Documentary Features

Much like the documentary shorts, there isn't a bad one in this bunch.  Most of these are available on streaming services, and all are without a doubt worth your time.

 

Time

Entrepreneur, former convict, and mother of 6, Fox Rich is fighting for her husband's freedom.  Convicted of bank robbery, Rob is serving a 60 year sentence partly because he got bad legal advice and didn't take a plea.  This woman, this fierce and brilliant woman, never gives up fighting, never gives up hope, never gives up on raising her kids to become amazing in their own right - she is the person you want in your corner for any and all things.  I have to add that documentary film making like this one is basically a magic trick.  This film follows this woman and this family for 20 years - how did they know that this passage of Time, this doing of Time, this experience of running out of Time... how could they know that it would ultimately become a beautiful and moving story?

My Octopus Teacher

This dazzling film captures the relationship between a free diver (no SCUBA gear) and an octopus who over time, begins to trust the man.  She shows him her underwater world and he falls in love with it and truthfully with her.  Without anthropomorphizing the octopus, we can see that she has great capacity for connection, even with this person who could be a predator.  We watch her life evolve, and we watch his life rebirth.

The Mole Agent

This film is utterly delightful.  A private investigator hires an elderly man to conduct undercover work in a home for the aging.  They have been hired by the daughter of a resident to confirm that nobody is stealing from her mother, or treating the old folks badly.  Our mole must learn how to face time and use technology, and he must build relationships with the other residents so he can scope out what is happening.  What he discovers is that neglect can come in many forms, and not just at the hands of the people working at the facility.

Crip Camp

This is an incredible film that appears at the start to just be a camp for people with disabilities.  But it is so much more, prompting the alumni of the camp to lead a revolution for access, for equal rights, and for using one's voice for positive change.  The leaders of the movement are alumni of the camp and their fight for agency, for dignity, for equality is awe inspiring.

Collective - 2 nominations

Documentary and International Feature Film

When a devastating fire breaks out in a nightclub, dozens of people are killed but many of those who survived die within days later.  What do we come to discover?  A complete lack of regulation and oversight that allows hospitals to use cleaning products that don't clean sufficiently for sterile environments, a health care system with no functional system, and a corrupt government that allows these abominations to continue unchecked.  Ironically, liberals and conservatives will find something to like in this film - liberals will love proving their point of how lack of regulation can cause actual death, and conservatives will love proving their point that governments are not necessarily the answer to improving that reality. 

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