I've only ever seen Bowling for Columbine and An Inconvenient Truth. I must google a couple of these and see what they are about.

I haven't seen most of these. I've only seen:

Bowling for Columbine
Spellbound
An Inconvenient Truth
Roger & Me
Super Size Me
Fahrenheit 9/11
Winged Migration
Woodstock

Out of all these, I'd have to say Spellbound was my favorite.

But there are a bunch more I'd like to see.

I think March of the Penguins should be on here.

And I thought I watched alot of documentaries, but there's titles on here I do not know. That said, I can think of a few that could be on this list, and a couple that shouldn't be.
Supersize me?! One of the top docs?! I'm surprised by that.

I have actually seen most of these!! I was captivated by "The Bridge" and think it should have made the list.

okay i'm a huge documentary fan. i can agree with "hoop dreams." if my movie serves right, i think it really portrayed the sturggle of young african-american man in choosing to excel in basketball or in academics.

now i think "born into the brothels" should be higher than 18. that documenatry showed the brothels of calcutta in the eyes of the children living in the red light district. it's tremendously moving. i think everyone should see it. it also raise the question how much can documentary makers can help out with their subject's life story.

okay i'm surprise that "murder in sunday morning" (i think the title was that) isn't there. the film was oscar nominated and really had alot of people talking about race and authorities.

oh and "super size me" wasn't that great.

opps i meant "if my memory serves me right..."

I went to Columbine HS when the shootings occured. I have to say that Bowling For Columbine was a great documentary and showed what we actually went through. Although some may disagree, it also shows the importance of gun control.

I am really drawn to films like Thin and Addiction but I really like a lot of these. I think that documentaries are one of those things that are really hard to rate in a Top 25 since the subject may touch some folks more than others. I have, as well as have had friends struggle with things in my two pics, so they touch me in a way that they might not otherwise to someone who hasn't been through that.

(I hope I did those links right - I'm still learning!)

I liked:

Three Days in September, about the 2004 Chechen terrorist attack and three-day siege of a Russian school.

When The Levees Broke, Katrina/New Orleans aftermath.

The Journalist and the Jihadi, the Daniel Pearl story.

Any of those can bump SuperSize me right off the list, lol.

I would 100% add Deliver Us From Evil which is about a habitual child abusing priest and the cover up of the abuse by the one and only Catholic Church along with One Day in September about the 1972 Olympic Games and the Israleli team being taken hostage.

Oh, Deliver Us From Evil, good one, I forgot that one!

Not bad, not bad. My list would definitely include Don't Look Back, Grey Gardens, and Hoop Dreams. I would also add Murderball, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, and Sound & Fury. But more important, I now have a bunch I need to add to my Netflix queue!

I am really upset "Night and Fog" was only 24. It is a respectful documentary about the Auschwitz concentration camp and man's unwillingness to take responsibility for our actions. It is considered THE documentary about that time period but also to be socially relevant since then. How a documentary about fat excessive eating could be ranked 13 places above it is amazing.

"Super Size Me" helped me kick fast food for good, and for that, I consider it worthy of the top 25.

This list seems more like a list of what the most popular documentaries are, not perhaps what the best ones are. You can never please everyone with a list though, and I don't feel qualified to argue with the IDA either!

I've seen most of these...I didn't care for Spellbound, but the others are good enough. Some other documentaries I'd recommend:

A Crude Awakening
The War Tapes
Touching the Void
Murderball
Paragraph 175
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
Wheel of Time
Cocaine Cowboys
March of the Penguins
Unknown White Male
Jesus Camp
The Yes Men
The Unforeseen
The Chances of the World Changing

yea, im not sure that super size me was a great film all together, but i think it was revolutionary in that it affected and changed a lot of peoples opinions and views on fast food.. i guess it depends on what exactly they're judging and considering as "best" or "top", yknow? i love hearing everyones thoughts tho, i'm saving this so i can rent some of these flicks!!

There is entirely too much Michael Moore on there, and no Ken Burns?

Grey Gardens! How could I forget? Nancita have you seen the Beals of Grey Gardens? It came out more recently and is basically all the deleted footage, including a fire in the upstairs of the house. It's really interesting.

Chernobyl Heart was riveting and absolutely heart-breaking, and there is a really good doc called Shakespeare Behind Bars about inmates in a (minimum security) prison who have formed their own acting troupe and perform The Tempest. Ooh! And Yellow Brick Road is a favorite too - about mentally-retarded adults who are involved in the performing arts!

I love documentaries - I can't really weigh in on this list, since I haven't seen them all, but I would definitely recommend these titles.

