Documentary films are first and foremost supposed to do
just that – document a story, an event, a person, etc. It tends to be the case
that most documentaries are contemporary and many are a call to action for some
pressing issue that the filmmakers feel strongly about. The recent Oscar
winners An Inconvenient Truth, which
deals with global warming, and The Cove,
about dolphin fishing in Japan, are two examples. Sometimes they tell a story
of events long ago, perhaps bringing to the public’s attention events they
otherwise would have known little to nothing about. Those we might refer to as
historically educational documentaries. These include just about every
Holocaust documentary in existence. Some are just plain good stories and would
make for an emotionally moving experience if adapted into a narrative film.
Last year’s Oscar winner Undefeated
as well as Man on Wire from several
years ago come to mind. But while I sat through How to Survive a Plague, one of this year’s Documentary Feature
nominees, I kept thinking it felt so strangely anachronistic.
