In your opinion of course.

I asked a while back about the best film about the Holocaust, and a lot of you mentioned the documentary Night & Fog. That got me to thinking about other such films, but I've never been too much into the documentary genre of film. I'm sure that most of you have a favorite, so lets hear em.

Thanks a lot.

It all depends on what you are interested in.

Lost in la Mancha is one hell of a great documentary about a film failing.

Beyond the Mat is a good look at the under belly of wrestling

Hearts of darkness... oh wait, that's just on LD.

Crumb is a great documentary of an artist and his love for beastlike women.

What is Hearts of Darkness about?

I know about Beyond the Mat, I have seen that one at least, what with my being a huge Pro. Wrestling fan. It is very good indeed.

Thanks for mentioning Lost in la Mancha. That looks like something that I really need to check out.

Another vote for Crumb , an amazing film. Even if you don't know much about underground comix or artist R. Crumb, it's just a fascinating doc about a screwed up but talented family. I can't recommend it enough.

As far as filmmaking documentaries, as Jack said, Lost in la Mancha is a great doc of a film failing, and on the other hand, Burden of Dreams is a great doc about a film suceeding against all odds (Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo) but unfortunately is currently unavailable on DVD in R1.

Its about the making of Apocalypse Now. Its very good too.

Like Jackskeleton says it pretty much depends in what interests you, as documentaries cover so many genres.
Having said that i find documentaries have so much more repeat viewing value than the majority of films...i have to say that i couldn't just pick one i'd say was best from the others so i apologise if it seems i'm just drawing up a list.

The documentaries i find myself returning to the most are quite often the ones from David Attenborough :-

Life On Earth
The Living Planet
The Blue Planet
The Life Of Mammals

and for anyone with an interest in natural history etc..i can't recommend them enough.

That's definitely a must-have, but don't forget Shoah.

Blue Planet or Lost In La Mancha...
BEST.
DOCS.
EVER.

Here's the ones I own and love:

Dogtown and Z-Boys- a docu about late seventies skateboarding in Southern California. Lots of great footage, music and interviews.

Style Wars- an excellent documentary about graffiti in NYC circa 1982. Old school rap and breakdancing are also featured. This one is particularly worth getting because it's a terrific 2 disc dvd with tons of extras. Captures early-eighties New York better than any other documentary, IMO.

Scratch: about turntabalism and DJing. Another great two-disc set with lots of extras. This is a very well made documentary with lots of great performance footage. Just the sight of DJ Shadow in the basement of some record store somewhere literally buried in vintage vinyl makes this one worth it. Even if you're not interested in hip-hop, you'll like it.

I've seen the above mentioned Burden of Dreams and Heart of Darkness and they're both terrific as well but unavailable on DVD.

I'm not a boxing fan per se, but I absolutely loved When we were Kings , a really great doc on "The Rumble in the Jungle". You get to see Muhammad Ali at his peak, in all his poetic glory

hmm, there are a lot of docu that I could recommend but here are but just a few:

Visions of Light: The Art of Cinematography

Capturing the Friedmans

Spellbound

Step into Liquid (released today on DVD)

Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport

Since Blue Planet was mentioned I recommend any of Image/Warner Bros. IMAX dvd's:
The Stormchasers, The Magic of Flight, Super Speedway, To Fly, T-Rex, [/b]
My personal favourite is Journey to Amazing Caves

Documentaries I own:

Salesman (Criterion) 9
Night And Fog (Criterion) 9.5
One Day In September 7.5
The Eyes Of Tammy Faye 7
Waco: The Rules Of Engagement 7
Tokyo Olympiad (Criterion) 10
Lost In La Mancha 8
Capturing The Fiedmans 9.5
When We Were Kings 8.5
Roger And Me 7.5
Bowling For Columbine 7.5
For All Mankind (Criterion) 9
Hearts And Minds (Criterion) 8
General Idi Amin Dada (Criterion) 7
Koyaanisqatsi 9
Nanook Of The North (Criterion) 7.5
Gimme Shelter (Criterion) 9
Microcosmos 8
Triumph Of The Will

what region release is Microcosmos?

thats a really nice list you have going on there!

ATOMIC CAFE - a great look back at some of the absurdities of how the atom bomb affected life in the 50's.

MARLENE - Maximillian Schell's doc on Marlene Dietrich

CAN'T YOU HEAR THE WIND HOWL? - bio of blues great Robert Johnson

THE CELLULOID CLOSET - gay in the movies is nothing new!

I absolutely love Ken Burns' Civil War documentary.

Everything I would recommend has been listed already, but I will just second them:

Crumb - A must see.

Dogtown and Z-Boys - So much better than I thought it would be.

Lost in La Mancha - really good, and a nice DVD.

others not mentioned yet:

Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist - An amazing and quite depressing documentary about the life and death of a performance artist with Cystic Fibrosis. Just be aware that some of the subject matter is definitely NC-17 (think Serpent and the Rainbow ).

Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator - after you watch Dogtown move a couple years later and watch the doc about skateboarder "Gator" Marc Anthony and his rise to stardom and his quick plummet down.

Louise Brooks - Looking for Lulu - A great look into silent film actress Louise Brook's life.

two words y'all forgot:

American
Movie

Definitely my favorite doc.

Capturing the Friedmans and Spellbound are two excellent recent documentaries.

Try some of Error Morris' films such as Mr. Death or Fast, Cheap & Out of Control. The Fog of War is coming to DVD soon as well.

My Top 5:

Dark Days
Dog Town & Z-Boys
One Day in September
Stoked - The Rise & Fall of Gator
Spellbound

I own the Dutch R2 release. Cheap and 16:9.

I'm thinking of buying The Sorrow And The Pity. However, I have never seen it, it's pretty expensive, and it's a relatively old dvd, so can anyone comment on movie/dvd quality?

Gigantic: Tale of Two Johns ...easily the best documentry, if one of your favorite bands is TMBG that is

Personally, I like the CNN America Remembers 9/11

It is basically just interviews and news footage, but a very interesting disc, nonetheless.

I see your 'Capturing the Friedmans', and I'll also raise you 'Waco: Rules of Engagement', 'Radio Bikini' (nuclear testing docu), and 'Wisconsin Death Trip'.

Dog Town was good...according to my pops a little overboard about how bad ass they were but pretty accurate overall. it was funny watching that movie with my dad...he kept laughing whenever they talked about how bad ass these guys were. i asked if he knew them and he said no. he knew of them but never personally met any of them. however, he said he paddled out many many times on some of the best days in these so called "local" spots and never had one guy say a word to him or his buddies...he did admit that some people ran into some trouble there. it was probably because he was a 6'1" 240+ surfer/linebacker.

anyway,
i thought Hoop Dreams was great!

The Endless Summer is a classic. There are many surf films i would put ahead as my favorites but End Sum is such a classic i thought i would just name that one and leave it at that.

Yeah, that one is funny as hell.