My comment got flagged and I know exactly which word did it, and even though I used it properly I don't like it either so I will self-edit:

I haven't seen all these docs so I don't feel like I am able to weigh in on the list, but I love documentaries and recommend the titles below:

(1) Chernobyl Heart - heart-breaking, shows the devastating, continuing effects of the nuclear disaster in the Ukraine (not for the faint of heart - and actually, I cant watch it now that I am a mother)
(2) Shakespeare Behind Bars - A group of inmates in a (minimum security?) prison form an acting troupe and perform The Tempest
(3) Yellow Brick Road - A.N.C.H.O.R (Answering the Needs of Citizens with Handicaps through Organized Recreation) is a Long Island organization that serves adults with physical and mental disabilities through the performing arts. The doc follows them as they put on The Wizard of Oz, and I dare you not to fall in love with David, who plays the Tin Man.

i like a lot of those, but haven't seen the ones that i already know about, like the inconvenient truth one etc.

everyone has to see this: http://www.thetake.org/ The Take is a documentary..here's a bit about it from the website:

In suburban Buenos Aires, thirty unemployed auto-parts workers walk into their idle factory, roll out sleeping mats, and refuse to leave.

All they want is to re-start the silent machines. But this simple act - The Take - has the power to turn the globalization debate on its head. ( read more if you click on the link above)

---

it is a really powerful documentary. on the website you can see what has been happening there after the documentary was filmed.

Not so much as one Ken Burns? The guy should have at least one on the list, Civil War perhaps.

oh my god..i need to watch more tv...i havent seen any but have seen parts of super size me!

I don't know why, but the Super Size guy bugged me. Then that Soso lady came out with hers, and she lost weight on the diet. But she did more than pig out, and then sit back on a bed and say now, I'm going to sit on my ass and drink this huge drink and eat ice cream!

the devil and daniel johnston needs to be here as well as living dolls: the making of a child beauty queen

Seems like some really great documentaries already mentioned were left off in favor of some political/agenda type pieces. Which makes it seem like the list is a little more "Top 25 Documentaries That Really Made An Impression on The Judges" than "Top 25 Documentaries of All Time". Either way, some great viewing here! Def heading over to my Netflix queue after reading this thread...

You missed "Shoah" possibly the best Holocaust documentary ever made. Images are still with me and I saw it in 1985. The train driver to a concentration camp who had to drink a bottle of vodka every day to drown out the screams. The houses ticked off casually by interviewees "A Jewish family lived here. And here. And here."
The response to the smells of the ovens.

Ken Burns "The Civil War." The Southern woman who can follow Sherman's march to the sea by the fires of her neighbor's homes on the horizon. Gettysburg - 50,000 dead Americans in 3 days over 6000 acres, so many that streams of blood ran down the hillside.

And "The Shakers - Hearts to God Hands to work" of a world gone by where Utopia was just down the street and a way of life.

I like "Why We Fight" which talks about the army and how the country doesn't reveal alot of things that the army does to trick people into signing up; like targeting people going through rough times and using those things to trick them into signing up. It's an eye-opener.

I liked "Who Killed the Electric Car?". It really made me sad about the world and angry about how stupid people are.

Linny, Thats another good one! It was sad and frustrating though.

Sad to see Maria Full of Grace(2004) isn't up there. It is about a Colombian teenager who chooses to become a drug mule to support her family. POWERFUL, Heartwrenching. a must see.

I loved Maria, Full of Grace, but it isn't a documentary.

I think this list is a little too weighted in favor of the recent past. I also think that When We Were Kings (about the Mohammad Ali/George Forman "Rumble in the Jungle") and The War Room about the 1992 Clinton/Gore campaign were somewhat glaringly left off. And Spike Lee's Four Little Girls.

Can't believe Michael Moore gets this much credit! There obviously haven't been enough documentaries made!

I'm glad to see Hoop Dreams place at #1, but a glaring omission is Orson Welles' F For Fake

how come nobody talks about:

ZEITGEIST ????

Does nobody else find it a bit strange that there is only *one* non-American film on the entire list? - Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (which is deservedly there). And 10 of the 25 from the early 2000s? Really? Only America produces great documentaries? Seems to be an extremely biased list to me. I think anywhere else in the world, for example, they would not be so dense as to leave off a documentary series as groundbreaking as the British "Up" series.

Three of the best documentaries I have seen and in no particular order
1. The Devil and Daniel Johnson- Life story of a mentally disturbed song writer. Will have you in tears of joy and sadness in equal measure.
A personal favourite but is dark and disturbing in places and shows you the horror of mental illness with the glamour of potential fame and fortune. Hits you on many levels.
2. The King of Kong- A documentary so absorbing and hilarious Ricky Gervais would wish he wrote it.
One everyone will enjoy
3. The Power of Nightmares- A examination of the relationship between the beginnings and rise of Islamic Terrorism leading to Bin Laden and later and the beginnings and the rise of neo-conservatism in different US governments and the remarkable influence both had on each other bring into question how we as people are directed and influenced by government.
This quite simply is a must see for everybody. Should be shown to school kids.

Your welcome!! Enjoy