Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 83

An Ecology of Mind

2010

An Ecology of Mind

2010
4.6
A portrait of Gregory Bateson, celebrated anthropologist, philosopher, author, naturalist, and systems theorist. His story is lovingly told by his youngest daughter, Nora, with footage from Gregory's own films shot in the 1930s with his wife Margaret Mead in Bali and New Guinea, along with photographs, filmed lectures, and interviews.
Camp Victory, Afghanistan

2010

Camp Victory, Afghanistan

2010
7.9
Camp Victory, Afghanistan is the true story of the American Exit Strategy. Using 300 hours of footage shot over the course of three years, the film follows a battle-tested Afghan General and the steady stream of U.S. National Guard soldiers deployed to train the men of his newly formed battalion. It is the first film to examine the reality of building a functioning Afghan military-- but it is also a story about friendship and the unlikely bonds that form across cultural, political and social barriers.
Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood & Corporate Power

2002

Mickey Mouse Monopoly: Disney, Childhood & Corporate Power

2002
7.6
Mickey Mouse Monopoly takes a close and critical look at the world these films create and the stories they tell about race, gender and class and reaches disturbing conclusions about the values propagated under the guise of innocence and fun. This daring new video insightfully analyzes Disney's cultural pedagogy, examines its corporate power, and explores its vast influence on our global culture. Including interviews with cultural critics, media scholars, child psychologists, kindergarten teachers, multicultural educators, college students and children, Mickey Mouse Monopoly will provoke audiences to confront comfortable assumptions about an American institution that is virtually synonymous with childhood pleasure.
Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

2011

Phil Ochs: There But for Fortune

2011
6.6
From civil rights to the anti-war movement to the struggles of workers, folksinger Phil Ochs wrote topical songs that engaged his audiences in the issues of the 1960s and 70s. In this biographical documentary, veteran director Kenneth Bowser shows how Phil's music and his fascinating life story and eventual decline into depression and suicide were intertwined with the history-making events that defined a generation. Even as his contemporaries moved into folk-rock and pop music, Phil followed his own vision, challenging himself and his listeners. Not one to pull punches, Ochs never achieved the commercial success he desperately desired. But his music remains relevant, reaching new audiences in a generation that finds his themes all too familiar.
Robinson in Space

1997

Robinson in Space

1997
6.9
Robinson is commissioned to investigate the unspecified "problem of England." The narrator describes his seven excursions, with the unseen Robinson, around the country. They mainly concentrate on ports, power stations, prisons, and manufacturing plants, but they also bring in various literary connections, as well as a few conventional landscapes.
Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted

2009

Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted

2009
5.4
This conservative documentary from John Ziegler poses a conspiratorial theory that President Obama was elected through mischievous actions by the media. As part of his theory, Ziegler posits that the press had to put forth a partisan agenda in order to portray vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin as inept and pandering.
The Cool School

2008

The Cool School

2008
5.9
How LA Learned to Love Modern Art. A lesson in how a few renegade artists built an art scene from scratch.
Nollywood Babylon

2009

Nollywood Babylon

2009
6.1
Nigeria's film industry, Nollywood, is the third-largest in the world--an unstoppable economic and cultural force that has taken the continent by storm and is now bursting beyond the borders of Africa. "Nollywood Babylon" is a feature documentary detailing the industry's phenomenal success. Propelled by a booming 1970s soundtrack of African underground music, the movie presents an electric vision of a modern African metropolis and a revealing look at the powerhouse that is Nigerian cinema.
Billy the Kid

2007

Billy the Kid

2007
6.3
"I'm not black, I'm not white, not foreign, just different in the mind. Different brains, that's all," explains 15-year-old Billy in Jennifer Venditti's provocative coming of age film. Following Billy as he bicycles through the quiet streets of small town Maine, we watch him traverse the frustrating gap between imagination and reality, grappling with isolation and first-time young love. By turns exhilarating and disturbing, we see the world from the intimate view of an expressive and seemingly fearless outsider.
Africa, I Will Fleece You

