Netflix streaming is a great place to find documentaries. This
list is heavy on documentaries.
Since I watch a lot of them on Netflix streaming and usually
rate them three or four stars, Netflix always has more to recommend. What I
have notice is that the Netflix prediction for documentaries, given to one
decimal place, is usually quite accurate, but the IMDb rating is often much
lower and a less accurate prediction. I suspect the difference is because
Netflix raters like documentaries better than IMDb raters do. So for me, though
IMDb ratings of all movies are generally more accurate than Netflix predictions,
Netflix does a better job of predicting my likes in the documentary genre. [By
way of disclosure, a mutual fund in which I have shares now owns a stake in
Netflix, fortunately purchased when the price was down].
Here is what I have watched since I posted my last list. The
ratings I give are on my own number system which is explained at the link on
the sidebar.
The movies on this list streamed via Netflix were:
Brother Outsider
I Am
A Small Act [stream availability expired 9/11/2013]
Let’s Get Frank
A Place at the Table
Little Girl
Shall We Kiss? [stream availability expired 9/15/2013]
Iraq in Fragments
The One Percent
Brother Outsider
– 2003 (3.1). Telling the story about the American struggle for civil rights
from the inside of the movement without going over a lot of the same material
is a difficult task for a documentary, but this movie accomplished it. Bayard
Rustin was a dedicated human rights advocate with a special talent for
organizing, most impressively putting together the 1963 March on Washington.
With archival footage and interviews with people who knew him personally, this
biography shows his many accomplishments and explains how his homosexuality
caused his role to become less central and more on the outside or behind the
scenes.
Game of Thrones (Season
Three) – 2013 (3.0). More new cast members are introduced and old ones end
their run in dramatic death as the quest for dominion over the realm continues.
There is no overlong dialogue as at the beginning of the second season, but
some of the sex and violence scenes are longer than they need to be (aside from
the apparent HBO requirement to meet quotas for those as well as for delivery
of four letter words). It remains hard to keep track of the full cast of
characters and various geographic locations, but the central characters are now
well known and the politics, trust and deception are becoming easier to follow.
Good and evil continue to be contrasted, but we see more nuances in some
characters. Questions arise in our minds about whether honor and honesty are always
the best policy, especially when dealing with untrustworthy people, and whether
seeking good for the people of the realm justifies using questionable means.
Amour – 2012 (2.9).
A retired French musician couple have had a wonderful loving life, which takes
a turn for the worse when the wife suffers a stroke. We follow them about their
apartment as the husband struggles with his new role of caregiver, the wife
deteriorates from her debility and their daughter who lives overseas is torn
apart when she visits and finds her mother in bad shape and her father
stubbornly excluding their daughter from the caregiving process. A critical
success, well made and acted, but not a particularly enjoyable or stimulating
film.
I Am – 2011
(2.9). This documentary seems like it should be pretentious, with lots of
philosophical talking heads spewing esoteric jargon, but it is actually an easy
to take pondering of some very basic questions about life. The movie is made by
a successful director of many Hollywood comedies, so it has a very professional
look and a light hearted joy to it. There are interviews with impressive people
and some very interesting science is presented to show how interconnected we
actually are with each other and with everything else. The message about
simplifying life and avoiding materialism is nothing new, but the science of
connectivity is intriguing and gives new light to simplification.
A Small Act –
2009 (2.9). In this well-made documentary we meet a Kenyan man who was enabled
to go to high school many years ago because of a donor in Sweden. We see how
his education has led to an interesting career in international human rights.
We see how his appreciation for the help he received caused him to start a
program to help similar needy Kenyan students. Then we get to meet the woman
who donated the money, but whom the Kenyan had never met until years after he
started his own scholarship program, and we learn how their stories are even
more intertwined than either of them suspected. We also get to follow three
scholarship applicants who study for and take a three day exam and then await
the results. Affecting and effective, this movie teaches that among its other
benefits, education can be a road to peace.
