Has anyone seen "Brothers Keeper". It was made back in '92. It has a really interesting visual style and it will definitely make you think. I watched it back in college for a class and it is still sticking with me 4 years later.

Has anyone seen "Brothers Keeper". It was made back in '92. It has a really interesting visual style and it will definitely make you think. I watched it back in college for a class and it is still sticking with me 4 years later.

grizzly man by werner herzog

in fact, any herzog documentary has something special to offer

I recently watched "This Film is Not Yet Rated" about the MPAA. It completely opened my eyes as to how films get their ratings and the amount of censorship that pervades the industry. I watched "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" about two weeks ago- how timely that you also got a chance to see it. I am saving for a juicer...

oh how I love a good documentary! Exit Through the Gift Shop is one of my favorites! I'll have to check out some on this list. Good hair looked hilarious.

Great list! I've seen most but have added a lot of the others you listed to my queue! I have such an unexplainable love for documentaries, there was an Amish one out a few years ago that was awesome. If only I could remember the name...

We are big documentary fans too. I've really been wanting to see Man on Wire after reading Let the Great World Spin. I saw it at Blockbuster and went back to get it a couple days later only to find it out. I couldn't believe someone else wanted it on the same day - now i know it was you! ;)

I liked "Born Into Brothels", which came out awhile ago. On my list to see are "Horseboy" and also "Fagbug" (hailed as the "Best Gay Car Movie of the Year" in 2009...not sure I can pass that up!)

Hey Kathkeen :-) longtime secret reader here! Just have to say I love your blog! I recently watched a fantastic documentary called "The Way We Get By". Very, very moving film about life, love, duty, and the elderly, among other things. I hope you enjoy it!

We've recently watched a slew of documentaries, and have seen a lot on your image list above. This weekend we dived into a lot of Everest documentaries, because as you said, the voyeuristic narrative of something extreme that we both agreed we will never do was totally entrancing.

I LOVE a good documentary. Most of the ones you've listed I've seen, but there are a couple here I'm going to have to check out. I also really enjoyed 'The Killowatt Ours', 'Who Killed the Electric Car', and although it was very short 'The Story of Stuff' is very well done.
On a less serious note 'The King of Kong' was fantastic, also 'Mad Hot Ballroom'.

I liked the documentary about Milton Glaser a lot--To Inform & Delight. I also enjoyed the rather guileless messages of King Corn. But my fave doc of all time has got to be Dogtown & Z-Boys. It's like the coolest microculture ever, that has since taken over the world! Also American Movie was interesting--not sure if I actually liked it, but nice & bizarre!

Excellent list of documentaries!!

I would add:

Art & Copy http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/
and
Objectified http://www.objectifiedfilm.com/objectified-trailer/

Waiting for Superman...A look at our school systems

You should definitely check out the documentary film festival we have here in my hometown. It's all documentaries, and it's by far my very favorite weekend of the entire year.

True/False Film Festival
www.truefalse.org

Werner Herzog's "encounters at the end of the world." Amazing. I've purhased it as gifts for my dad and several adventurous friends.

I recently watched a documentary by HBO called "Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country". I was admittedly ignorant about the country before I saw this. It was heartbreaking to see what they're still suffering to this day, under the military regime. I think it's important to be aware of what is happening in other countries, things that may not always be in our headline news.

Brothers Keeper was amazing. Such a sad and interesting story.

I haven't seen "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead" yet. Can't wait to watch it. I did recently watch one called "Ingredients" that was all about the farming industry, that was really good.

"Babies" is one of my favorites. It really changed my views on parenting. If those babies can survive rolling around in the dirt, gnawing on bones and getting licked by goats, then my kid is going to be all right if he eats a Cheeto off of the floor, haha!

All In This Tea. I don't know if you're a tea drinker, but I found it interesting. From the description on Netflix:

Few people know the fascinating history of tea growing and making. This intriguing documentary aims to change that by following renowned tea importer David Lee Hoffman as he scours the far-flung corners of China to find the richest teas on earth. Tea making is an art and tradition that goes back generations in the East, and Hoffman makes it his goal to bring to the rest of the world the exquisite teas produced by struggling small farmers.

I second the vote for Dogtown and Z Boys. That was a good one.

The Cove is a good one too. It's about the illegal dolphin fishing industry, but it plays out like a James Bond film or something - very exciting to watch.

I also love Exit Through the Giftshop. Banksy was funnier than I ever expected him to be.

Born Into Brothels and Paradise Lost 1 and 2.

