I present here the best general interest true films I've found. I define true films as documentaries, educational films, instructional how-to's, and what the British call factuals - a non-fiction visual account.
As dogged as I have been in tracking down great true films, I have seen only a fraction of the estimated 40,000 that have been made. So I am ready for more. However I will only list true films and documentaries that are available as VHS tape or DVDs at consumer prices. In other words, films that are easy for most people to see upon request. I won't include films that are only shown in theaters, or available via high-priced rentals, or simply out of print.
If you know of an available amazing true film that I've missed please recommend it to me.
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
This is one of those amazing stories that sticks with you forever. In the beginning a few decades ago Daniel Johnston is a very talented kid who makes weird art and music and also records his life on film. He hopes to be a famous artist some day. But his art and life get weirder and weirder. He keeps recording his life, but it is clear to others he is going crazy. He is racked by "demons" -- which is what his Bible-believing parents and Daniel himself believe. Yet, Daniel acquires thousands of true fans who see him as a genuine outsider artist and musician who makes visionary basement cassette tapes. Over time Daniel slips into self-destructive behavior until he is "rescued" by his father who whisks him away in a small plane. Then Daniel yanks the keys out of the plane in flight. It's the devil in Daniel Johnston his father says, and by now you believe it. You just gotta see this movie, in large part made by Daniel himself. It's a cult classic.
-- KK
The Devil and Daniel Johnston
Jeff Feuerzeig
2005, 110 min.
$17, DVD
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
The Story of India
One of my favorite historians, Michael Wood, tells the fantastic history of India by visiting the places where it happens. Best of all, he describes the IDEAS that each place launched. The story of India spans thousands of years and thousands of miles, and five episodes. Wood is both intelligent and genial, and deeply familar with the subcontinent, so you get an incredibly insightful tour of this vast land. Wood takes you to unexpected corners deep inside the culture. I've read a lot of Indian history, seen a fair number of documentaries about the country, and I have traveled extensively throughout India over many years. This is by far the best treatment of this still rising civilization I've seen.
The Story of India
Michael Wood
2007, 345 min
$30, DVD & Blu-Ray (2 discs)
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Long Way Down
Two guys ride motorcycles 10,000 kilometers from the tip of northern Scotland down to the southern tip of Africa. As you might expect, this is a great 3-month road trip, with accidents, adventures and much to learn. Since it's the same two celebrity actors who rode motorcycles from London to New York "the long way around" (also a recommended True Film) there's a lot of good natured fun and horsing around. It's hard not like the company of the two personable chaps. In short, this is a buddy flick. In seven hours they give you an enjoyable and decent orientation to the continent of Africa.
Long Way Down
Ewan McGregor, Charley Boorman, David Alexanian and Russ Malkin
2007, 510 min.
$40, DVD (3 discs)
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
The Ascent of Man
Filmed in 1973, this 13-part BBC production made great waves when it was broadcast in America. It was one of the first hits on public television, and made PBS cool. Written by the mathematician Jacob Bronowski, it's billed as a personal history of humanity. Filmed on location around the world, the series is a rousing, philosophical celebration of science, invention and art. I thought that it might not have the same gravitas it had 40 years ago, but the newly restored DVD version keeps its power. Bronowski is deeply optimistic, surprisingly contemporary, and very sympathetic to the current ideas of emergence and self-organized systems. His account could have been written yesterday. The thing that struck me most about his ode to humanity was Bronowski's precise, pithy, almost poetic style. He's a fabulous presenter, a remarkable person, and while watching him you think, yes, if he is an example of what humans are, then they have indeed ascended. I learned a whole lot from this poem, and recommend it as one of the best short histories of humans written so far.
-- KK
The Ascent of Man
Jacob Bronowski, Mick Jackson and Adrian Malone
1972, 676 min
$135, DVD (5-disc set)
Read more about the film at Wikipedia
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
Book also on Amazon
Between the Folds
This may be the first documentary I've ever seen that I thought was too short. It's about obsessive paper hackers who fold extreme origami. They make paper do things you would never believe. Sheets are folded into impossible shapes, in impossible ways. Some origami unfolds in almost lifelike gestures. The folders use computers, math, craft, art, and sheer will power to turn uncut paper into anything, even all things. I could watch them do this for hours. It's magic. It's deep. It will change your mind about paper. They know things ordinary mortals do not. This documentary will bewitch you, making you ask for more.
--KK
Between the Folds
Vanessa Gould
2008, 55 min.
$23, DVD
Rent from Netflix
Available from Amazon
