Top 5 Documentaries

Top Lady

1) Winged Migration (2003)

One of the most beautiful nature films ever made, Winged Migration celebrates the (very difficult) life of migrating birds around the world. Try to look for “behind the scenes” footage of how they captured some of the more amazing shots—especially how the camera joins flying geese at eye-level for a trip down the Seine.

2) I Like Killing Flies (2004)

This documentary profiles Kenny Shopsin, the owner and cook of Shopin’s in New York City, and it probably has more blue language than Reservoir Dogs. Kenny is pretty famous in New York for his attitude and homemade dishes such as Blisters on my Sisters (an egg-and-beans thing) and Postmodern Pancakes (pancakes with chopped-up pancakes mixed in). He’s moved to the Lower East Side but is still in the kitchen—you might want to watch this film first to prepare yourself before you wander in.

3) Helvetica (2007)

There are two kinds of people in the world: those for whom a documentary about a font sounds like a waste of time, and those for whom it sounds like the most exciting two hours possible. I think I fell in the middle before I saw this one (I mean, I bought a ticket), but the genuine interest and liveliness of the filmmaker is what puts it over the top. And, like the best documentaries, you truly walk out of the theater with a different awareness of the world around you.

4) Dig! (2004)

There are a million documentaries about bands (most of them are VH1’s Behind the Music). Director Ondi Timoner was smart enough to tell two stories in one film that shows the meteoric rise of the Dandy Warhols and the everything-that-can-go-wrong-does story of the Brian Jonestown Massacre. Seeing these two bands start out in exactly the same place, but end up with very different careers is a fascinating look into the fickleness of the music business.

5) Ken Burns’ Baseball (1994)

Two years ago, I rented and watched all nine episodes of Ken Burns’s Baseball documentary that was shown on PBS, in preparation for a visit to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. (Dorky? Yes, why do you ask?) Although Burns’s trademark close-ups of old photographs and films serve as great illustrations, it's the first-hand tales from folks such as Buck O’Neil, Red Barber, Bob Feller, Curt Flood, Doris Kearns Goodwin, and many professionals and fans that bring the game’s history alive.

Top Guy

1) Winged Migration (2003)
March of the Penguins was more acclaimed, and Microcosmos was more groundbreaking, but Winged Migration changed the way I think about nature. The documentary follows the lives of migratory birds and the life-and-death struggle that the migration demands. The Oscar-nominated film is simple yet beautiful, respectfully removed yet powerfully emotional.

2) The Fog of War (2003)
I hate Robert McNamara, and this documentary made me hate him even more. It was hailed as the first time McNamara, the secretary of Defense during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, admitted that the Vietnam War was a mistake—an admission that was only 30 years too late. Errol Morris is arguably the best documentary filmmaker ever, but he lets McNamara off the hook time and again. Still, it’s fascinating to see the inner workings of McNamara’s truly evil mind.

3) When We Were Kings (1996)
The film is ostensibly about the famed 1974 Ali-Foreman boxing match in Zaire, and it would make the list if it stopped with that historic fight. However, director Leon Gast also weaved in subplots about Mobutu Sese Suko’s brutal dictatorship, the aftermath of colonialism in Africa, a fight-related concert featuring James Brown and B.B. King, and the reaction of black American stars returning to Africa.

4) One Day in September (1999)
Palestinian terrorist group Black September abducted 11 Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Although you already know the outcome going in—the standoff ended with Jim McKay’s famous words “They’re all gone”—it’s fascinating how many times you’ll think “This might work” as the German police try another daring but ill-planned and ill-executed attempt to free the hostages.

5) Looking for Richard (1996)
Richard III is my favorite Shakespeare play, and this documentary is a major reason why. Al Pacino and a who’s who list of A-list actors attempt to stage the play, and the film cuts between staged scenes, interviews with academics and readings between the actors as they try to figure out what exactly is going on. The result is a terrific film about the creative process that brings you closer to the wonderful source material in a way that simply reading or watching the play does not.