Documentarians Have to Favor Emotion over Intellectual Rigor by Peter McDermott

If you''re like me, every once in a while you''ll see a documentary that you''ll regard as essential viewing. That is, it''s something that you feel your family members, friends, colleagues and neighbors, and indeed anyone who votes, ought to see.

The 2007 film "No End in Sight" about the war in Iraq is such a
film. It''s not about the decision to invade so much as the lack of
planning and the series of fundamental errors made later that led
to the insurgency -- and the deaths of thousands of American
troops and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

It doesn''t employ the agitprop approach of Michael Moore,
whose "Fahrenheit 9/11" I haven''t seen, though I''m sure it
provides all the useful facts and figures one might need for a pub
argument. Rather, Charles H. Ferguson, a member of the Council
on Foreign Relations, soberly relates how the group of leaders
running the war made crucial missteps without consultation with
U.S. civilian or military leaders on the ground in Baghdad or with
State Department officials loyal to Colin Powell.

If you saw "No End In Sight," you''d wonder why anybody bothers
to listen to what former Vice President Richard Cheney or any
member of his family has to say about anything (although he''s by
no means the chief culprit in this telling).

Overall, it''s a fascinating account and extremely well done. If
you asked me to recommend a documentary to watch, I''d mention
it, as I''ve said. If, however, you asked me to name favorite
documentaries that I''ve seen in recent years, I
wouldn''t and it''s not in the top 12 that I offer below.

One problem is that Ferguson, who wasn''t opposed to the war in
principle, has written and directed a film that is intellectually
rigorous. Movies like "Hearts and Minds" (1974) and "The Fog of
War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara" (2003)
don''t really have that quality. Rather, they start out with the twin
goals of raising the issue or issues in the first place and then
making the biggest impact they possibly can. This is why some of
the most successful documentarians have been accused of
cutting corners with narrative to varying degrees or, worse still,
being -- to use a term from British politics -- economical with the
truth.

The documentary form has come into its own precisely because
its practitioners are generally not journalists or academics. They,
or at least some of them, are artists. Three of the directors on my
best 12 list are known primarily as the makers of feature films.

Now, I''m the type of person who likes fiction to ring true and for
the details where possible to be accurate. The traffic should go
down Fifth Avenue, not up. The Empire State Building''s main
doors should face in the right direction (east). I''ve had this
argument with fiction writers. They want artistic license, when
often the problem is they''re too stuck-up or maybe just too lazy to
consult wikipedia occasionally. I counter with Hitchcock''s
observation (or least a friend told me Hitchcock said it): "When a
man leaves the movie theater, you don''t want him saying to his
wife: ''But darling, there is no 6:17 from Portsmouth.''" So, when
I''m watching something that purports to be non-fiction, I hate to
think that I''m being cheated or manipulated. Nevertheless, I''m
aware that the documentarian''s mandate is to produce work that
is as emotionally resonant and entertaining as a good drama or
thriller or romantic comedy.

The best of the best

In 2007 to mark its 25th anniversary, the International
Documentary Association named its top 25 documentaries of all
time. This got a lot of people really bent out of shape ? which is
usually the effect of such exercises, when instead they should be
fun. Despite the organization''s name, the critics said, the results
were suspiciously too American. They were, in addition, too
populist (three of Michael Moore''s made it), and too recent (10
were from 2000 on).

Such complaints might be understandable if it was a committee
that chose the 25. However, the list was a result of a poll of its
2,800 members, a ballot paper with 400 titles and the option to
write in five not on it. I''m sure a political scientist could explain
why populist choices would make the cut ahead of some critically
acclaimed and well-loved favorites. In any case, it wasn''t a bad
list. I''ve seen 14 of the 25, and admire each of them, including its
No. 1, "Hoops Dreams." Indeed, Nos. 2, 5, 20 and 23 make my top
12.

12. Buena Vista Social Club (1999)

I have the CD but had never seen Wim Wenders''s film until one
night a few months back when I came across it on a website. I
thought I''d look at a few minutes of it, but I stayed with it until the
end. This, the first and only full-length movie I''ve seen online, is
captivating and at times sublime. No. 20 in the Best 25 List.

11. Verdict on Auschwitz

A German TV 1993 production looks back at the 1963-65
Frankfurt trials of war criminals who had built middle-class lives
in West Germany in the years after the war. A very intelligent and
dramatic account, which makes liberal use of audio tapes made at
the trial.

10. The Same River Twice (2003)

In 1978, Rob Moss made "Riverdogs," a short film of a trip he and
15 or so his drop-out friends made down the Colorado River. He
caught up with five of them, three men and two women, more
than 20 years later. They''d reached or were rapidly approaching
the age of 50. Though four had entered the mainstream, were
living regular lives, and had kids and commitments, they remained
true in to their values, notably by serving in public office. A
lovely, understated meditation on the passage of time.

