I have started on a documentary binge and these are some of the more unique ones I’ve seen so far (possible spoiler alerts):

The Bridge [2006]

Seeing footage of people committing suicide is definitely disturbing, as I’d expected, but in the end it turned out to be more sad than anything else.  This is not a film to watch when you’re down.  The interviews with friends and families don’t reveal anything too surprising, but it’s still interesting to hear how people were before they decided to take that final step.  Some people were mentally sick, some people had fun personalities but were always talking about death, and some people you just couldn’t see it in them at all.  The interviewees themselves were also interesting; while many of them seemed sad, some of them just seemed relieved or even chirpy.  And of course there is the innocent kid who doesn’t know yet the concept of death and is unperturbed by the experience of witnessing someone take their own life.

Helvetica [2007]

A film that is actually about a single typeface.  However it is not dull and a pleasure to watch (especially after “The Bridge”).  Of course from this study of one font we are able to generalize on the topic of design, and learn how typography and graphics affect how we see and interpret things. There are lots of intricacies behind the design of a typeface.  I didn’t realize this before but now that I see all the signs and logo’s shown in this film, my favourite font is Helvetica.  This film is educational, clean, and has some nice eye candy.

Zoo [2007]

I thought it would be a much more interesting film, but the TV-movie style simply ruined it all.  I did not like the style of this film and I did not enjoy it.  Considering the topic, it could have been much more interesting; maybe the film-maker didn’t want to sensationalize it.  Also I didn’t think the topic would bother me that much but after seeing some split-second footages of it I became really disgusted.  Why do people do this??  And how do they get the animals to do it??  What the radio-host says is true: how could they get the horse to do it if it doesn’t consent.  It is completely baffling and not something I’d like to think about anymore.  I don’t recommend this film; not for the topic, but because it’s very mediocre.