Hello everyone! Welcome to Warwick Documentary Society's first blog post. In this post, our exec team will be sharing their favourite documentaries and why exactly they love them. Through the range of documentaries recommended, from social and political to true crime, our exec have rounded up a great selection for you to tuck into.
So without further ado, here are the documentary recommendations:
Angel's Recommendation: 'Bamboo Theatre'
2019 / Hong Kong / 76 mins / Art and Culture
Bamboo Theatre is an intangible cultural heritage of Hong Kong. It is not only where people perform Cantonese opera to celebrate the birthday of the goddess of the sea, but also an age-old wisdom that allows theatres to stand only temporarily, and be built without a single nail or staple gun. However, forgotten by urban dwellers and the younger generation, it gradually becomes a sunset industry.
Unlike the conventional documentaries, ‘Bamboo Theatre’ introduces this fascinating yet fading heritage of Hong Kong without any interviews, graphics or Netflix-like effects. Instead, it provides a quiet space for the audience to ‘observe’ how ordinary people interact with this extraordinary craftsmanship. It is where people give thanks to deities, where Cantonese opera actors self actualize, and where cross-generational community bonding is formed. If you want to feel the warmth of community and persistence of craftsmen hidden in this cosmopolitan financial hub, don’t miss it!
Athena's Recommendation: 'The Act of Killing'
2012 / Indonesia / 122 mins / Crime, War, History
Available on Amazon Prime
TW; Violence, disturbing images, death
An exposé of the horrific mass executions of accused communists in Indonesia and those who are celebrated in their country for perpetrating the crime, The Act of Killing lets the killers explain their actions in an unusual way.
Director Joshua Oppenheimer takes viewers on an unsettling journey through the history and psychology of men who killed without justice or remorse, who not only prospered from their deeds, but remain in power to this day. With obstinate pride, the film's subjects lay bare the moral imagination that makes them heroes in the national myth. In a mind-bending twist, they do so by making their own movie about their brutal deeds in the style of the American westerns, musicals and gangster films they love -- playing both victims and perpetrators. As the subjects slowly become aware of the moral significance of their crimes through creatively re-enacting them, the facade of the ‘national hero’ inevitably breaks down.
I was deeply unnerved by the blend of fiction and reality in this documentary as well as witnessing the nervous breakdown of those who had come to the realisation of the severity of their crimes. This film tackles heavy psychological themes and I do not recommend watching this if you feel you are in a vulnerable mental state, as I was not able to shake off the feeling I was left with at the end for a couple of days. Nonetheless, it is an incredible documentary and the director’s creative approach of such complex notions makes it easily one of my favourites.
Cameron's Recommendation: 'The Salt of the Earth' (dir. Wim Wenders & Juliano Ribeiro Salgado)
2014 / France, Brazil, Italy / 110 mins / Biographical, Environment, Culture
Available on Amazon Prime
I haven’t seen anything so grippingly pressing and personal as The Salt of the Earth. It is a biography of the director’s father, famed social documentary photographer and journalist Sebastião Ribeiro Salgado Jr. We briefly travel with him through his early life, though the bulk of his story centres around his work and the subjects that prompt it. Darting across oceans, mountain ranges and deserts like pinballs, though never feeling like we’re spending too little or long anywhere, The Salt of the Earth is a scathing commentary on worldwide capitalism’s terrifying second-hand destruction of communities that have had no say in such a matter. It’s a tough watch, excelling in etching death - of human life, of nature, of dignity, of culture, of the future - into one’s mind.
While I do think it could’ve spent more time explicitly responding to certain issues as well as simply presenting them, not doing so gives viewers the space to create their own dialogue on ethics and the environment, and prevents them from forgetting about it straight away. Not doing so has meaningfully moulded my perception of the world’s cultures, forests and the socioeconomic systems encroaching upon them. Visceral and calculated, no documentary has touched me quite like The Salt of the Earth.
Dayah's Recommendation: 'The Last Guardians'
2017/ Ecuador, South America / 45 mins / Cultural, Environmental
Available via filmsforaction.org
The Last Guardians is an award-winning documentary made with the indigenous Sàpara and Kichwa communities of Ecuador's Amazon. Now, more than ever, the global community can learn from indigenous knowledge and wisdom in its battle to conserve the planet. Becoming, once more, guardians of the land which gives us life.
Bringing exposure to the threats they are facing from the oil industry, the film also sheds light on their philosophy and way of life, illustrating what the world stands to lose if their rights are not respected.