1992

Africa, I Will Fleece You

1992
5.8
This documentary of repressive political realities in Cameroon begins with the 1990 publication of an open letter to President Biya calling for a national conference - and the immediate arrest of the letter's author and publisher. The narration then examines the nation's colonial history, beginning with the first German missionary in 1901, the establishment of schools, French occupation following World War I, the paucity of books written by and published by Cameroonians, and the repression of the CPU, a leftist organization of the 1950s and 1960s. Cameroon and its people are the lark, its feathers plucked first by colonialism and then by native strongmen: 'Alouette, je te plumerai.'
Oh My God

2009

Oh My God

2009
5.5
"Oh My God" asks people from all walks of life, from celebrities, to the religious, to atheists and the common Man - the question - "What is God?"
Blood and Oil

2008

Blood and Oil

2008
6
The notion that oil motivates America's military engagements in the Middle East is often disregarded as nonsense or mere conspiracy theory. In Blood and Oil, bestselling author and Nation magazine defense correspondent Michael T. Klare challenges this conventional wisdom and corrects the historical record. The film unearths declassified documents and highlights forgotten passages in prominent presidential doctrines to show how concerns about oil have been at the core of American foreign policy for more than 60 years -- rendering our contemporary energy and military policies virtually indistinguishable. In the end, Blood and Oil calls for a radical re-thinking of US energy policy, warning that unless we change direction, we stand to be drawn into one oil war after another as the global hunt for diminishing world petroleum supplies accelerates.
Tales of the Rat Fink

2006

Tales of the Rat Fink

2006
5.3
This is an interesting look at the Life and Times of car customizer/cartoonist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Through the use of many graphically enhanced photographs and "talking" cars, it is a loving look at the car culture in Southern California from the Early 50's to Ed's Passing in 2001.
America The Beautiful

2008

America The Beautiful

2008
6.2
In a society where "celebutantes" like Paris Hilton dominate newsstands and models who weigh less than 90 pounds die from malnutrition, female body image is one of the more dire problems facing today's society. "America the Beautiful" illuminates the issue by covering every base. Child models, plastic surgery, celebrity worship, airbrushed advertising, dangerous cosmetics - no rock is left unturned.
In the Realm of the Hackers

2003

In the Realm of the Hackers

2003
6.4
In The Realm of the Hackers is a documentary about the prominent hacker community, centered in Melbourne, Australia in the late 80's to early 1990. The storyline is centered around the Australian teenagers going by the hacker names "Electron" and "Phoenix", who were members of an elite computer hacking group called The Realm and hacked into some of the most secure computer networks in the world, including those of the US Naval Research Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, a government lab charged with the security of the US nuclear stockpile, and NASA.
The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

2005

The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till

2005
6.4
Never-before-seen testimony is included in this documentary on Emmett Louis Till, who, in 1955, was brutally murdered after he whistled at a white woman.
Horns and Halos

2002

Horns and Halos

2002
6.2
"What if someone wrote your biography? Would there be horns and halos involved?"
Pianoforte

2023

Pianoforte

2023
8
The world’s most talented young pianists compete in the International Chopin Piano Competition, held every five years in Warsaw, Poland. A rare behind the scenes look at the triumphant highs and crushing lows of competition, Pianoforte is both a testament to the remarkable power of music and an intimate coming-of-age portrait.
The Disappearance of Shere Hite

2023

The Disappearance of Shere Hite

2023
4.3
Shere Hite’s 1976 bestselling book, The Hite Report, liberated the female orgasm by revealing the most private experiences of thousands of anonymous survey respondents. Her findings rocked the American establishment and presaged current conversations about gender, sexuality, and bodily autonomy. So how did Shere Hite disappear?
Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition

2023

Vermeer: The Greatest Exhibition

2023
7.8
With loans from across the world, this major retrospective will bring together Vermeer’s most famous masterpieces including Girl with a Pearl Earring, The Geographer, The Milkmaid, The Little Street, Lady Writing a Letter with her Maid, and Woman Holding a Balance. This film invites audiences to a private view of the exhibition, accompanied by the director of the Rijksmuseum and the curator of the show.