9. Primary (1960)

Hubert Humphrey said that he felt like a small corner store up
against a chain in the Wisconsin Democratic primary that
concluded on April 5, 1960. But this 53-minute film by Robert
Drew, who is often called the American father of cinema vérité,
suggests that it wasn''t Kennedy money that was his main obstacle
so much as the full force of JFK''s charisma. The film shows its
age at times and yet it has an immediacy and intimacy that''s
missing from today''s coverage of elections. Drew and several of
his colleagues on this groundbreaking project went on to
glittering careers making fly-on-the-wall documentaries.

8. Weather Underground (2003)

There have been quite a few documentaries recently about the
"Sixties," by which we usually mean the 10 years or so from 1963.
"Gonzo," a profile of journalist Hunter S. Thompson, and "The U.S.
vs. John Lennon," to name a couple, have their considerable
charms and a few flaws, but the best in my view is this portrait of
a handful of non-celebrities who were members of the far-left
terrorist spin-off from the anti-war student movement. Bill Ayers,
it should be noted, did become a celebrity of sorts during the 2008
presidential campaign.

7. Cinemania (2002)

A profile of five eccentrics whose lives are organized entirely
around their movie going. This is a remarkable slice of New York
life -- some of it filmed in various Manhattan, Brooklyn and
Queens cinema lobbies -- and a lot of fun. Of course, one is
forced to ask where does eccentricity end and mental illness
begin? But there''s no hint of exploitation. In fact, all five saw it
and enjoyed it. (Made by Germans, like three other films on this
list.)

6. 51 Birch Street (2005)

The Blocks were the American post-war suburban family from
central casting. Mike returned from the war, married his
sweetheart Mina, and the pair raised their three children on Long
Island. After the sudden death of Mina, their youngest Doug
investigates his parents'' marriage and gets a few surprises. A
little gem.

5. My Architect:
A Son''s Journey (2003)

What is a curiosity at first for Doug Block is a matter of necessity
for Nathaniel Kahn, who didn''t live the normal suburban family
life. Rather, he was the son of the much younger and the last
"other woman" of the brilliant architect Louis Kahn, who died in
1974. The filmmaker''s search takes him to the extraordinary
parliament buildings of Bangladesh, which his father designed. In
fact, the elder Kahn was en route from Dhaka to his home near
Philadelphia when he had a fatal heart attack in the men''s room
of the new Penn Station, a structure despised by most architects.
He was 73; his son was 11. The younger Kahn does a great job of
solving some of the mysteries of his father.

4. Grizzly Man (2005)

This Alaska-set film tells the story of Timothy Treadwell, who,
along with his girlfriend, was attacked and eaten alive by the
grizzly bears that he''d claimed he was protecting over the
previous dozen or so years. Werner Herzog, with the help of 100
hours footage taken by the subject/victim, has created an
indelible portrait of someone who, though he engages our
sympathy at times, was undeniably suffering from some form of
serious personality disorder. No. 23 on the Best 25 List.

3. The Thin Blue Line (1988)

On November 28, 1976, Officer Robert W. Wood of the Dallas
police was shot dead at a traffic stop. Randall Dale Adams was
convicted of the murder and sentenced to death. Using interviews
and reenactments, filmmaker Errol Morris, whose resume includes
the more recent "The Fog of War," casts serious doubt on the
conviction, with defense attorneys suggesting that Adams was
charged because the other and more likely suspect, who gave
evidence against him, was 16 and couldn''t be executed. Adams
was released the year after the film opened in theaters. A
miscarriage of justice story brilliantly told. No. 2 on the Best 25
List.

2. The Gleaners And I (2000)

French New Wave director and writer Agnes Varda sets out in her
early 70s to document those who engage in gleaning, a national
tradition with deep historical roots. She talks to people who gather
free stuff ? often food, potatoes at harvest time for instance ? left
behind by others. Along the way, she also meets a whole range of
people whose more comfortable lives touch upon those of the
gleaners. The old adage says everyone has a story to tell and this
can explain much of the film''s power. By focusing on one activity,
gleaning in its various manifestations, Varda has made a
remarkable portrait of a nation at a given moment in time. The "I"
in the English-language title presumably refers to her musings
along the way about aging.

1. Harlan County, USA (1976)

Barbara Kopple won her second Academy Award in 1991 for
"American Dream," which chronicled a 1985-86 strike in
Minnesota. Her first was this classic about a small Kentucky
community striking for better conditions and the right to
membership of the United Mine Workers of America.
Extraordinary and unforgettable. No. 5 on the Best 25 List.
-Peter McDermott

Peter McDermott is the Associate Editor of The Irish Echo newspaper, and also a staff writer for ArtistsILove.com