This documentary is a great insight into indigenous culture of the Sapara and Kichwa communities in Ecuador’s Amazon, directly from the community themselves. It looks into lots of different aspects of their lives but also how it is at risk due to conflict, exploitation and western values. The documentary highlights the struggle the people within these tribes have to preserve their culture, community and identity, but also what the rest of the world will lose if their tribes are lost too.
I loved this documentary because it looked at the indigenous community through their own words and own experience rather than the interpretation of their experience from the global north or outsiders of that community. I found it very powerful and it made me think about the improvements and knowledge we could gain by listening and learning from indigenous communities such as the Sapara and Kichwa community.
Fatou's Recommendation: 'The Square' (dir. Jehane Noujam)
2013 / Egypt / 108 mins / Social and Political
Streaming on Netflix
TW; violence, warfare, death on camera
The Square - referring to Cairo’s Tahrir Square - depicts Egypt’s Revolution in 2011 and the ensuing crisis that consumed the country, in a way that uniquely puts the audience in the midst of all the tumult. Noujam presents a compelling narrative of the events during the Egyptian Revolution, capturing a street-level perspective amongst protestors in real-time as she took part in the demonstrations herself. The film follows a group of young revolutionaries eager to oust President Hosni Mubarak from office and rebuild Egypt’s democracy, and powerfully depicts how their personal stories and political frustrations intersected with the spontaneous unfolding of the Revolution. Though the moments of violence are harrowing, The Square succeeds in evoking a deep appreciation for the realities that come with activism and protest, that are at times troubling and at other times inspiring.
Hadia's Recommendation: 'Becoming'
2020 / U.S.A / 89 mins / Social & Cultural
Available on Netflix
Becoming gives us an insight into the life of one of the most inspirational women on the planet, Michelle Obama. In the documentary, we see Michelle reflect upon her childhood and upbringing in Chicago. She explains the importance of her family and her education which both shaped her into the strong woman she is today. Michelle also explores her identity as a black woman with power and gives us an insight into her experiences with racism. This documentary is a great watch for women of colour who are often made to feel guilty about their success. Obama is a great role model for young women across the world and proves that we really can do it all. From her childhood, her role as First Lady and experience of motherhood, we get to see Obama in all aspects of her life. This documentary will leave you feeling capable of taking on the world!
Lauren's Recommendation: Prehistoric Park
2006/UK/48 mins/Science Fiction & Documentary Fiction
Available on Watch, ITV Player, Apple TV
Set in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, “wildlife adventurer Nigel Marvin plunges into prehistory, to rescue creatures from the brink of extinction,” and houses them in a conservationist effort within Prehistoric Park. This fictitious premise of going back to various geological time periods through a time-space portal, is supplemented by accurate (at the time) knowledge of the geographical makeup of a prehistoric earth, and the creatures that inhabited the various regions at different times.
Although the overarching plot focuses on how the prehistoric creatures are acquired, each episode features a subplot demonstrating how the prehistoric creatures adjust to living in the 21st century, often with some comparison on the techniques and lifestyles their modern descendants have adopted.
Whilst the format of the show can resembles little to what is normally conceived of as a documentary, it follows the standard format one would usually expect from a series following a regular zoo documentary. With its fictitious premise, the format thoroughly engages and excites the audience as there is an immersion into the world. This makes the content all the more interesting when factual information pertaining to the prehistoric earth are delivered - instead of it feeling like a slow, stale lecture, there is an engagement that generates further interest into history and paleontology.
Victoria's Recommendation: 'Inside: Russia’s Toughest Prisons' (dir. by Anna Rodzinski)
2011/ Directed by Anna Rodzinski/ Prison, True Crime
Streaming on Netflix
TW: violence
‘Inside: Russia’s Toughest Prisons’, is an insightful and chilling documentary which explores the workings of three Russian prisons, as well as interviewing some of the inmates that are incarcerated there. Although I have watched many prison documentaries, this one remains uniquely imprinted in my mind due to a specific interview with an cannibalistic inmate who recounts his horrifying crime to the film crew. In addition to this scene, there are many moments in the documentary which combine the typical representation in documentaries of the totality of the prison, as well as uniquely presenting the personal recountings of the inmates within it. As such, ‘Inside: Russia’s Toughest Prisons’ remains a documentary that I have found myself rewatching several times through the interesting slant it takes upon the popular genre of prison documentaries.
