Must See Documentaries

This American Life

I suppose I'll add some description to these links. TAL is actually a radio show produced by Chicago Public Radio, but had a brief two year stint as a television show on Showtime. For those not familiar with the premise, each show has a theme with one to three short stories related to the theme. The stories are a mix between observational and investigative journalism. We got the first season from Netflix and finished it before we got off the couch.


No End in Sight

NES is a documentary about the lack of planning, organization, and overall effectiveness of Bush administration (and American in general) during the Iraq War. Not much more needs to be said about that.

I'll also add two more:

Beer Wars

An entertaining semi-behind-the-scenes view into the brewing culture and market in America, mainly focusing on craft beer. A significant portion of the documentary follows the Dogfish Head founder/CEO, which is without question one of the best breweries in America right now, arguably the world. Certainly not the best documentary I've ever seen, but an easy one to get behind.

Food, Inc

Based on Fast Food Nation and the Omnivore's Dilemma, roughly this generation's versions of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, this depicts the food industry in America from nearly all perspectives (farmers, processors, consumers, grocers, etc...). The documentary is extremely well done although it gets a little preachy at the end. Regardless, it's something I would highly recommend for any American to see. Ignorance isn't always bliss. This blog is to keep family and friends up to date with our lives, so I'll stop short of doing any of my own preaching.