Memorable Documentaries

Favorite quotations, etc.
chenda
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by chenda »

Not sure if it's one of your list but this is one of the best and most important documentaries ever made:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Century_of_the_Self

'The words of Paul Mazur, a leading Wall Street banker working for Lehman Brothers in 1927, are cited: "We must shift America from a needs- to a desires-culture. People must be trained to desire, to want new things, even before the old have been entirely consumed. [...] Man's desires must overshadow his needs."[7]'

Dragline
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Dragline »


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C40
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by C40 »

I went through a big documentary phase. There were a lot I really enjoyed but have since forgotten about. I'm really wishing I'd made a list of my favorites. Here are some:

- Iro Dreams of Sushi
- Surfwise (The first half at least)
- Planet Earth

For those with any interest in bicycle racing, these are my favorites:
- Hell on Wheels (The original title is ~Hollentour. Most of the speaking is in German and French. Has subtitles)
- Road to Roubaix

Others:
- Alone in the Wilderness (Dick Proenneke)
- I remember "Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine" being enthralling, but maybe not the greatest documentary

Tyler9000
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Tyler9000 »

ffj wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJYzgJ4CwI
Greed and vanity
I love that one! It takes quite the turn.

Another favorite of mine:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zet7g8AifJs

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jennypenny
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by jennypenny »

Riding Giants ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K72balyyDOQ (edit: better link)

black_son_of_gray
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by black_son_of_gray »

Baraka, Samsara, and the Planet Earth series

Gilberto de Piento
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Gilberto de Piento »

Damnation - why dams should be removed
No Impact Man - family tries to live without environmental impact

sgtbigman
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by sgtbigman »

Long time lurker, and, of course, the food documentary is what inspires me to finally join the discussion :P

Anyways, thanks ffj for linking to the trailer for "Cooking"; I watched the first episode and thoroughly enjoyed it!

After watching that episode on Netflix, I stumbled upon the "World War II in Colour" series (currently on episode 1).

Hmm, maybe I should start paying my brother for half of the Netflix bill....then again, I may just be making up for when I was paying for it the last time we shared the account... :lol:

vexed87
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by vexed87 »

Cowspiracy, best thing I saw so far this year, it's about animal agriculture, sustainability and overpopulation. - http://www.cowspiracy.com/

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jennypenny
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by jennypenny »

How nasty is Cowspiracy? Some of those are too harsh to watch (for me, anyway).

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Slevin
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Slevin »

@jennypenny Cowspiracy is not too harsh. Nothing like many of the vegan - promoting documentaries which show lots and lots of death and torture and abuse. Not that such things should be ignored, it just tries to be much more abstract about everything. I also really liked the documentary... until I dug into it and found the facts and figures he quotes the whole movie come from one single paper and are not nearly as scary as they seem.

For instance he quotes the amount of water it takes to make 1 lb of beef (including embedded water in the feed). This number seems insanely high, until you compare it with any other food you have ever eaten. Significantly less than nuts, etc.

The narrator also gets a lot of satisfaction from barging into places, pushing his facts and figures from an obscure paper, and then acting like the interviewee not having heard these numbers before and disagreeing with them proves his points.

I agree with a lot of the things the narrator says, I just think they are provided in a poor manner.

cmonkey
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by cmonkey »

vexed87 wrote:Cowspiracy, best thing I saw so far this year, it's about animal agriculture, sustainability and overpopulation. - http://www.cowspiracy.com/

This makes me glad I stopped eating beef a long time ago. The odd burger out has slipped in once in a while, maybe once a month....which is the way it should be. Meat should be a side dish, maybe 1/10 of your diet if even that.

Its docs like this that really make me wonder how this will all come to a stop....and what the world will look like even by the end of my life.

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Slevin
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Slevin »

Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. Much better book, but the documentary is a good intro into the covert operations the US has run since 9/11 and why a lot of the rest of the world sees us in a much different light. Blatant disregard for the Geneva Convention, foreign law, etc.

cmonkey
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by cmonkey »

A nice little nugget from the 90's called Affluenza.

tylerrr
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by tylerrr »

ffj wrote:I enjoy a good documentary, and I thought I would list some of them that have been memorable or high quality. I am hoping the rest of you will list your favorites also. I would only ask that the ones with a heavy-handed agenda be left out, but any subject is open.

Some favorites:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtyY0CXdiNo
This one will break your heart; it's worth watching however.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WldZazpFy7I
Politics, revenge, and human weakness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdJYzgJ4CwI
Greed and vanity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOUYPnpJsK0
Really interesting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79IUKC9gS-8
Really fun to watch

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC5bpPfltOI
Holy crap

I'll list more as I think of them. Everybody please join in.
Last one on the list proves the existence of Evil.....Incredible.

BRUTE
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by BRUTE »

tylerrr wrote:Last one on the list proves the existence of Evil.....Incredible.
if tylerrr thinks Cartel Land proves the existence of Evil, brute invites him to watch "The Act of Killing"

Dragline
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Dragline »

Those last two are interesting because they are mimetic rivals -- effectively mirror images. Both of them are about the relationship between unofficial violence and official violence. With an anarchical society you have the first film (gangs and vigilantes). The latter is used to crush the former and restore order, thereby granting a state-monopoly on future violence. Of course, what is "official" is often established in hindsight by the winners.

Welcome to "How large human societies were traditionally formed and what happens when they fall apart 101."

tylerrr
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by tylerrr »

Dragline wrote:Those last two are interesting because they are mimetic rivals -- effectively mirror images. Both of them are about the relationship between unofficial violence and official violence. With an anarchical society you have the first film (gangs and vigilantes). The latter is used to crush the former and restore order, thereby granting a state-monopoly on future violence. Of course, what is "official" is often established in hindsight by the winners.

Welcome to "How large human societies were traditionally formed and what happens when they fall apart 101."
:cry:

Riggerjack
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Riggerjack »

. Those last two are interesting because they are mimetic rivals -- effectively mirror images. Both of them are about the relationship between unofficial violence and official violence. With an anarchical society you have the first film (gangs and vigilantes). The latter is used to crush the former and restore order, thereby granting a state-monopoly on future violence. Of course, what is "official" is often established in hindsight by the winners.

Welcome to "How large human societies were traditionally formed and what happens when they fall apart 101.
Yeah, well there a difference of scale so different as to nearly be a comparison of apples to elephants. The scars on society of thousands of murders/year vs millions reflect this. Talk to Mexicans about avoiding drug violence, and you will get a completely different description from what a Cambodian would say about living to 1980, or a Chinese farmer living through the Glorious Revolution.

When you are on the wrong side of a gang, you can always try escaping their territory. When governments start purging citizens, escape is usually no longer an option.

When government gets into killing mode, it shows there is still at least one area where they can excel beyond private industry.

Dragline
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Re: Memorable Documentaries

Post by Dragline »

You might find Ian Morris's recent book about War and violence interesting. For audio cliff notes, watch this starting at around 4:00 to about 20:00 and continue on if you find it interesting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebRpquKFSEw

I would say I'm in partial agreement with it. What's actually more interesting to me is that is seems to be a variant on Rene Girard's mimetic theory, even though Morris says he never read Girard (elsewhere -- they were both at Stanford in different departments). When people with different training/agendas/ideas arrive in roughly the same place after long journeys of research and thought, I tend to pay attention.

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