Joel's Recommendation: 'Vietnam’s Toxic Legacy'
2016 / Vietnam / 23mins / Health
Available on Unreported World (YouTube or All4)
Being a part of the Unreported World series, this documentary is very brief and akin to an extended news report yet Ade Adepitan’s coverage of this internationally ignored situation manages to touch on all aspects of it. Primarily centred in Ho Chi Minh, Ade takes us through the impact Agent Orange (a toxic chemical used by the US in the Vietnam war) continues to have on the country and its people 40 years after the war. Children are still being born afflicted with neural tube, sensory organ and limb defects as well as the very visually poignant cleft palate/lip. Ade meets those directly affected, the families caring for their children as well as doctors who want more research into the connection between the defects and Agent Orange.
The documentary, as a news-style documentary, obviously gets the facts across but it also manages to keep to the stories of those impacted which helps keep the viewer engaged. However, by not being more critical of America’s limited action, it stays neutral at a cost to its impact and it also skips over the stigma those affected might have to endure within Vietnam.
Documentaries like this one are the reason that shorter news-like documentaries are brilliant as you can learn about an understated human health travesty in a quick lunch break.
Eli's Recommendation: 'Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror'
2021 / USA / 60 mins / Politics, World Events
Streaming on Netflix
This five part documentary series is a relatively new and relevant one. It was released on September 1, the day after the US military completely withdrew from Afghanistan. Varying “actors” at the time, such as people from the Afghan government, former FBI agents and civilians, were interviewed for the series. The emergence of Al Qaeda, 9/11, the War on Terror and the extent of its failure are explored in five gripping episodes.
What I truly love about this series is that, although with the help of hindsight, we tend to demonise the paranoia following 9/11, we are reminded that the event truly terrified the American public. However, the documentary demonstrates that several of the events following 9/11, such as the invasion of Iraq, are unexplainable and unacceptable. This series helps us realise that sometimes there are no obvious baddies vs goodies in world politics.
Amal's Recommendation: 'Hate Thy Neighbour'
2016 / USA & UK / 40 mins / Politics, Comedy
Available on Youtube
TW: Racism, Islamophobia
This six episode series combines my love for documentaries, comedy and politics. The interviewer is UK comedian Jamali Maddix, who we follow as he travels the world looking at a wide range of organisations, from far right groups to feminists, all while managing to find the funny in it all. He develops very interesting relationships with each group, but as a mixed race man with a long beard, he looks like someone the KKK would typically hate, still Maddix (somehow) is able to gain a rapport with them all and takes a deep dive into their world.
My favourite episode was definitely ‘We are the EDL’, which focused on the groups attitudes to immigrants, and this was coincidentally also the first time I had heard of Leamington Spa after just applying to Warwick. This episode explores the blatant bigotry and xenophobia of the EDL, which Jamali tries to challenge, so much so that this episode ends with things getting physical between him and Tommy, a humble member of Royal Leamington Spa's EDL.
I recommend Jamali Maddixs’ work in both this series and his comedy. A Youtube comment even describes him as the ‘spiritual successor of Louis Theroux’, which I don’t think is blasphemy at all.
Deborah's Recommendation: 'My Octopus Teacher'
2020 / South Africa/ 85 mins / Ocean, Environment, Life Lessons Available on Netflix
Nominated for and subsequently winning several awards, “My Octopus Teacher” invites us on a journey to the mysterious underwater kelp forests of South Africa. It is an autobiographical documentary about the filmmaker Craig Foster who finds solace in deep diving and the companionship of an octopus.
Foster allows himself to experience something extraordinary and follows the octopus on her daily routines. He soon realizes that the octopus recognizes him and shows him her underwater world. The viewers are part of this process and go through emotional high and lows with both protagonists.
I recommend the documentary for a relaxed watch and to find inspiration. For the aesthetics-lovers: it is definitely worth watching if you are obsessed with cinematography and great audio editing!
Zak's Recommendation: 'Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father'
2008 / USA / 93 mins / Drama
Available on Amazon Prime
Watch as the makings of a tribute film in memory of a beloved friend slowly boil into an emotionally potent familial true crime documentary in Kurt Kuenne’s Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father. The film follows a following the death of Andrew Bagby, a local hero doctor, and friend to those around him, and follows the legal and investigative battle against his ex-girlfriend, who also happens to be his murderer. Kuenne mixes home movies with interviews conducted with those close to Andrew, to construct a letter film dedicated to the memory of him, in order for his son Zachary who was left without a father following Andrew’s murder, to get to know the man his father was.
Be sure to check these documentaries out, and let us know what you think of any that you have watched by messaging us on Instagram @warwickdocumentarysociety.
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