Documentary recommendations?

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Queen_B

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The holidays are coming up soon, so I have quite a bit of time to veg out. I was wondering if any of you have any good/interesting documentary recommendations. Thanks in advance!
 
I love watching documentaries on epidemiology cases tracking down patient zero--I recommend the SARS documentary and the HCV and HIV documentaries. There is another documentary about advances in science that allows in vitro growth of cancer cells and so on. I am a documentary addict.
 
Medical Mavericks is a pretty good series, focusing mostly on "self-experimenters." For non-medical specific shows, definitely check out Through the Worm Hole on the science channel.
 
I watched a really good one about fetal surgery on Netflix. It's a mini series, called Twice Born
 
Do you have netflix? If so, there's a category for just documentaries. Lots of them, so start watchin!
 
are there any recommendations that aren't medically based?
 
Queen_B said:
are there any recommendations that aren't medically based?
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You should check out Inside Assad's Syria. If you know anything about the current situation in Syria, or want to know, I'd highly recommend it. It's very interesting and well put together.
 
I think Waiting for Superman is on Netflix. It's awesome. As is Fresh. And anything by Michael Moore is ridiculous, but really entertaining.
 
Queen_B said:
are there any recommendations that aren't medically based?
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Well, don't call me weird, but I love watching documentaries about serial killers and just crazy psychopaths. I think they are very odd and interesting to study. Some of my favorite documentaries had to do with Richard Kuklinskie ("Ice Man"), The Highway Bandit, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson (he is oddly very funny). I also liked the documentary on Tupac Shacur because I truly feel he had a deep connection that would eventually lead him to be a revolutionary for the younger underserved kids of today's day and age. There is an amazing documentary that has to due with the FSA (Free Syrian Army) which includes many soldiers who voluntarily flew to Syria from the U.S., U.K., Russia, etc. to fight for no compensation so they can stand for what they believe in. There are so many other documentaries I could lead you to!! Just give me a topic. I love documentaries.
 
OrdinaryDO said:
Well, don't call me weird, but I love watching documentaries about serial killers and just crazy psychopaths. I think they are very odd and interesting to study. Some of my favorite documentaries had to do with Richard Kuklinskie ("Ice Man"), The Highway Bandit, Ted Bundy, Charles Manson (he is oddly very funny). I also liked the documentary on Tupac Shacur because I truly feel he had a deep connection that would eventually lead him to be a revolutionary for the younger underserved kids of today's day and age. There is an amazing documentary that has to due with the FSA (Free Syrian Army) which includes many soldiers who voluntarily flew to Syria from the U.S., U.K., Russia, etc. to fight for no compensation so they can stand for what they believe in. There are so many other documentaries I could lead you to!! Just give me a topic. I love documentaries.
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Me too! Also the show Save my Life was awesome. There was a documentary on history channel about the guys that escaped alcatraz that has a pretty interesting ending.
 
Watch ESCAPE FIRE!! It was amazing for my med school interview!!
 
Stress: Portrait of a killer. That's a super interesting one of you haven't seen it. It is a little scary, but has made me reevaluate the things I stress about! It's also available on YouTube for freeeeeeee.
 
Inside North Korea on Netflix...I watched this one and another one on DPRK. I believe this is the one they went undercover as docs doing cataract surgeries. It is amazing how many young kids have cataracts because of malnutrition!
 
Brainman:
 
There was a very interesting one on auschwitz on Netflix. A multi-part series mainly focusing on the man who was assigned to lead the camp.

Also, one about treblinka which was horrifying but very interesting as well I think it was called "death camp treblinka, survivor stories"
 
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SLC said:
There was a very interesting one on auschwitz on Netflix. A multi-part series mainly focusing on the man who was assigned to lead the camp.

Also, one about treblinka which was horrifying but very interesting as well I think it was called "death camp treblinka, survivor stories"
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I watched Auschwitz, it was very eye opening.
 
I'm surprised this hasn't come up yet, but I recently became addicted to the Vice series...it's a bit more journalism than documentary, I suppose, with a fair amount of commentary, but some of the episodes are ridiculously enthralling. If you're looking for something more medical, The Widowmaker is a really good one about the history of cardiac caths and the business side of hospitals. I believe both are available on Amazon Prime fo free!
 
The House That I Live In (documentary about the drug war and its impact on low-income areas), Lost Angels (about the inhabitants of Skid Row), Fed Up (childhood obesity), Jiro Dreams of Sushi (about a sushi chef in Japan, warning it will make you SO hungry), and First Position (ballet competition) are all really good if you have Netflix! I basically always watch documentaries, but those are some of my favorites on Netflix right now.
If you're looking for a documentary-like series 30 Days by Morgan Spurlock is pretty good. I've only seen one episodes (he and his girlfriend had to live on minimum wage I think?), but it was really really good.
 
