My Top Ten Documentaries and Docuseries

I don’t know about anyone else, but I like documentaries almost as much as movies. History is fun anyway, and a good documentary can be just as much of a cinematic experience as any movie. Here are some of my favorites. Not all, of course, but some, and in no particular order…

Social Animals (2018)

This 2018 documentary follows three very different Instagram users and attempts to examine the Instagram phenomenon, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that you’ve never heard the word, “Like” so much in your life.

Seriously, though, this film asks the same questions we still ask today but were just beginning to ask in 2018. What does seeing someone’s supposedly perfect self and supposedly perfect life on social media do to us from a psychological standpoint? What happens when social media is used to bully others, whether it’s people we see just on social media or away from it?

The answers can be uncomfortable, but the film never advocates chucking social media altogether. Just like any other tool, it is behaved upon.

Stealing Lincoln’s Body (2009)

I’ve done a full review of Stealing Lincoln’s Body already (read it here), so I’m not going to say too much about it except for this: No matter how many times I’ve seen this film, it never fails to fascinate.

Anne Frank Remembered (1995)

An Oscar-winning film by Jon Blair, Anne Frank Remembered was narrated by Kenneth Branaugh and Glenn Close read excerpts from Anne’s diary. The latter actor was a ludicrous choice because Anne was obviously a teenager in hiding, but maybe the filmmakers were going for prestige.

Other than that, this excellent film takes the viewer to a lot of the places that Anne knew around Amsterdam and we meet people who knew the Franks. Besides the Annexe, we see Anne’s kindergarten classroom and the Amsterdam streets, plus the Merwedeplein. The camera pans up to the dining room window of the former Frank apartment, which was still a private residence at the time. We can tell because there’s a wooden goose in the window.

There’s definitely an innocence to the film, as it was made before we knew the real names of the helpers and there was a lot of information that had never been presented to the public before. It was also the first time for many to see the only surviving film footage of Anne, a clip that’s easily accessible today on YouTube and the Anne Frank House website.

Spaceship Earth (2015)

I’ve talked a little bit about Spaceship Earth as well (read the post here), so I won’t say much now except for this: At the time the Biosphere 2 was in operation, the backstory of the group behind it wasn’t really talked about all that much. I was in high school at the time, so I remember it very well. I even bought Mark Nelson and Abigail Alling’s book, Life Under Glass while on a trip to Arizona as a college student. Why they chose to obscure what got them into the Biosphere 2 is anyone’s guess. Maybe they thought no one wanted to know. Either way, Spaceship Earth fills in the blanks.

The only thing I would say is that I wish there could have been interviews with more of the Biospherians. The only ones who make it in are Sally, Mark, and Linda. For what it’s got, though, it does very well.

The War (2007)

Of course Ken Burns is going to be a fixture on any “Best Documentary” list, and The War is one of Burns’ best in my opinion. This film gives a pretty thorough portrait of the Second World War despite focusing on the experiences of only four different American towns, one of which, I’m proud to say, is Sacramento. It’s a heartbreakingly personal series that can bring tears to the eyes, as we often hear the war discussed from the perspective of everyday people, not just historians or politicians.

The main impetus Burns and producer Lynn Novick had for making the series is the disturbing ignorance of many American students as to what the Second World War was about. A survey of high schoolers found that many kids thought we fought with Germany instead of against it. Another reason for making the series was the knowledge that a thousand World War Two vets were dying every day, and soon there will be few to none left who can tell their stories. The War is meant to capture some of their experiences.

It goes without saying that they succeeded. The music is also fantastic, as it combines wartime pieces with a haunting original score by the great Wynton Marsalis. 

Everything Is Copy: Nora Ephron, Scripted and Unscripted (2015)

Nora Ephron is, in my opinion, one of America’s best writers of the last half century, and Everything Is Copy makes us remember why. Produced by Ephron’s son, Jacob, himself a writer, the film is peppered with excerpts from Ephron’s essays and films as well as interviews with her sisters, friends, and those who helped bring her words to the screen.

And what does “Everything is copy,” mean? It was something Nora’s mother told her. Everything is fodder for the pen. As Nora found out very quickly, though, some things shouldn’t be copy. Some things should be kept quiet. Everything else, obviously, is fair game.

The film is far from gushy. It makes no bones about Ephron’s flaws. It also drives home what a unique voice she was.

The Collyer Brothers–Down the Rabbit Hole

I never heard of the Collyer brothers until my husband told me about this documentary, and if anyone is unfamiliar with the Collyer story, it’s about two brothers in Harlem who became recluses and started hoarding like crazy in their once-tony brownstone. So much so, in fact, that they could no longer use the front door.

When the brothers finally died, the cleanup efforts were immense. Work had to be started on the top floor and progress downward.

Yeah, it’s super weird and macabre. Train wrecks usually are.

This Is Elvis (1981)

Oh golly, how many documentaries and movies and retrospectives have been done about Elvis? So, so many. Yet this one has an immediacy that no other documentary has been able to match. It was produced a mere four years after Elvis’s death. It was also released the year before Graceland became a tourist attraction and was filmed inside the mansion, allowing us to see the way the mansion looked when Elvis died, including the upstairs areas that are closed to visitors today.

It’s also slightly exploitative. In a strangely compelling bit of navel-gazing, Elvis, played by an actor, of course, narrates his own story.

Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (2020)

Robin Williams was, of course, a phenom, and Come Inside My Mind is an absolutely brilliant look at what made this man tick, drawn both from his words and the words of those who knew him. Even then, there’s an emphasis on the barriers Williams put up around himself to keep from getting hurt.

Overall, the film is both a tearjerker and incredibly funny, and it’s easy to be reminded of why Williams is still missed so much over a decade after his death.

Life After People

Life After People is a guilty pleasure, and it’s not so much a straight docuseries as it is speculation about what might be if human beings were to completely disappear from the face of the earth. I say the series is a guilty pleasure because I don’t believe in its premise. If humans go, so does the earth. However, it’s interesting to think about.

A little FYI to anyone who might want to try watching the series: The supermarket episode is pretty gross.

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Another post is coming up on Thursday. Thanks for reading, all, and I hope to see you then…

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Social Animals (DVD, Blu-ray and Prime), Stealing Lincoln’s Body (DVD), Anne Frank Remembered (DVD and Blu-ray), Spaceship Earth (DVD and Max), The War (DVD and Blu-ray), This Is Elvis (DVD), Robin Williams: Come Inside My Mind (DVD), and Life After People (DVD, Prime and YouTube) are available to own from Amazon.

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