15 documentary films that have really changed the world

These revolutionary films have led to a real and tangible change.


An excellent documentary can change mind, but only a few have really changed the world. This kind of impact, where a tangible difference in mass policy or opinion takes place following a specific documentary film, is very rare. This does not mean that there are no documentary films who are masterpieces Although he has not explicitly changed the world: this year's winner of the best documentary functionality Oscar, 20 days in Mariupol , is a really exceptional and painful piece of documentary cinema on the invasion of Ukraine by Russia. And yet the war continues. It is not the fault of the films - it will simply show how difficult change can be.

These 15 documentary films, however, caused a real change. In most cases, the change was much smaller than the great geopolitics, but change is change, even at the individual level. Read the rest to find out more on 15 films that have really changed the world.

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1
Titicut Follies (1967)

Still from Titicut Follies
Grove

For two decades, it was almost impossible to look at this 1967 documentary revealing the horrible conditions of the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, a psychiatric establishment in Massachusetts. Just before he was about to take the first, The state continued To prevent it from being shown, in what was probably an attempt to protect its reputation by hiding the filmmaker from abuse Frederick Wiseman documented. This ban was finally canceled when lawyers representing the families of some of the prisoners continued, alleging that censorship From the film prevented the necessary reforms to occur earlier - although certain changes have occurred in Bridgewater in response to the film. In the years following the conditions of mental health establishments Titicut Follies .

2
General Idi Amin Dada: A self -portrait (1974)

General Idi Amin Dada: A Self-Portrait
Figaro films / Mara Films / Reconteur TV

Few documentaries can say that they are directly responsible for a hostage crisis. French director Schroeder barbet work with Idi Amin To make this 1974 documentary which was ultimately more revealing than the Uganda dictator would have liked. Schroeder actually Make two versions of the film : One that Amin saw and approved and another which was 30 more minutes and was intended for international liberation. However, after Amin asked the Libyan sovereign Muammar Gaddafi So that some of his agents watch the film in London and realize, Amin was furious. In response, he held 100 French residents from his country hostage until Schroeder agrees to cut an additional two and a half minutes of the film. The filmmaker did it, although he restored the images once Amin fell from power.

3
Harlan County, United States (1976)

Director Barbara Kopple Warm to Kentucky to make what would become a historic documentary documenting the struggle between striking coal workers in the county of Harlan, Kentucky, and the authorities, the firebripes and hired corporate corporate who tried to intimidate the workers to retreat.

The documentary won an Oscar, and it remains one of the most pro-Labor films ever made, but the very act of making the film probably also had a huge impact. Clashes between striking workers and hired forces were violent and the presence of Kopple's camera is credited with having prevented even more violence Or even death after taking place.

4
lost paradise (1996)

This 1996 documentary, which would be followed by the consequences in 2000 and 2011, tells the story of the "West Memphis Three", a trio of adolescents who were found guilty of the macabre and sensational murders of three boys in 1993, supposedly as part of a satanic ritual. The documentary identified problems with the test , giving momentum to a movement to release the three adolescents. When new evidence of DNA and a possible juror failure have further questioned their convictions, they finally concluded an agreement and were released in 2011 .

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5
The fine blue line (1988)

The fine blue line was not the documentary that Errol Morris initially intended to do. His initial objective had to make a documentary on psychiatrist proceedings Dr James Grigson , nicknamed "Dr. Death" because he had testified in more than 100 trials that have led death. However, early in production, Morris met Randall Dale Adams , an inmate serving a perpetuity imprisonment for the 1976 shooting of a Dallas police officer. Morris did not think that Adams had committed the crime, and he refocused the entire documentary to be on the case. Largely because of the 1988 film that resulted, Adams condemnation has been canceled And an innocent man came out free.

6
Bowling for Columbine (2002)

Michael Moore The 2002 documentary clearly did not end the epidemic of armed violence in America. However, when it comes to a deadly problem which is deeply, tragically rooted deep in the very fiber of the country, the small victories count. One of the last scenes of Bowling for Columbine Moore and two survivors of the Columbine school shooting trying to "return" the bullets that are always inside their bodies by going to Kmart, where they were bought in the first place. In the film, the vice-president of KMART communications told Moore that the company will stop selling ammunition of handguns, a victory that Even the director seems surprised by .

