1. Chasing Ice
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2. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Dear Zachary is easily one of the most emotionally exhausting films I've ever seen. And actually, I saw this several years ago and 1.) still regard it as one of the best documentaries I've ever seen, 2.) will not watch it again. The twists in this film keep pummeling your heart until it's left a mushy blob of heart-meat but you cannot live a full life without watching it at least once. It's not what it seems at the beginning and by the end you'll wonder how it was even pulled together as artfully as it was.
4. Restrepo
7. How to Die in Oregon
8. The Elephant in the Living Room
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3. The House I Live In
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My favorite documentary of recent times I could watch this over and over again with everyone I know. Highlighting the "war on drugs" and just what that means to everyone involved: judges, convicts, police, families, prison wardens, and towns it shows the toll current laws are taking on everyone whether you realize it or not. Everyone involved in this film brings forward something fascinating you've perhaps never thought about before and will challenge your views and soften your first impressions of those caught up in this war.
4. Restrepo
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Great, tragic film. The most harrowing moment was when the young solider being interviewed said to the camera, while wearing an eerily broad smile, that he had tried four or five different sleeping pills and still couldn’t sleep. For him, not sleeping was much better than sleeping and re-living his nightmares over and over and over again.
5. The Other F Word
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My love of this film was a surprise to me. I mean, I love watching debaucherous tales of the punk rock lifestyle as much as the next girl but listening to punk rocker after punk rocker talk about their own childhood abuse leading to them being the best role model for their kids as they could be was really wonderful. The stars interviewed in this film are fascinating, even more so because they are away from the stage and doing regular dad things with their kids. Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers was the most interesting to hear about as he played piano with one of his daughters and talked about how his abusive upbringing changed the way he viewed fatherhood. A+ for The Other F Word. And it probably goes without saying but the music of the film was a definite bonus.
6. Lake of Fire
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I saw this film my first year of college and it has stuck with me since. Anyone who wants to know about more about abortion really effects people in the U.S. should see this film. Anyone who thinks people picketing outside of abortion clinics is justified, or condones the killing of doctors who perform abortions should see this film. Everyone should see this film.
7. How to Die in Oregon
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Produced before Initiative 1000 passed in Washington (my state!) in 2008, this documentary highlights patients in Oregon using their right to have a physician-assisted suicide at the end of their terminal illnesses. The main woman featured, Cody Curtis, was young and healthy before being diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. The film shows her last months with her family as they decide when to end her life. Her doctor, Katherine Morris wrote a great blog post about her experiences with Cody and the documentary team here.
8. The Elephant in the Living Room
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The elephant in the living room was actually a lion, or lions as it turned out. A look into the strange world of keeping exotic animals for pets this will make you angry, but mostly in the end very sad. The main character of the film, featured in the picture above, thinks he's giving the lions a great life by keeping them when really the lions are as much about filling a void in his mental health as anything. Hard to watch but worth the conclusions.
9. The Invisible War
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This film is insane, absolutely insane. Listening to stories of young women who were 3rd or 4th generation veterans that wanted to serve their country only to be assaulted by their training officers or fellow soldiers was absolutely sickening. These women experienced a process for handling their sexual assaults that baffles me, and seems not only illegal but almost beyond comprehension. The "experts" put in place to monitor the issue in each of the branches of the military seemed like total lunatics and their ideas for preventing assault really showcased how brainwashed the entire system is into thinking this is an issue of the victim, not those carrying out the assaults. In the end it seemed as though some progress is being made, despite the struggles of the women featured to draw attention to their issue from those who can bring forth change.
10. Taxi to the Dark Side
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This is another film to make you absolutely enraged at the U.S. military's practices. What's most disturbing to me is those interviewed who held jobs in these detention facilities remind me of some of the people I knew in high school who joined the armed services. The testosterone filled, somewhat insecure, all too ready to go to war young men who would follow orders given without hesitation or questioning because that's what a good solider does. Donald Rumsfeld will thoroughly piss you off with only a simple write-in comment on a document but the entire film is a necessary watching to understand some of what has happened "over there" for the last umpteen years.
I hope you have a chance to enjoy some of these films. While they are filled with "the feels" it's worth a few tears for the insight they bring.
I hope you have a chance to enjoy some of these films. While they are filled with "the feels" it's worth a few tears for the insight they bring.