Top Rated Documentary Movies on Pantaflix - Page 278

Diatoms

1968

Diatoms

1968
6.4
The one-celled long and slender diatom, up close: discovered in 1703 with the invention of the microscope. We observe them magnified 10,000 times: water expelled through the skeleton, mucilage constantly emitted, allowing it to glide. Their energy comes from sunlight. They divide and disperse. The narrator, conversing with a young woman, says their remains cover one-third of the earth's surface. They have uses in petroleum, explosives, and polish. Some live in isolation, some in colonies, like elaborate fans. They can move in clusters. Many small animals eat them. We watch them slide on each other in long strings.
Bridges-Go-Round 1

1958

Bridges-Go-Round 1

1958
6.9
New York City’s bridges dissolve into shifting abstractions through montage, superimposition, and color. Set to an electronic score by Louis and Bebe Barron, the film transforms familiar urban structures into an uncanny, alien landscape (an alternate version of the film features a jazz score by Teo Macero).
Thorvaldsen

1949

Thorvaldsen

1949
5.6
Documentary short film about the work of Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770-1844), one of the most famous Danish sculptors, who spent a good part of his life in Italy.
Bear Country

1953

Bear Country

1953
7.4
Bear Country is a 1953 American short documentary film directed by James Algar. It won an Academy Award at the 26th Academy Awards in 1954 for Best Short Subject (Two-Reel).[1] The film was produced by Walt Disney as part of the True-Life Adventures series of nature documentaries.
To Love

1968

To Love

1968
6
Four love stories connected by newsreels of the late 60s. Each short story begins with an epigraph taken from the Song of Songs of the Old Testament. The stories are interconnected by documentary shots and numerous interviews taken on the streets from passers-by who are asked the same question: “what does it mean to love?”.
The ABC's of Sex Education for Trainable Persons

1975

The ABC's of Sex Education for Trainable Persons

1975
5.4
This training film is meant for professionals who work with the mentally impaired, and is meant to teach them how to help their patients deal with sexual issues.
Tale of a Forest

2012

Tale of a Forest

2012
6.9
A documentary that unveils the primeval forests of Northern Finland, some of Europe's sole remaining, old-growth forests. The main characters of the film are the various inhabitants of the forest: the bears and the elk, the snakes and the owls, the ants, the frogs and the flying squirrels, the ancient soul birds such as the Siberian Jay, the Lapland Owl and many, many others.
Anita

2013

Anita

2013
7
The story of young, brilliant African-American Anita Hill who accuses the Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of unwanted sexual advances during explosive Senate Hearings in 1991 and ignites a political firestorm about sexual harassment, race, power and politics that resonates today.
Canyon

1970

Canyon

1970
5.6
“A silent perusal of the Grand Canyon, morning to night, from a single, fixed camera position, by means of constant dissolves spaced a few seconds apart. Man — entirely absent — is no longer the center of the universe; the canyon exists outside of him. Despite the invisible photographer and his technologically-caused dissolves, this is a creditable approximation of the true foreign-ness of nature.” — Amos Vogel, Film as a Subversive Art (1974)
Human Remains

1998

Human Remains

1998
7.3
Human Remains is a haunting documentary which illustrates the banality of evil by creating intimate portraits of five of the 20th century's most reviled dictators. The film unveils the personal lives of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco and Mao Tse Tung. We learn the private and mundane details of their everyday lives -- their favorite foods, films, habits and sexual preferences. There is no mention of their public lives or of their place in history. The intentional omission of the horrors for which these men were responsible hovers over the film.
Warszawa 1956

1956

Warszawa 1956

1956
6.1
Over a decade after the almost total wartime destruction, Warsaw still looks bruised and battered. Ruined houses are nevertheless inhabited which can be dangerous for the local population.
Post-Haste

1934

Post-Haste

1934
4.9
Humphrey Jennings' first film as a director, a brief overview of the British postal service.
Loading a Boiler

1896

Loading a Boiler

1896
4.4
A stationary camera placed amidships looks toward the round end of a 10- or 12-foot boiler that's been loaded onto the open deck. Three men climb down from atop the boiler and then remove their ladder. Four or five other workers tie the boiler down to the deck. Their pace is leisurely. In the background is a busy harbor.
Corridor

1970

Corridor

1970
6.4
An unknown observer is seen traveling through a bleak corridor. At the end of the corridor they see a naked woman, whom they are unable to reach as their trip seems to become increasingly twisted and looped.
Children of Darkness

1983

Children of Darkness

1983
6.9
A significant number of American children and teenagers - from all social backgrounds - suffer from mental disorders, schizophrenia, autism and emotional problems, leading them to isolation from society while treating their issues in mental health facilities. But there's no end in sight for those young individuals when they face obstacles and mistreatment in inadequate places under the supervision of careless and inexperienced professionals. The documentary follows some of those public mental institutions and another private center dealing with troubled kids and reveals what's wrong with their procedures, and the irreparable harm they cause in those patients.
Fengming: A Chinese Memoir

2007

Fengming: A Chinese Memoir

2007
7.7
The film consists almost entirely of an interview with the elderly He Fengming, recounting her experiences in post-1949 China.
Siege

1940

Siege

1940
5.9
Siege is a 1940 documentary short about the Siege of Warsaw by the Wehrmacht at the start of World War II. It was shot by Julien Bryan, a Pennsylvanian photographer and cameraman who later established the International Film Foundation. Siege was nominated for an Oscar for Best One-reel Short at the 13th Academy Awards in 1941, and in 2006, it was named to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress as "a unique, horrifying record of the dreadful brutality of war."
Multiple SIDosis

1970

Multiple SIDosis

1970
5
Short film utilizing quick cuts and multiple angles of a one-man-band musical performance by Sid Lavarents (who served as both film-maker and musician). Added to the National Film Registry, Library of Congress for 2000.
The Plow That Broke the Plains

1936

The Plow That Broke the Plains

1936
5.7
A documentary about what happened to the Great Plains of the United States and Canada when uncontrolled farming destroyed the soil and led to the Dust Bowl.
Historic Centre

2012

Historic Centre

2012
6.2
Four voices and their visions of Guimarães, cradle city of the Portuguese nation and European Capital of Culture in 2012.