Documentary Films | Film & Music | Classifieds.co.uk :

In recent years many documentaries have been made for both television and film. Some documentaries are famous investigations of events or dramatic, even shocking exposures of happenings all around the world. Many of these documentaries are high quality and some are famous in their own right. They can be purchased for educational and entertainment purposes or simply to find out what is going on around the world. This article will act as a guide to show what documentaries are out there and what different types of documentary focus on.

Documentaries on Famous People
Documentaries on famous people are very popular and often made into feature length films when chronicling the lives of the rich and famous. These types of documentary follow the story of an individual's life. Examples include the famous film documentary on 'the Doors' for example that shows an intimate portrait of the life of Jim Morrison. More recently Scorsese has made a documentary 'Shine the Light' on the Rolling Stones which charts the lives of the Rolling Stones with a particular focus on Mick Jagger. However it is not just rock stars that have been the subject of documentaries. There are a lot of documentaries both short and lengthy on famous politicians such as George Bush and our own Tony Blair. There are also documentaries looking at famous historical figures from Picasso to Mozart, Oscar Wilde, King Henry VIII and Genghis Khan. Again these documentaries investigate the lives of these figures as far as they can with the limited historical evidence available. Documentaries on twentieth century famous people tend to be more grounded in evidence and pose less conjecture, as they are more informed and more accurate. These documentary producers (some of whom are quite famous in their own right) also have the tools and access to information which was previously unavailable for public consumption. However, even famous people who have a lot of information on them have their lives dramatised and certain aspects are magnified to make the film interesting. The 2001 film on Oscar Wilde was a highly dramatised chronicle of the author's life, intensified by the real life drama of the bizarre disappearance and reappearance of the actor, Stephen Fry, who played Wilde. This does serve to show that documentaries are not made with the intention of solely informing people but are made to encourage audience interest and provoke thought and discussion.

Sometimes documentaries will not simply focus on the lives of the rich and famous but also on some deaths. Controversial deaths of famous people are of particular interest; for instance there are a great many documentaries on the death of John F Kennedy, because so may conspiracy theories surround the shooting of this president. Other deaths which have controversy and conspiracy surrounding them are also of fascination to many, which is why famous documentary makers such as Nick Broomfield have investigated other deaths such as the shooting of Biggie and Tupac. Broomfield investigated this in 2001; a documentary which also highlighted the frustration of not being able to follow up on every piece of evidence and clue, while still making fascinating viewing.

Documentaries on Crime
Documentaries on crime are very popular and usually focus on famous murders or unsolved crime. There are documentaries on famous serial killers such as 'Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer' (also made by Broomfield), which investigated America's most famous female serial killer around the time of her inevitable execution. It included interviews with the woman herself as well as those who knew her personally, previously unseen footage from the trail and so on. Famous incidents with no single perpetrator have also been investigated, from the Bradford Riots in 2001 in Britain to the collapse of the Berlin wall in Germany in 1992, to the destruction of the American Twin Towers. Other famous documentaries on crime include that of the Columbine disaster which was investigated by one of the most famous living documentary film makers, Michael Moore ( a figure of controversy himself). He investigated the mass murder at a high school in the America and asked who was to blame for the tragedy targeting unusual sources and asking questions no-one had thought to do so before. This broke new grounds in documentary enabling documentary film makers to progress documentary film making even more.

Documentaries on World Issues and Discoveries
There are documentaries filmed all over the world that provide fascinating insight into various cultural and social practices. Sometimes these are very revealing, interesting or even shocking. 'A Dollar a Day' revealed the poverty of living in Brazil, whereas the channel 4 documentary on the highly profitable male escort business in Japan also showed a more poignant aspect to this lifestyle. 'Bride Kidnapping' gave viewers an insight into an unusual practice in Kyrgyzstan where young women are kidnapped and asked to marry strange men. Oddly the tradition of this practice is actually continued by women who were once kidnapped themselves and found husbands in this way. A more shocking documentary was the expose on Chinese orphanages portraying the cruelty inflicted on unwanted infants. From disturbing documentaries with harrowing stories to more investigative ones, these types of documentary cover a wide range of ideas, topics and interests. In Britain alone there are a huge number of documentaries which surround contemporary issues such as fatal diseases including AIDS, to landmark moments in the news such as Blair's dramatic fall from the position of Prime Minister and the controversy surrounding it.

Documentaries chart some of the most fascinating and bizarre events in the world, giving real meaning to the idea that truth is stranger than fiction. Documentary film makers have travelled the world over to bring stories of strange and unusual events, for example the Jones' town mass suicides, and the world's largest boy in Russia, who at four years old is alleged to weigh as much as a baby elephant. Other film makers contest what they find either in an effort to find the truth or to bring the plight of others to public attention, or like Morgan Spurlock, conduct their own investigations into an issue they feel strongly about which affects their own culture.

Whatever the reason for making these films, documentary makers have improved the quality of films produced vastly in recent years, making this type of film often as entertaining, intelligent and fascinating as fictional films. Documentaries are great to buy as they usually cover a topic you are interested in, and in terms of cost they are around the same price as entertainment films apart from a few rarities. However you should expect to pay equivalent prices to other films unless buying second hand in which case these films are even cheaper.