10 Documentaries Worth Seeing

by Geoff Birmingham

I’m rather bad at remembering much beyond what happened yesterday.  Recently, I was trying to remember that “really great mountain movie with the British guys.”  With a little Googling, my memory was jogged and I realized it was Touching the Void.

For the heck of it, I did a little exercise and made a list of some of the other documentaries we’ve found very worthwhile.  Rather than overwhelm folks with all of them at once, I list here just ten, with more to follow at some point.  Must-see films are starred (just my opinion). Feel free to share your own favorites, of course.

Touching the Void -  heart-stopping mountain expedition
*Southern Comfort -  a moving story of a transgendered man in Georgia struggling with ovarian cancer
Lalee’s Kin -  poverty in Mississippi
Brother’s Keeper -  a murder in upstate New York
When We Were Kings -  1974 championship bout between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman
Man on Wire -  hire-wire walk between NYCs twin towers
The King of Kong -  guys with a video game obsession.  Obsessed.
*Hoop Dreams -  a high-schooler with NBA aspirations
Thin Blue Line -  an innocent man on death row
Gimme Shelter -  the Rolling Stones on tour