Social/History documentaries
by mrc08 | created - 18 Aug 2013 | updated - 31 Jan 2014 | PublicSocially historical and other history-focused documentaries that I've seen and rated.
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1. First Australians (2008)
52 min | Documentary
First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest ... See full summary »
Stars: Aaron Pedersen, Ernie Dingo, Ursula Yovich, Richard Frankland
Votes: 121
2. The Celluloid Closet (1995)
R | 102 min | Documentary, History
A documentary surveying the various Hollywood screen depictions of homosexuals and the attitudes behind them throughout the history of North American film.
Directors: Rob Epstein, Jeffrey Friedman | Stars: Lily Tomlin, Tony Curtis, Susie Bright, Arthur Laurents
Votes: 7,508 | Gross: $1.51M
3. The Nazis: A Warning from History (1997)
292 min | Documentary, History, War
An examination of how a cultured people could have allowed Adolf Hitler's rise to power.
Stars: Samuel West, Adolf Buchner, Jutta Rüdiger, Günther Ruschin
Votes: 1,721
4. Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003)
75 min | Documentary
When the Civil War ended in 1865, more than four million slaves were set free. Over 70 years later, the memories of some 2,000 slave-era survivors were transcribed and preserved by the ... See full summary »
Directors: Ed Bell, Thomas Lennon | Stars: Whoopi Goldberg, Angela Bassett, Michael Boatman, Roscoe Lee Browne
Votes: 248
5. Before Stonewall (1984)
Unrated | 87 min | Documentary, History
The history of the Gay and Lesbian community before the Stonewall riots began the major gay rights movement.
Directors: Greta Schiller, Robert Rosenberg | Stars: Rita Mae Brown, Bruce Nugent, Henry Otis, Donna Smith
Votes: 1,189 | Gross: $0.02M
6. After Stonewall (1999)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary, Biography, History
Documentary/Historical retrospective of the Gay Rights movement from the 1969 Stonewall riots to the present.
Director: John Scagliotti | Stars: Craig Rodwell, Melissa Etheridge, Mike Carney, Barney Frank
Votes: 675
7. Through a Blue Lens (2003)
52 min | Documentary
Documentary film produced by the National Film Board of Canada. Shot on Vancouver's Downtown East Side, the film follows interactions between police officers and drug addicts and documents ... See full summary »
Director: Veronica Alice Mannix | Stars: Al Arsenault, Toby Hinton, Dave Kolb, Walt McKay
Votes: 245
8. Trouble the Water (2008)
Unrated | 93 min | Documentary
A redemptive tale of an aspiring rap artist surviving failed levees and her own troubled past and seizing a chance for a new beginning.
Directors: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | Stars: Michael Brown, George W. Bush, Julie Chen Moonves, Ray Nagin
Votes: 2,071 | Gross: $0.52M
9. Class Dismissed: How TV Frames the Working Class (2005 Video)
62 min | Documentary
Based on the forthcoming book by Pepi Leistyna, Class Dismissed navigates the steady stream of narrow working class representations from American television's beginnings to today's sitcoms,... See full summary »
Director: Loretta Alper | Stars: Stanley Aronowitz, Edward Asner, Roseanne Barr, George W. Bush
Votes: 70
10. My Name Is Kahentiiosta (1995)
28 min | Documentary, Short
Kahentiiosta était à Kanehsatake, du début à la fin de la crise. Le film décrit ce qu'elle y a vécu, puis surtout sa comparution au tribunal parce que le Procureur général n'acceptait pas ... See full summary »
Director: Alanis Obomsawin
Votes: 39
11. You Are on Indian Land (1969)
37 min | Documentary, Short
A documentary about a group of native Americans near the Canadian border. They attempt to blockade a road that runs through their land, leading to the Canadian police getting involved to open the road.
Directors: Michael Mitchell, Mort Ransen | Star: Michael Mitchell
Votes: 93
12. A History of Britain (2000–2002)
60 min | Documentary, History
A comprehensive historical survey of the British Isles.
Stars: Simon Schama, Michael Kitchen, Samuel West, Lindsay Duncan
Votes: 945
13. Nanook of the North (1922)
Passed | 78 min | Documentary
In this silent predecessor to the modern documentary, film-maker Robert J. Flaherty spends one year following the lives of Nanook and his family, Inuits living in the Arctic Circle.
