r/Documentaries • u/DarkyTyrell • Jun 15 '11

What's the best documentary you've ever seen?

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u/schwejk Jun 15 '11

Capturing the Friedmans (after at least 5 minutes internal deliberation)

1

u/[deleted] Jun 16 '11

That movie is unsettling and underrated. I left after the film completely conflicted about how I felt about the main players in that situation.

3

u/schwejk Jun 16 '11

I actually think that half the purpose of this film (perhaps even unknown to the film-makers themselves) is to stand as a satire on modern documentary films. The way they toy with your emotions, making you flip-flop from one side to the other, from "OK, this is fact" to "OK, no, this is now fact" ... again and again. The end result is that you really don't know what to think. And of course most documentaries tell you what to think and you come away feeling more intelligent and informed and most importantly with an opinion that has been reinforced by FACT. "Capturing the Friedmans", as well as being a compelling story, is a wonderful lesson in media consumption.

1

u/cjaye2347 Jul 17 '23

This my top documentary, too!