7
Super size me (2004)

McDonald claims that his decision to Interrupt the "Supersize" portion option , which came only six weeks after the release of this 2004 documentary, was not linked to Super size me . In reality, Morgan Spurlock The documentary, in which he only eats McDonald's food for 30 consecutive days to try to shed light on the American obesity epidemic, had to be a factor in the decision of the golden arches. Super size me A since since received criticisms for some of the affirmations Spurlock does, but in all likelihood, he is responsible for changing the McDonald's menu and making the public think a little more about what they eat, although Fast food remains extremely popular . AE0FCC31AE342FD3A1346EBB1F342FCB

8
A disturbing truth (2006)

Al Gore The 2006 documentary has done more than perhaps any other work of media or work of art to raise awareness of climate change. And yet, given where we are almost two decades later (and what the Average annual temperature is), it is unfortunately precise to say that A disturbing truth I did not stop the crisis alone. However, Gore and his film deserve credit. They may not have changed the minds of politicians able to do something about climate change in the 00 (indeed, you could say part of A disturbing truth The impact was causing Climate change merchants to double ), but Its importance is clear .

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9
The handle (2009)

This 2009 documentary on The annual hunting Taiji Dolphin Drive Hunt I did not put an end to the sudden slaughter of dolphins in Japan - and, in fact, the practice of killing dolphins for meat or capturing them for sale continues. In the years following the publication of the documentary, the number of dolphins killed each year has seriously decreased, but it is also possible that the counterpoup The handle guest , what is considerable, may have brought some Japanese hunters to Long -standing tradition .

10
Grass (2010)

Gas gas , a 2010 documentary on the impact of hydraulic fracturing which sadly includes scenes of residents which lived near the hydraulic fracturing sites to illuminate their extremely contaminated tap water, is credited to have sparkled an increase in the opposition to the oil and gas production technique. A study carried out a few years after the release of the film revealed that the film, which was shown during small projections in communities that could be affected by fracturing Bring residents to protest against practice And even strive the adoption of new laws that limit it.

11
Inner work (2010)

This 2010 Oscar -winning documentary on the financial crisis '08 informed many points of view on how the financial services industry and rampant corruption have led it, but more directly, it also prompted Columbia University to establish Many of the much more strict disclosure rules for its faculty. A professor and the dean of the business school presented in the DOC had links with Wall Street or other financial links of which they were not frank and after Inner work helped to highlight these conflicts, The university has changed its policy On these conflicts of interest.

12
Invisible war (2012)

This 2012 documentary revealed how widespread sexual assault was in the ranks of the United States Armed Forces and how insufficient branches had responded to reports. Invisible war presents courageous testimonies of the survivors on the challenges they were faced with by trying (and in most cases, failed) to obtain justice following their assaults, leading to Various branches armed forces make concrete changes The way they managed such cases.

The year after the film's release, President Barack Obama the past National Defense Authorization Act for the 2013 financial year , which included measures aimed at preventing reprisals against survivors and required special prosecutors for such cases rather than continuing to allow commanders to rule in their own units.

13
The act of killing (2012)

This 2012 film is one of the most innovative documentaries ever made and one of the best. Director Joshua Oppenheimer , work with an Indonesian co -director who remains anonymous for security reasons that will become clear, wanted to tell the story of the Indonesian mass killings This took place in the mid -1960s, when hundreds of thousands of alleged communists and alleged enemies of the New Order regime were targeted.

To do this, Oppenheimer discussed with some of the men responsible for the realization of the murders, only to see that they were boasting rather than repentant. The director then made sure that these men reconstructed mass murders in a bizarre and extremely revealing exercise which culminates in one of the most amazing moments of life ever recorded. T It is to kill faces a strong reaction in Indonesia, but he also marked A major calculation moment While the survivors of mass murders began to feel empowered to talk about what happened.

14
Poison fish (2013)

The Documentary of 2013 Blackfish caused a sensation telling the story of Tilikum, a captive orca which was involved in the death of three people. Using this killer killer as a "main character", the documentary exposes the dark and inhuman side to keep these smart animals in captivity, especially for use in shows. The impact was immediate because SeaWorld faced the reaction for long -standing practice, losing advertisers and confronted with new legislation concerning the captive orcas. Navy Life Park has announced He stopped his shows live and ending his captive reproduction program a few years later.

15
Icarus (2017)

Bryan Fogel Initially planned to write a documentary on doping crawling in professional cycling by taking drugs improving performance and seeing how far it could go. In the process, however, it came across a much greater story, because the documentary helped discover the Olympic doping program sponsored by the state of Russia thanks to a denunciator Grigory Rodchenkov , then head of the country's anti -doping laboratory.

Fogel and Rodchenkov went to the United States Ministry of Justice And the media During the production of the documentary, which released a few years later in 2017 on Netflix. Russia has been forbidden to send athletes at the games in the international survey of the resulting Olympic committee, and Rodchenkov lives to hide in the USA.


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