I'm running out of documentaries to watch, name some more

[Monkadelic]

They're not for everyone, and I understand why, but I love me some Adam Curtis.

 

[machidafan99]

Cult docus are fascinating to me because I've fallen for leaders I shouldn't have too and recognize a lot of myself in them. However, I still don't get how such intelligent people go for some of the bullshit they do. For example, Malcolm X was way more than smart enough to know the asinine Black Muslim tenets were mostly bullshit, yet, he acted like he believed in them. It's an interesting quirk in human nature, same for christians too, they'll spew ridiculous shit, even people who have the brains to know it's ridiculous.

I think many people tend to like the neatness of someone saying "I have the answers, I have this holy book, let me show you the truth you've been searching for." Would be a short list of people I would follow willingly but I had a brief phase when I used to be one of those annoying health people that followed a health guru in my mid-20s...then I met the guy and he was an insufferable, egotistical jerk. lol so I want back to doubting or questioning everything pretty much.

 

[Brampton_Boy]

My Octopus Teacher - I never thought I would cry over an Octopus. Really beautifully shot and touching in its own way.

 

[owen_taggart]

I was recently advised to watch the movie The Founder.It's a movie about how the most famous restaurant chain in the world was built and launched. Honestly, I'm probably one of the few people who has never seen this movie.

Um, not a documentary, though.

 

[mozfonky]

I think many people tend to like the neatness of someone saying "I have the answers, I have this holy book, let me show you the truth you've been searching for." Would be a short list of people I would follow willingly but I had a brief phase when I used to be one of those annoying health people that followed a health guru in my mid-20s...then I met the guy and he was an insufferable, egotistical jerk. lol so I want back to doubting or questioning everything pretty much.

Society is the biggest cult there is. That's one of the things that fascinates me. Also, having been through it and made to feel like a fool, and having to wake up one day and just see everything clearly. And, get this.., the guy who I followed was not even close to being evil or anything, just someone I believed in a lot and who I feel exploited that. I don't even think he knew how much he was exploiting it, that's the fascinating thing about humans. They'll be fucking you and not even realizing it.

Anyway, I personally knew a guy who was in that Rajneesh cult, guy was a complete asshole and did brag about all the pussy he got, at least to other people. He was also a filmaker who that docu stole footage from and he sued them, I don't know if it got settled and for how much. He had actually done a docu on it some 30 years ago.

I have been through phases where I just tried to make sense of what happened when I was quote/unquote "brainwashed". I've watched so many cult docus and one thing that not too many people pick up on is that we are tribal creatures and we've been moving away from that for 10000 years but that hasn't really been long enough to change all the time we spent as tribal peoples. I believe the cults fill a very natural and real void that we all have today, and they exploit it. You will find Jonestown members speak with great joy and great horror about the church they belonged to. there is a reason for that. How can it be both joyful and terrible? Well, it just was. Sebastian Junger wrote a book called tribe and the premise was how we are all hardwired to be a part of a group/tribe and that we're happiest when we are. He mentioned how military men would rather be in the field, with dirty clothes and lack of resources as long as they were with their buddies. How English people in ww2 would survive the bomb attacks by going underground and helping each other survive. He mentioned how some people would slyly admit missing those days.

As far as how that applied to me, I think it's because I'm a native american, really not too many generations out of being tribal and only knowing a handful of people their whole lives. I think my father and my family have issues with that being taken away, and I know I do.

 

[mozfonky]

I was recently advised to watch the movie The Founder.It's a movie about how the most famous restaurant chain in the world was built and launched. Honestly, I'm probably one of the few people who has never seen this movie.

That's not a docu, it's a great film and Keaton always does a great job. It's always interesting to get a biopic of our strange, machiavellian american entrepeneurs. Usually, they are not very nice people.

 

[Gladiator24]

Somebody has already said it, but ‘the jinx’ is by far one of the best documentaries EVER. It’s similar to making a murderer, kind of. It’s a mysterious real life crime show.

Watch it, trust me

 

[GeraltOfRivia]

Bigger stronger faster

 

[AnGrYcRoW]

One of the best documentaries I've seen , the catch is it was in 3d in the the theatre, best use of 3d I've seen and it's not close ,still worth watching in 2D though

I don't think you need to be a big fan of dance to enjoy this , it's visually stunning

By the fantastic German director Wim Wenders , brilliant use of slow motion combined with the troupes use of water was stunning .

An interesting thing about the troupe is that the dancers don't age out , some of them are forty, fifty and even sixty which was actually beautiful ,the head of the dance troupe died shortly before filming so it became basically an homage to her

I don't think it's too hard to find

 

[Monkadelic]

A must watch for anyone interested in ancient civilizations and/or the Great Pyramid.