Let’s Get Frank –
2003 (2.9). Former Congressman Barney Frank is an inherently interesting,
intelligent and entertaining man, as amply shown in this documentary following
him through some of the Clinton Impeachment hearings in the House and
interspersing personal interviews with him and some of his colleagues. There is
not really any significant new information here, but it is a good opportunity
to see Barney flash his wit and political savvy.
Family Tree (Season
One) – 2013 (2.8). This short comedy series is shot as a mock documentary about
a young man from the UK who starts tracing his family roots like celebrities do
on some TV genealogy shows. The man is fairly normal but his sister requires a
monkey hand puppet to accompany her at all times and his best friend has
delusions of being way cooler than he really is. The relatives he tracks down,
living and dead, all are pretty quirky, as are pretty much every one else he encounters. He does meet a new love interest on a visit to the US at
season end, after previous unsuccessful romantic forays. An HBO series, it may
or may not be renewed and I could take it or leave it.
A Place at the Table
– 2012 (2.8). In reminding us that the problem of hunger in America has been
growing since the Reagan years, because US government agricultural subsidies
are overwhelmingly going to mega agribusiness corporations which use the
resulting cheap commodities to process mostly non-nutritious empty calorie
food, this documentary performs a public service. The message is delivered by
kids, parents and advocates for change. As one of the experts points out, if
the problem can be expressed merely as a hunger issue, we will have a consensus
to solve it. But the corporations, their lobbyists and the politicians who
benefit from industry campaign contributions cloud the issue with economic,
tax, regulatory and other ideological rhetoric to make it business as usual.
This sympathetically shows the problem but does not present any actual
solutions.
Little Girl –
2009 (2.8). With the feel of a home movie, this low budget Italian film stars a
fetching two year old girl who is found alone at a playground by an older
redheaded woman who lives in a trailer with other people all of whom are
marginally employed in circus acts. The woman takes the girl home with her and
a note is found saying the mother will be coming back for the child. The man in
the woman’s life says she should turn the child over to the police, but the
woman wants to wait. A teenage boy who helps watch the girl really enjoys the
task. Eventually word is received the mother is coming for the child, so a
farewell party is put together with mixed feelings. There is not a lot of drama
or story here, but the genuineness of the performances and the appeal of the
little girl keep it watchable.
Shall We Kiss? –
2007 (2.7). Not a romantic comedy, but rather a romance of a sort, this French
movie uses the story within a story device as a couple in a chance encounter
spend a day together and the woman tells the man about another woman and man
who were best friends who one day considered kissing as more than friends. Not
much of a story but pleasantly enough done to stay for the ending.
Iraq in Fragments
– 2006 (2.7). Three segments following Iraqis from different factions during
the American occupation of Iraq comprise this documentary. The footage is home
movie style without narration or input from anyone other than the people being
followed. They are shown honestly expressing their feelings of frustration and
resentment as they navigate the mess that was created in the aftermath of the
fall of Saddam. The movie also makes it clear from the mouths of the Iraqis
themselves that unification of their country in the face of religious and
ethnic conflicts will be a tremendous challenge.
The One Percent –
2006 (2.7). A young man who is part of the wealthy Johnson & Johnson
pharmaceutical family made this documentary as some sort of inquiry into how
the super wealthy think. His father had also made a documentary as a youth,
focusing on how large American corporations exploit poor African workers. That
movie apparently brought a devastating reprimand from the Johnson & Johnson
CEO and the father seems unable to discuss it with the son whom he wants to
dissuade from making his own film. After a slow start, and with a fair amount
of jumping around, the film does show us some interesting interviews with
ancient (in body and mind) economist Milton Friedman, various entrepreneurs who
believe they were divinely destined for super wealth, and a few scions who have
disclaimed their inheritances and criticized the wealth of their ancestors. A
brief expose of the American sugar monopoly was new and noteworthy.