Some stories are so heartfelt, terrifying, educational, and angry, you couldn’t make them up. That’s why documentaries are here to stir our emotions. Whether it be the struggles or achievements in everyday life, these films can change our perspective on what’s occurring all around us. They are our wakeup call.
Before we get to my favorite documentaries of 2016, I have to address a couple of things. First, there are a few that are out of my reach for now, yet once viewed I may be updating this list. Tower and I’m Not Your Negro are the only two I can really think of. Also, since I binge watched O.J.: Made in America on TV, I’m not including it on my list. Please know if I did, it would probably be at the top of it.
Now, lets get down to business.
Reality hits the hardest. Here’s to the nonfiction films that blew me away.
Runners Up:
– Amanda Knox
– The Beatles: Eight Days a Week-The Touring Years
– Ingrid Bergman in Her Own Words
– The Ivory Game
– De Palma
– Do Not Resist
– Oasis: Supersonic
– Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You
TOP 5
Five:
Life, Animated
A beautifully powerful & hopeful doc about how movies speak to us in miraculous ways. Disney remains a constant in a young man’s battle of autism, & his obsession becomes his blessing.
Four:
13th
A rabble-rousing film about slavery & the shaping of all its different forms, mainly involving mass incarceration. Racism is a booming business & Director DuVernay constructs an unflinching look at it w/ deserved outrage. This damning doc is a wakeup call of how far we are from true equality.
Three:
Weiner
A brutally candid political doc about a public figure’s voice & ideas being drowned out by scandal & costly choices. The exceptional insight fascinates while the unbelievable access exposes a wild, disastrous trip down the relentless campaign trail.
Two:
Gleason
Overwhelmingly emotional, yet inspiring to its core, this sports doc tackles ALS’s deterioration of the mind, body & soul. As tearful as it is to watch the disease’s toll on Gleason & his family, he rallies with perseverance in order to let his son see the man he is & the proud father he becomes.
One:
Dark Horse
A small, luckless Welsh community breaks all of the rules in horse racing in this incredibly inspirational doc. A horse fueled by hope, these unlikely champions spiritedly let their Dream run.
Check back in on 2015’s list while you’re at it.
Brandon Vick is the resident film critic of the SoBros Network, and star of Brandon’s Box Office In Your Mouth. Follow him on Twitter@SirBrandonV and be sure to search #VicksFlicks for all of his latest movie reviews.
Follow us on Twitter @SoBrosNetwork