I honestly wonder how it is that the mainstream still maintains such a flawed perspective of our history. There was more going on here (at some point) than we have accounted for.

I love all this stuff. If for no other reason, as someone that struggles to work a semi-passable dovetail with soft wood I'm always amazed at the examples of freakishly precise stonemasonry.

But I couldn't help but watch this doc with a fair amount of side-eye. Personally I didn't find it particularly compelling. Which is a shame, as I will always really want to believe these stories.

I looked for some sort of riposte online. Linked here for reference, but for those that would rather just skip to the end -

"So, to summarize what has transpired from an examination of this list of sources, we find:

– a complete lack of contemporary references, particularly those of an Egyptological nature. The library shown in the film contains an abundance of works dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but the viewer searches in vain for any recent literature. We can see that the works pictured might have been chosen for their appearance, images of antiquated volumes being a way of symbolizing the scholarship of yesteryear that has instant appeal, but it is somewhat unfortunate that these particular "ancient tomes" are pressed into service so frequently as visual references in the sections of the film that critique Egyptology and "orthodox history."

– references about which the politest comment that could be made is that their scientific content is of a rather limited nature: Stephen-Chauvet on Easter Island; Taylor; the Abbé Moreux; Tompkins and the pyramids; the New Age shaman Aribalo on Cuzco .. .

– appeals to the authority of the ancients: Pliny, Agatharchides, Plato, and Aristotle, are frequently called upon to support the various conjectures in the film, sometimes at the cost of distorting those ancient authors’ own ideas. The viewer can hardly help smiling when the film then proceeds to strongly criticize Egyptologists who rely on Herodotus ...

– no checking of sources: trotting out hoary old pyramidological or astrological fictions when it is clear that no investigation and verification of primary sources has taken place. Examples of this are the "Guardians of the Sky" being incorrectly identified on the basis of an erroneous 18th century interpretation by Bailly; and references to a pseudo-citation of Agatharchides apparently conjured out of thin air by Stecchini in 1971 ...

– finally, manipulation of a work of reference - Cole’s paper on pyramid measurements - by the insertion of a bogus page. The director justifies this on two separate occasions, with the feeble claim that this manoeuvre was necessary to avoid the French viewing public having to convert Cole’s English measurements – despite the fact that the measurements in the original Cole document are all given in metres. "

 

[GergreG]

I think I have this on vhs somewhere. Amazing artist but him and his family are all pretty messed up.

 

[machidafan99]

Yeah. Tribes pop up everywhere in society. A youtube channel with small group of intense viewer chatting with each other. form a tribe. I actually watch the beiggining, middle and end of a youtube channel that had a trible-like vibe but then the channel owner screwed everyone over and he lost all his sponsors.

Some people go the route of being a sports fan, wearing the jersey. I guess that's a low effort version of tribe participation.

I don't know if you've heard of Meetup dot com but it features a bunch of different groups by interest. I tried a mountain biking once and one of the guys was going through disillusionment. He had been friends with the founder of the group and then suddenly the founder figured out he can pay his rent by charging for the biking meetups. So now this guy is like "now I have to pay him to go riding. That's effed up I used to just call him up and we'd hit a mountain. Now I have to pay."

Once money or power is introduced it takes a special kind of leader not to exploit that. But then some greedy wannabe will see the power potential and take the good leader out.

Once more thing is sometimes we are not crazy about the families/mini tribes we are born into so the hunt begins for some to find a new family.

Society is the biggest cult there is. That's one of the things that fascinates me. Also, having been through it and made to feel like a fool, and having to wake up one day and just see everything clearly. And, get this.., the guy who I followed was not even close to being evil or anything, just someone I believed in a lot and who I feel exploited that. I don't even think he knew how much he was exploiting it, that's the fascinating thing about humans. They'll be fucking you and not even realizing it.

Anyway, I personally knew a guy who was in that Rajneesh cult, guy was a complete asshole and did brag about all the pussy he got, at least to other people. He was also a filmaker who that docu stole footage from and he sued them, I don't know if it got settled and for how much. He had actually done a docu on it some 30 years ago.

I have been through phases where I just tried to make sense of what happened when I was quote/unquote "brainwashed". I've watched so many cult docus and one thing that not too many people pick up on is that we are tribal creatures and we've been moving away from that for 10000 years but that hasn't really been long enough to change all the time we spent as tribal peoples. I believe the cults fill a very natural and real void that we all have today, and they exploit it. You will find Jonestown members speak with great joy and great horror about the church they belonged to. there is a reason for that. How can it be both joyful and terrible? Well, it just was. Sebastian Junger wrote a book called tribe and the premise was how we are all hardwired to be a part of a group/tribe and that we're happiest when we are. He mentioned how military men would rather be in the field, with dirty clothes and lack of resources as long as they were with their buddies. How English people in ww2 would survive the bomb attacks by going underground and helping each other survive. He mentioned how some people would slyly admit missing those days.

