I want to share some good documentaries with you. I mostly watch nature programs, but also some related to special events. The documentaries on Discovery has lost almost all its appeal to me, and if you are like me, you will like these.

Previously in this series I wrote about four unique movies. This time, I want to write about documentary films. To me, a good documentary gives insight and knowledge, but should also be presented in a beautiful and pleasing way. Nature shows are really pushing the limit when it comes to high quality filming, and creative techniques. Documentaries about war has never had any real appeal to me, but a specific event during a war can make an interesting subject.

David AttenboroughWiki - David Attenborough has created some of the best documentaries in my opinion. They always have a clear thread throughout the show, and even through an entire series of shows. He has made and narrated many great shows, but I will only include one in this list, so I wanted to mention him specially.

The five movies I've chosen shows how diverse good documentaries can be. From Baraka that only gives you a wonderful mixture of images and music, to Galápagos and Life, that both serve knowledge and beauty.

Baraka

The genre experimental documentary may not be known to everyone, but in simple terms it means a different way to make documentaries. For Baraka, what is different is that not a single word is uttered throughout the film. Only video and music, and sometimes singing, is part of the experience.

Baraka means 'blessing'
Arabic

The film focuses (in my eyes) on religion and life. These two concepts are for many connected, and for others: not. Baraka explores and portraits life for many different groups of people, and we get an understanding of how different life is.

Filmed in 1992, it was later restored in 2008, using a technique that has not been used for any other film. I've got the Blu-ray release of it, and I can tell you: it is beautiful. As Roger Ebert put itRoger Ebert - Baraka: "The restored 2008 Blu-ray is the finest video disc I have ever viewed or ever imagined." If you want to know more about Baraka, you can read his review.

Chernobyl: Life in the Dead Zone

This film is very much more down-to-earth. After the Chernobyl accident, a 30 km area around the nuclear power plant, known as the death zone, was contaminated. No one was allowed to live there, and people were forced to move. This left a vacuum in the food chain, and slowly nature reclaimed the area.

Scientists were amazed to see that what we humans called an inhospitable environment, appeared to animals as paradise. All kinds of animals, from dogs and cats, to elk and dear; even large carnivores like wolves and bears, they all migrated to this area and settled in.

The worker city Pripyat was abandoned in a hurry, and many buildings were left unattended. To the animals, these are shelter, and a perfect place for the now wild cats and dogs of Pripyat to live.

The film clearly shows how quickly nature and animals adopts, and it talks to some extent about how mutants will have a poor chance of surviving. The only registered mutant that has appeared in the radiated area is worms that reproduce sexually. Normally worms reproduce a-sexually, but by getting genes from others, their offspring shows a higher rate of survival from the radiation. All other mutants that has been observed has quickly died. In Chernobyl evolution is going in fast forward.

For all Mankind

Compiled from real NASA footage, taken on the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, this film could show a different side of the space missions than I knew. Most of the footage was new for me, and shows a more relaxed and fun side of the otherwise very serious missions.

Throughout the film you can hear the voices of the astronauts, both from the actual missions, and from newer interviews. The film was very interesting.

Galápagos

Ever since Charles Darwin wrote his theory of evolution, the Galápagos Islands has received more attention than most groups of islands. They are volcanic islands, atop one of the most active volcanic hot spots there is, and they are constantly on the move. Several currents meet around the islands, bringing both hot and cold water. This (among other things) leads to the astonishing wildlife in the sea around the islands. Though much of the land is barren and hostile, there are very interesting land animals also. In this 4-part mini series you will get familiar with both the geology and wildlife of these remarkable islands.

I was unfamiliar with the details around the islands, why they are so special, and how they were discovered, and found the documentaries very interesting. In addition to sharing valuable knowledge, the team has captured the beautiful nature and diversity of Galápagos with their films. I felt that the four parts overlapped somewhat, and that is never a good thing. This is one something that very rarely happens in Attenborough films, where the viewer is expected to pay enough attention, to not forget what was said the last time. Still, it was not as bad as most Discovery documentaries, so it really should not put anyone off.

Life

While life has not been made by Attenborough, it still retains much of the same spirit, and it is narrated by the man himself. To me, hearing his voice gives the film an authority that not even Morgan Freeman can matchFreeman narrated March of the Penguins, also a great documentary.. Life, that at first view is very similar to Planet Earth, is a 10-part series, focusing on what Charles Darwin called: "the struggle for existence", meaning all the extraordinary and diverse ways nature has adopted to survive. The series is beautifully shot in HD, and over 4 years of filming and hard work has gone into it.

I still have not been able to see all the episodes, and I can hardly wait to buy it on Blu-ray. Each episode takes a closer look at a family of species, such as reptiles, or fish. We follow the species shortly, before changing subject. The series rarely involves humans, and global warming, etc. is never a subject.