I came across Fed Up recently. It truly never ceases to amaze me how much of what we know is actually misinformation and how vulnerable to corruption the scientific community is. Makes you wonder…

But to add something new, the Big Picture With Kal Penn is alright.
 
zero0 said:
I came across Fed Up recently. It truly never ceases to amaze me how much of what we know is actually misinformation and how vulnerable to corruption the scientific community is. Makes you wonder…

But to add something new, the Big Picture With Kal Penn is alright.
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Here's an interesting (yet a bit lengthy) Science Based Medicine article regarding that documentary.
 
J Senpai said:
Here's an interesting (yet a bit lengthy) Science Based Medicine article regarding that documentary.
Click to expand...
To address the article: the film never said that sugar was the sole cause of the obesity epidemic although one could erroneously infer that. It started out by linking the growing obesity, diabetes, etc. epidemic to growing consumption of high-calorie foods and overall unhealthy eating habits. It then talked about how food companies started offering low-fat and low-calorie alternatives and hyped them up as being healthier using clever marketing ploys. However, these supposedly healthy alternatives offset their decreased fat and calorie content by increasing the sugar content. The overall net effect: nothing was actually healthier, despite what the label said and people kept getting fat. The people interviewed in the movie do say a few naive things here and there but overall I found the movie accurate and informative. The article, on the other hand, was full of hot air and improperly drawn conclusions. One of the few peer-reviewed studies it referenced talked about how sugar consumption is down but still says in its conclusion section that the “mean intakes continue to exceed recommended limits.” Either Ms. Hall is incapable of interpreting data (or a movie plot for that matter) or she’s cherry-picking data and on someone’s payroll. If the WHO and AAFP could let itself be corrupted by the food industry as the movie points out, what makes you think Science-Based Medicine is impervious?
 
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zero0 said:
To address the article: the film never said that sugar was the sole cause of the obesity epidemic although one could erroneously infer that. It started out by linking the growing obesity, diabetes, etc. epidemic to growing consumption of high-calorie foods and overall unhealthy eating habits. It then talked about how food companies started offering low-fat and low-calorie alternatives and hyped them up as being healthier using clever marketing ploys. However, these supposedly healthy alternatives offset their decreased fat and calorie content by increasing the sugar content. The overall net effect: nothing was actually healthier, despite what the label said and people kept getting fat. The people interviewed in the movie do say a few naive things here and there but overall I found the movie accurate and informative. The article, on the other hand, was full of hot air and improperly drawn conclusions. One of the few peer-reviewed studies it referenced talked about how sugar consumption is down but still says in its conclusion section that the “mean intakes continue to exceed recommended limits.” Either Ms. Hall is incapable of interpreting data (or a movie plot for that matter) or she’s cherry-picking data and on someone’s payroll. If the WHO and AAFP could let itself be corrupted by the food industry as the movie points out, what makes you think Science-Based Medicine is impervious?
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Idk dude, I thought it was pertinent. Probably not a conspiracy, though. :eyebrow:
 
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Vice news from HBO
 
I enjoyed "Making Rounds" on youtube.
 
"How to die in Oregon"
It's on netflix
 
Chef's table - 5 episodes(?)
5 broken cameras
Exit through the gift shop
Jiro dreams of sushi
Senna

These were the first to come to mind. None of these are medically related, but they were all VERY interesting to me!
 
J Senpai said:
Idk dude, I thought it was pertinent. Probably not a conspiracy, though. :eyebrow:
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You're sure you weren't stating your opinion through a poorly-written article? No? Guess I misread the situation, my bad.

But in your defense, with a name like Science Based Medicine how could it possibly be wrong? It has science right in the name 🙄
 
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If you enjoyed the Planet Earth series I would recommend Human Planet. It's basically the anthropological planet earth.

It's similar in format to Planet Earth, but focuses on how humans have adapted to live in different environments. Currently on Netflix.
 
If you have any interest in the military, or have served, I recommend "Vietnam in HD" narrated by Michael C. Hall (there's also a WWII version but I haven't seen it). It is very pro-American military so if that bothers you, you may want to skip this.

Also, although this isn't exactly a documentary, I liked Dan Carlin's recent Hardcore History podcast series on WWI. I should mention though that although I like him, a lot of historians don't like him for whatever reason (something about not sourcing his sources properly?), so be advised.
 
"Particle Fever" is really cool. It's on Netflix. It's about the creation and opening of the large hadron collider.


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