If you asked me five years ago to watch a documentary, I would instantly sigh thinking about WWII films or silent animal movies I had to watch in seventh-grade history class. But today, documentaries are anything but that. The buzz in the film industry surrounds the latest documentaries that stream on a multitude of platforms, platforms that seem to keep growing. Documentaries haven’t just progressed in terms of topics and topic variety, but also in their budgets and profits. Have people started to care more about the world around us, or have filmmakers now mastered the art of engaging viewers through non-fiction?
According to NPR, there used to be a stigma surrounding documentaries: that they are boring and non-engaging. The shift from cable to streaming platforms, like Netflix and Hulu, has made documentaries more accessible, as independent films are rarely picked up for theaters or programmed stations. As more viewers are gaining access, streaming services are encouraged to fund documentaries more than ever before. Documentaries nowadays include not only talking heads in an interview, but also archival footage and graphics to enhance the storytelling. This has allowed documentaries to expand to new levels of entertainment.
Stories that were previously ignored are now being brought to life. Since our society seems to be caring more about documentaries, here are three documentary films that you should care about, too (featuring some of my favorites!).
- The Keepers: this seven-episode documentary series exposes the unsolved 1969 murder of the nun Catherine Cesnik. Unraveling this mystery brings up the larger-scale investigation by Cesnik’s former students that her death was done to cover up the numerous accounts of sexual abuse performed by the school’s priest.
- Meru: Meru is a 2015 documentary that follows three American climbers as they attempt to summit the Meru Peak of the Himalayas for the second time. As one of the climbers, Jimmy Chin, is recording the entire time, audiences feel real stake and emotional investment in the climber’s success.
- The Hunting Ground: this 2015 documentary investigates incidences of sexual assault on college campuses around the United States, a topic that is, sadly, still relevant. The film focuses on the failure of college administrations to address the assaults.
All in all, the global surge and interest in documentaries is a positive thing, as filmmakers are able to inform more viewers about pressing issues in an engaging way that people want to watch!
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