Director: Robert J. Flaherty | Stars: Allakariallak, Alice Nevalinga, Cunayou, Allegoo
Votes: 13,445
14. When the Moors Ruled in Europe (2005)
PG | 102 min | Documentary
This program contends that the popular perception of the Muslim occupation of Spain toward the end of the first millennium is largely wrong. The eighth century Muslim invasion of the ... See full summary »
Director: Timothy Copestake | Stars: Bettany Hughes, Antonio Almagro, Moussa Aouni, Pedro Chalmeta Gendrón
Votes: 200
15. The Good Soldier (I) (2009)
Not Rated | 80 min | Documentary
Follows the journeys of five combat veterans from different generations of American wars as they sign up, go into battle, and eventually change their minds about what it means to be a good soldier.
Directors: Lexy Lovell, Michael Uys | Stars: Michael McPhearson, Perry Parks, Will Williams, Edward Wood
Votes: 48
16. The Weather Underground (2002)
Unrated | 92 min | Documentary, History, War
The remarkable story of The Weather Underground, radical activists of the 1970s, and of radical politics at its best and most disastrous.
Directors: Sam Green, Bill Siegel | Stars: Lili Taylor, Pamela Z, Jim Lange, Evan White
Votes: 3,767 | Gross: $0.56M
17. My Perestroika (2010)
Not Rated | 88 min | Documentary, Biography, Family
Tells the story of five people from the last generation of Soviet children who were brought up behind the Iron Curtain. Just coming of age when the USSR collapsed, they witnessed the world ... See full summary »
Director: Robin Hessman
Votes: 691 | Gross: $0.24M
18. Lost Kingdoms of Africa (2010– )
Documentary
A paucity of written records means we know less about Africa's ancient history than almost anywhere else on Earth. Cultural historian Dr Augustus Casely-Hayford uses culture, artifacts and traditions to explore that history.
Stars: Gus Casely-Hayford, Abune Paulos, Stephanie Wynne-Jones, Sian Tiley-Nel
Votes: 128
19. Payback (I) (2012)
Not Rated | 82 min | Documentary
An adaptation of Margaret Atwood's book examining the metaphor of indebtedness.
Director: Jennifer Baichwal | Stars: Margaret Atwood, Eric Schlosser, Conrad Black, Raj Patel
Votes: 244
20. Carts of Darkness (2008)
Not Rated | 60 min | Documentary
This documentary follows a group of homeless men who have combined bottle picking with the extreme sport of racing shopping carts.
Director: Murray Siple | Star: Murray Siple
Votes: 671
21. Sir! No Sir! (2005)
Not Rated | 85 min | Documentary, History, War
NO! SIR! tells an almost entirely forgotten story of the military men and women who forced the U.S. government to end the Vietnam War
Director: David Zeiger | Stars: Michael Alaimo, Edward Asner, Joe Bangert, Tom Bernard
Votes: 838 | Gross: $0.11M
22. They Chose China (2006)
52 min | Documentary
The story of twenty-one American POWs who, after the Korean War ended, chose to live in China instead of returning the USA.
Director: Shui-Bo Wang | Stars: Clarence Adams, Della Adams, Howard Adams, Lin Adams
Votes: 81
23. The Road Taken (1996)
52 min | Documentary, History
The story of African-Canadian railroad porters on the Canadian railways.
Director: Selwyn Jacob | Stars: Frederick Ward, Eddie Bailey, Earl Briscoe, Lee Williams
Votes: 9
24. Deliver Us from Evil (2006)
Not Rated | 101 min | Documentary, Crime
Documentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.
Director: Amy Berg | Stars: Oliver O'Grady, Thomas Doyle, Adam, Jeff Anderson
Votes: 10,825 | Gross: $30.58M
25. Streets of Plenty (2010)
TV-PG | 65 min | Documentary
Documentary about homelessness and drugs in Vancouver Canada.
Directors: Alex Kleider, Corey Ogilvie | Stars: Misha Kleider, Gregor Robertson, Gabor Maté, Thomas Kerr
Votes: 191
26. Conquistadors (2000– )
Documentary, History
This documentary tells the story of the Spanish expeditions in the early sixteenth century that conquests America. This 4-part series Michael Wood (historian) travels in the footsteps of ... See full summary »
Stars: Michael Wood, Andreas Birnbaum, Peter Bieringer, Nikolai Huebner
Votes: 186
27.
Independent Lens (1999– )
Episode:
Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian
(2010)
TV-14 | Documentary
Reel Injun: On the Trail of the Hollywood Indian.
Directors: Neil Diamond, Catherine Bainbridge, Jeremiah Hayes | Star: America Ferrera
Votes: 24
28. 70's Fever (2008 TV Movie)
120 min | Documentary
If the 1960s represented peace, love, and the "We Generation", then the 1970s came to represent the pleasure seeking excesses of the "Me Generation." The 1970s were a decade when cocaine ... See full summary »
Director: Frederic Lumiere | Stars: Steve Gillon, Andreas Keller, Nikki Haskell, Tim Lawrence
Votes: 19
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