As far as how that applied to me, I think it's because I'm a native american, really not too many generations out of being tribal and only knowing a handful of people their whole lives. I think my father and my family have issues with that being taken away, and I know I do.

 

[Jballer]

Murder on a Sunday Morning is great, on YouTube last I checked. Was originally an HBO doc.

Just watched it based on this thread. Great watch. That defense attorney, damn, looks like Al Davis Jr but defends like Vincent Gambini. Also Flordia gonna Florida with those “detectives.”

 

[BearGrounds]

I love all this stuff. If for no other reason, as someone that struggles to work a semi-passable dovetail with soft wood I'm always amazed at the examples of freakishly precise stonemasonry.

But I couldn't help but watch this doc with a fair amount of side-eye. Personally I didn't find it particularly compelling. Which is a shame, as I will always really want to believe these stories.

I looked for some sort of riposte online. Linked here for reference, but for those that would rather just skip to the end -

"So, to summarize what has transpired from an examination of this list of sources, we find:

– a complete lack of contemporary references, particularly those of an Egyptological nature. The library shown in the film contains an abundance of works dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but the viewer searches in vain for any recent literature. We can see that the works pictured might have been chosen for their appearance, images of antiquated volumes being a way of symbolizing the scholarship of yesteryear that has instant appeal, but it is somewhat unfortunate that these particular "ancient tomes" are pressed into service so frequently as visual references in the sections of the film that critique Egyptology and "orthodox history."

– references about which the politest comment that could be made is that their scientific content is of a rather limited nature: Stephen-Chauvet on Easter Island; Taylor; the Abbé Moreux; Tompkins and the pyramids; the New Age shaman Aribalo on Cuzco .. .

– appeals to the authority of the ancients: Pliny, Agatharchides, Plato, and Aristotle, are frequently called upon to support the various conjectures in the film, sometimes at the cost of distorting those ancient authors’ own ideas. The viewer can hardly help smiling when the film then proceeds to strongly criticize Egyptologists who rely on Herodotus ...

– no checking of sources: trotting out hoary old pyramidological or astrological fictions when it is clear that no investigation and verification of primary sources has taken place. Examples of this are the "Guardians of the Sky" being incorrectly identified on the basis of an erroneous 18th century interpretation by Bailly; and references to a pseudo-citation of Agatharchides apparently conjured out of thin air by Stecchini in 1971 ...

– finally, manipulation of a work of reference - Cole’s paper on pyramid measurements - by the insertion of a bogus page. The director justifies this on two separate occasions, with the feeble claim that this manoeuvre was necessary to avoid the French viewing public having to convert Cole’s English measurements – despite the fact that the measurements in the original Cole document are all given in metres. "

Doesn't really seem like a conclusive "debunking".

Found it pretty comical that their first point of contention is a lack of Egyptological sources. What, like Zahi Hawass?



Can't say I'm convinced. Still, thanks for sharing.

 

[SpiderCrawl]

Chris chan a comprehensive history

 

[HomeCheese]

Just watched it based on this thread. Great watch. That defense attorney, damn, looks like Al Davis Jr but defends like Vincent Gambini. Also Flordia gonna Florida with those “detectives.”

The public defender was fucking nails. When the jury came back super quick and the filmmaker had the look of horror on his face and was like what does this mean? The PD said something like: "Its means he is either guilty or innocent." as he calmly walks back to court.

The other line I remember was the come back to the deceive's comment about "have another cancer stick" and he says "I always smoke before sex" right before he destroyed the guy on the witness stand. That was the lawyer I want, those lines are right out of a movie but the dude was just riffing.

I haven't seen it in like 20 years or since it was originally on HBO but I still remember.

 

[Thrawn33]

View attachment 1004238

the best sports documentary of all time.

I thought it was was a great companion piece to that. And I'm from the Detroit area so fuck the Bulls...

...but a nice piece on the guys who basically forged MJ into the GOAT

 

[Monkadelic]

Doesn't really seem like a conclusive "debunking".

Found it pretty comical that their first point of contention is a lack of Egyptological sources. What, like Zahi Hawass?



Can't say I'm convinced. Still, thanks for sharing.

I agree, it's certainly not a debunking.

 

[Joe_Armstrong]

The shock doctrine

 

[Doughie99]

I have always found the story of Claire Wineland to be quite inspiring and moving.

Recommend you watch the documentary about her, made in 2019 :