to learn how to survive in the forest as these members of the Kombai tribe do, and via their education we get a fantastic view of tribal life.
In the second season, Mark and Olly join the highlander Mek tribe, also in Papua New Guinea (the Kombai were lowland tribe), and again go full immersion. During their four month stay, they build their own hut, get initiated into the tribe, learn to love roots, and get swept up in village and tribal politics.
In the third year, they venture into the Amazon and go native with the Machigenga Tribe. (I have not seen this season because it is not on DVD yet.)
-- KK
Living With the Kombai
Mark Anstice, Olly Steeds
2007, 287 min.
DVD, 2-disc set, $18
Available from Amazon
Rent from Netflix
Living With the Mek
Mark Anstice, Olly Steeds
2008, 319 min.
DVD, 2-disc set, $18
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Living With the Machigenga
Mark Anstice, Olly Steeds
2009, airing now
Please Vote For Me
Talk about unleashing democracy in China...here's a cautionary tale. As an experiment a third-grade class in a large city in China introduces elections for the class monitor. Elections are new to the kids, parents and teachers. The results are fascinating, horrifying, and electrifying. Every abuse and virtue of democracy is re-discovered. Bribery, mudslinging, spin, debates, slander, campaign reform -- and all this with the first few weeks in elementary school! We also get a glimpse into how China's one-child policy focuses pathological amounts of parental attention as they "coach" their kids. This short (less than an hour) film operates on many levels: it is a lesson about democracy, a warning to China, a reminder about the lord-of-the-flies savagery of third grade, and a portrait of a fat boy who will probably grow up to someone's tormenting boss -- or president. A lovely hoot, with lots of moments, in Mandarin with subtitles.
-- KK
Please Vote For Me
Weijun Chen
2007, 58 min.
DVD, $23
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Hearts and Minds
A hard-hitting anti-war expose, aimed at the Vietnam War. By now the sheer folly, criminality, waste, brutality, and stupidity of the Vietnam War is evident, but back in 1974, when this powerful documentary was made, it was a brave step. This film does not pretend to be an even-handed analysis. Like a proto-Michael Moore film, it uses ironic juxtapositions to make its points. It does not counter with Viet Cong atrocities, which have their own foolish brutality, worthy of a similar film. Hearts and Minds ends up being a well-done, entertaining case against war anywhere.
(Just for balance I am eager to see a film making the case that the Vietnam War was a good idea. Nominations wanted.)
-- KK
Most dramatic moment with General Westmoreland
Hearts and Minds
Peter Davis (II)
1974, 112 min.
DVD, $25
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
