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MARCH 4, 2012
Documentaries in the Library

Is it just me or are documentaries becoming better and better? You won’t find these DVDs on our feature film shelves unless they made the big time and showed up in the cinemas. Though the audience may be smaller, the enjoyment can be just as big. What documentaries have you watched that you want to recommend?

Animals and More Animals
A delightful French documentary recording the return to prominence of the stuffed wild animals belonging to the Paris Natural History Museum. Taxidermy staff clean coats, replace glass eyes, paint noses, and prepare the animals for their first public showing in 30 years. 57 minutes worth of entertainment.

Cuttlefish, Kings of Camouflage
From the highest rated science series on TV, a look at one of the most amazing creatures ever. I might never have pulled this title off the shelf for its title alone, but it was recommended to me and I just have to pass on the recommendation. 56 minutes.

Waste Land
This official selection from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival profiles the artist Vik Muniz and members of ACAMJG, the Association of Recycling Pickers of Jardim Gramacho near Rio de Janeiro, at that time the largest landfill in the world. The artist enlists the pickers’ aid with his project and their collaboration in art changes both the artist and the pickers and, perhaps, even its viewers. 93 minutes.

Triumph at Carville: a tale of leprosy in America
A film documenting one of the most unusual communities in American history. There’s now a cure for the disease, but some patients stay to finish their lives in this 100-year-old national leprosarium in Louisiana known as "Carville." Recommended to me by another staff member, I’m glad I didn’t miss it. 60 minutes.

Freedom Riders
Watch this, be inspired by these courageous men and women, and catch up on an important piece of history. It is a full two hours long, but it’s worth every minute of it.

Human Planet
The BBC produced this excellent series on the diversity of human life on our planet today and how people adapt to their natural environment and live lives so very different from our own. A three disc set that can be watched segment by segment. 400 minutes altogether, but watch it an hour at a time. 
 


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