When worst comes to worst, a documentary can always make things even worse for a wondrous mind and a wicked heart. Do you ever feel like putting yourself through distressing realities to make your life seem more bearable? Do you just find yourself to be really fascinated with the atrocities of the world, the mysteries of humanity, and the crookedness of civilization? Documentaries are surely the best way to fill these fixes. Here are the documentaries that should be on every person’s lifelong “must-watch” list.
1. “Amanda Knox”
Murder, mystery, and the power of the media. This story is a popular one, but in Netflix’s most recent debut of their documentary “Amanda Knox” we see an entirely different story from the woman herself. It will have you biting your fingernails in your seats wondering why you ever thought studying abroad in Italy was a good idea.
2. “13th
This film will shed light on the insanely troublesome issue with mass incarceration in the history of this country. With it’s inclusion of modern hip-hop lyrics that transition the film’s sequence across a timeline, you’ll never see racism, the law, and oppression covered so intensely. If you’re like me, you’ll shed a few tears of frustration throughout the film and email your social foundations professor an entire novel ranting about power and empathy.
3. “Burzynski: Cancer is Serious Business”
See the medical world and pharmaceutical industry like you never have before. Have you ever questioned why a higher being allowed cancer to flourish among living creatures? Have you ever wondered why we still cannot seem to find a cure? Follow along this crazy, scientific ride to better understand how institutions like the government and medical care centers handle Burzynski’s personal, and successful, cancer treatments.
4. “The Trials of Spring”
Go inside the life of an Egyptian woman, Hend Nafea, who experiences the direct abuse, violence, and oppression by the military regimes in her country. This documentary traces the overthrowing of dictators in Egypt occurring over the last decade and still taking place as we speak. Nafea, and many other people of Egypt, underwent intense abuse, violence, and mistreatment when trying to practice democracy and equality. It is sure to open your eyes to the real things happening in non-western lives.
5. “The Cove”
If you care about animals, you’ll care about this. See the raw portrayal of dolphin hunters in Japan and their methods of illegally capturing these creatures for commercial use. This is fishing that you may have never known existed with an intensity that will have you numb by the end of it all.
6. “Out of the Blue”
Aside from learning that U.F.O. stands for Unidentified Flying Objects for your local Thursday trivia tournament, this documentary will have you contemplating your entire existence. See endless amounts of hidden evidence about unknown space crafts from US Navy veterans, and an inside look at the real connections across the U.F.O sightings all over the planet.
7. “This is Everything”
Be apart of understanding the transformational journey that famous YouTube star Gigi Gorgeous goes through in this breathtaking documentary. You hear from her family and get to see personal home videos that traces the empowering story of a transgender woman and her family in America today.
8. “Audrie & Daisy”
Watch the story of sexual assault unravel for a handful of young women in America. It has strong resemblance of The Hunting Ground, a similar documentary about deconstructing and investigating the common sexual assault narrative. This film incorporates heavy amounts of technology-based crimes that go hand in hand with the physicality of assaults and deserves the view of any young adult who has dealt with or knows someone who has been impacted by these issues.
9. “Loose Change”
Relive the experience of the terrorist attacks in 2001 through an entirely different lens – one that challenges the story and provides information for a conspiracy theory. This one will leave you with a confused mind and a new frame of thought. It provides testimony for the twin towers, flight 93, and the terrorist list prior to the attacks. All in all, it’s a must see for anyone who lived through the experience and wants to be informed about it. Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams, right?