The two I would add to this list are No Impact Man, which changed how I view my own personal environmental impact, and Bigger, Stronger, Faster about steroids and professional wrestling which was FASCINATING.
~ Kim

I'm a total documentary junkie too. Love all the ones you have listed. Just saw Nim last week, totally worth checking out.

So excited you made a list! Woo Hoo! You're the best. : ) Thanks!

"Pregnant in America"

One coupled shopped around to find where it was cheapest to have their baby naturally (so sad!) in a hospital. I believe they went to Canada to give birth.

Similar to The Business of Being Born.

Delurking here to chime in on one of my favorite subjects. I've seen almost all the you listed and I will have to say that I was most moved by Everest, 180 Degrees South, and Man on Wire....all just breathtaking. I love anything Ken Burns and was totally addicted to the National Parks series. Wasteland was amazing and I would also highly recommend Inside Job, Trouble the Water, and War Dance.


Also, you can get a PBS series called Circus through Netflix and given the nature of your brother's profession, you might find it interesting.

Awesome suggestions y'all. I've had Brothers Keeper in my queue forever but haven't pulled the trigger on watching it yet. I also have Cove in there too but I dread how sad it's going to make me.

A couple of months ago we watched Food Inc, we tottaly changed our food and we really think before we buy stuff.

So, I haven't seen either of these yet... but I've been wanting to see Typeface, about the Hamilton Wood Type Museum & print shop. There haven't been any screenings near me or on my PBS station. Boo! I am also SO EXCITED about PJ20, Cameron Crowe's concert film/documentary about Pearl Jam. It comes out next month and will no doubt be added to my must-see documentary list. This list is a great resource!

I have to chime in too. It's a relatively recent documentary: The Desert of Forbidden Art http://www.desertofforbiddenart.com/ It is absolutely amazing and very current.

Along the lines of juicing and healing (as in healing stage IV cancer) "The Beautiful Truth". Hard to find the disc, but you can stream it on youtube when you search it as a full movie. You will love it.

http://www.blackmetalmovie.com/ this one is one I'll probably watch again...unsettling but also fascinating.

The Cove will destroy you.

Leeksoup / Dina - I've seen the Beautiful Truth and found it to be a little propaganda-ish for the Gerson Institute.

I just remembered one I saw over 15 years ago: Home Movie (by the makers of the much more famous American Movie)
it's about strange houses in the USA and the people who live in them, amazing

I also love documentaries! "Jesus Camp" is my Netflix queue right now...can't wait to be shocked/creeped out (as I know I will be). I just watched "Kurt & Courtney" (rockumentary?) recently. Very questionable, but interesting none-the-less.

i want to see cove. also, HBO has been playing a different documentary every monday this summer. kinda awesome. i love love good hair, religulous, freakonomics, jesus camp (in a good/bad way).super size me, and the september issue. there was an episode of this american life while it was on showtime about animal farming for food that made me go vegetarian. also, good book to read: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.

Good lord, don't you love Netflix? I've seen most of those, and some are still in my instant queue waiting to be watched. Some others I liked were The Cove, The Garden, and Dirt.

Some of my favorites are up there (180 South was GORGEOUS)... but some of them aren't! Add "Planet Earth" (which is my all time favorite), "Radio Bikini" (fascinating and melancholy, I had no idea), and "Englighten Up!" (liked the interviews with various gurus)

OMG!!! I found "Wasteland" to be shockingly good. I almost forgot. Really, I thought I'd switch it off quickly and I could not even pause it. Watch - really.

one more...
I saw a really interesting one about a hippie commune in California. Anyone know what this was called?

We've seen so many of these and love them all!
I would say to add The Future of Food if you haven't already seen it. Foodmatters is another good one. The Corporation. Not sure if you're Michael Moore fan but Sicko and Bowling for Columbine were actually really good. I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting. We watch lots of documentaries.

An old one I think is fascinating: "Zoo," about a man who died related to a bestiality incident. Completely horrifying and captivating at the same time.

Oh "The Cove" was also illuminating and disturbing. Why are my favorite docs so dark??

Someone already mentioned it but "The Cove" and also "The Lottery" are two documentaries I watched recently that impacted me a lot.

Your list is great... My favourite is The Rape of Europa. Plays like a historic thriller. I also love BBC's Planet Earth series; it was the first thing I watched in HD and it's absolutely ah-mazing.

"surfwise" is an odd and moving doc about a family growing up kind of on the fringes of society... I have a feeling it might be one you would like. I urge you to rent it...

Such good recommendations - thank you everyone!

SK - Yes! Surfwise was so intriguing. I think about that one all the time.

A great list - I had the luck of working through most of them!

I was really drawn to Eric Steel's "The Bridge"...I've watched it a few times, it's haunting.