Worthwhile Documentaries

[Trieste]

As some of you may have noticed, I'm kind of a documentary-person. I like to watch them, I like to hear what people have to say in them. I don't like reality television, and I found repetitive things like the series Obsessed uninteresting, but Lord Mayerling was kind enough to recommend the series 30 Days to me, and I really enjoyed some of the episodes.

The most recent documentary I've watched is called After Innocence, and it revolves around what happens to inmates exonerated by The Innocence Project and similar efforts. I'm a strong believer in justice system reform. I plan to spend my career in the justice system, and I hope to bring honor and compassion to what I do. I found After Innocence to be a much-needed reminder that it's not enough to prove innocence (which we never should really have to do anyway, given that we're supposed to be assuming innocent until proven guilty, but that's another discussion). We have to make sure that we work to give people back the lives that were unjustly taken.

I'm not really starting this thread to debate. If someone wants to debate the subject matter of one of these documentaries, feel free to make a thread for it and PM me to bring my attention to it. I'm really looking to see which documentaries (or informative books! I like those, too) people found interesting, eye-opening, shocking, or intriguing. :)

[Anjasa]

I really enjoyed This Film is Not Yet Rated. Some of it is a bit over the top, but for the most part, well, it needs to be. It's about the MPAA and the hypocritical standards they set (for regards to big names vs. independent film makers, gay sex vs. straight sex, etc.) and a bit about how they operate. I find I reference it a fair bit in discussions about films. That's the one that sticks out to me right now, anyways.

[Oniya]

I'm rather fond of Terry Jones's history documentaries.  I was so impressed and entertained with his treatment of the Crusades that I bought the box set.

[Lilias]

I'm fond of Richard Hammond's Engineering Connections, and not just because of episode 3.04. >_>

Paul Merton's Birth of Hollywood satisfied both the historian and the cinephile in me. Above all, though, I loved Faulks on Fiction: a four-parter on literature, focusing, for a change, on characters rather than authors. The book spin-off is on my to-buy-ASAP list.