Tupac - Resurrection

Title aside, we'll never see the likes of Tupac Shakur again. The late rap superstar was a complex, contradictory figure and, throughout the course of this riveting documentary, it's as if he's back in our world again. Produced by his mother, former Black Panther Afeni Shakur, Tupac Resurrection isn't so much "biased" as it's subjective.




In the MTV film, accompanied by a book and soundtrack, director Lauren Lazin looks at Tupac's short, full life from beginning to end and doesn't avoid the dark times--the arrests, the shootings--but she does tend to emphasize the positive over the negative. More to the point, the narration comes from Tupac himself, smoothly edited from countless interviews, so we're constantly getting his take on events.

English Version

Spanish Version

He's more thoughtful and articulate than his detractors might expect (despite the profanity), but the contradictions remain, making this essential viewing for even the most casual of fans. There is a language warning on this documentary.

Click here to visit the official website.

Last Days

Gus Van Sant's Last Days is a film about the death of Kurt Cobain. While the name of the main character has been changed from Kurt to Blake and the setting of the suicide changed from a greenhouse in Seattle to a greenhouse in upstate New York, there's no mistaking this film is the product of Van Sant's imagination pursuing the final, lonely moments of the great '90s icon. Rock biopic fans seeking a traditionally gratifying plot should run as fast as they can from this movie and see Rock Star or Sid and Nancy instead; Gus Van Sant's methodology is all about the slow, oppressive creep of time.




One shot lingers excruciatingly long on some random foliage outside Blake's (Michael Pitt, The Dreamers) mansion. In another, he makes cereal. Then he sits on a bench for awhile. Or mumbles dialogue to a Yellow Pages ad salesman played by a real-life Yellow Pages ad salesman. Or gradually collapses while watching a Boyz 2 Men video. Meanwhile, Blake's parasitical hangers-on are slightly more animated, occupying his chilly house and clearly on their way to becoming as existentially destitute as he.

Sonic Youth's Kim Gordon appears, pretty much reprising an interventionist role she must have played with the real-life Cobain, but this rock star is far beyond rescuing from the brink. Later, when Blake ventures into town to see a punk show, he is cornered by an acquaintance played by Harmony Korine, who tells him a hilarious story about playing Dungeons and Dragons with Jerry Garcia. Where the accumulation of small moments like these don't add up to much drama, they create a pervading sense of dread and sad inevitability. In his life, Cobain railed against all that was phony and hyped; by crafting a visual poem resolutely defiant of rock star spectacle, Van Sant honors the late singer as sincerely as he can, by keeping it real.

Gonzo - The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

Many of the documentaries I will be posting over the next month or so will be ones that won industry awards in 2008..."Gonzo" definately falls into this catagory. Bad boy journalist Dr. Hunter S. Thompson - equally famous for his railings against the Nixon administration in the pages of Rolling Stone and his well-chronicled personal adventures with drugs, alcohol and the Hell's Angels -was an iconic counter-cultural hero of the 1960s and '70s.




After Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Taxi to the Dark Side, Hunter S. Thompson seems like an odd subject for Alex Gibney to take on. Unlike the Enron executives or Baghram guards, the gonzo journalist didn't bilk old ladies out of their savings or torture Iraqi citizens. Nonetheless, the director's follow-up to the Oscar-winning Taxi shares an interest in the uses and abuses of power.

PART ONE

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Gibney recounts the major biographical details, from birth to suicide, but his film really comes alive when he gets to the late-1960s. Though Thompson remains best known for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gonzo concentrates on his coverage of the 1968 and '72 presidential elections. The author was particularly excited about George McGovern, and chose advocacy over non-partisan reporting. McGovern, Pat Buchanan, Ralph Steadman, Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner, and others testify to Thompson's enthusiasm for the South Dakota senator--and hatred for Nixon.

PART TWO

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Gibney argues that the fire started to die after Hunter witnessed the brutal treatment of protesters at Chicago’s Democratic Convention. Disillusionment led to an erosion of his talent and an escalation of his self-destructive tendencies. As Johnny Depp, who played him in Fear and Loathing, reads passages from his work, the doctor's friends and family provide a glimpse of the insecure man behind the brash image. Gibney's evenhanded depiction may disappoint true believers hoping for a glorified puff piece, but Thompson's ability to speak truth to power with wit and passion comes through loud and clear.

Biography - Barrack Obama

When he called himself "a skinny kid with a funny name" at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, his political star was already on the rise. By the time he decimated the competition in 2004 race for the Illinois Senate, he was the bona fide golden child of a Democratic party desperately in need of a winner. In many ways, the story of Barack Obama is a uniquely American tale of the 21st century, where racial lines are blurry and the most interesting chapter is just beginning.




This prophetic biography about the life of Illinois senator Barack Obama was made before he began campaigning to be the Democratic party's candidate for the 2008 presidential race. Still, the program suggests Obama has one or another kind of profound, Anerican destiny as a mixed-race activist who never comfortably fit into one or another group, and had to look deep into his own roots to understand his identity. The son of a white American mother and black Kenyan father, Obama was abandoned by the latter when he returned to his native country to work for its improvement.

Raised by his mother--whom Obama credits with teaching him many of his values--and his grandmother, Obama lived in Hawaii as a child but moved to Indonesia for a few years when his mom remarried. There, Obama saw cyclical poverty and the underlying factors that perpetuate it before returning to Hawaii. Interviews with childhood friends and his sister describe Obama's restlessness before attending Harvard law school and propelling himself into a life of public service and community activism. Often accused of lacking enough political experience to qualify him for the White House, Obama comes across in this show as a visionary and experienced consensus-builder who can reach across opposing points of view.

Secret Lives - L. Ron Hubbard

An intriguing, but bizarre, biographical documentary by Channel 4 on the 'Secret Life' of L Ron Hubbard - the Sci Fi author and creator of the Scientology cult. This biopic from 1997, with some fantastic archive interviews with the man (and other people from the 'org' who knew him) - is an interesting look at the start/development of the weird cult and its even stranger founder: L Ron Hubbard.




There's some revealing information inside, such as Hubbard's spiralling manic-depressive emotional state, the use of drugs on himself/family and the resentment he felt towards his son due to Quentin's homosexuality (eventually causing suicide). Also, the political repercussions to L Ron's actions as Scientology's leader - especially legally in Europe, is an important history to the world's largest (and most farcical) cult.

A controversial public figure, many details of his life are subjects of contention. The Church of Scientology has produced numerous official biographies which present Hubbard's character and his multi-faceted accomplishments in an exalted light. Biographies of Hubbard by independent journalists and accounts by former scientologists paint a much darker picture of Hubbard and in many cases contradict the material presented by the Church.

The Manson Women

Barely out of their teens, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel, laughed their way through their trial for multiple murder. Did cult tactics make them kill?




Some thirty years on, Charles Manson and his infamous ‘family’ still repel and fascinate us. We can't seem to forget the trio of hippie girls who laughed their way through their death penalty trial-and offered up bizarre displays of devotion to their scrawny, enigmatic guru.




Barely out of their teens, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten and Patricia Krenwinkel didn't fit our notions of what brutal killers should look like. All grew up in California's booming, post-war suburbs. They were children of the middle class who went out into the night and butchered seven people they did not know.

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How did it happen? Were they victims themselves, brainwashed by Manson's personality, and a mix of drugs and sex? And what of the most devoted of Manson's girls - Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - who led daily vigils on the sidewalks outside of court? Who was she? How did this brew of personalities lead to the country's first cult murders?

Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species

This stunning documentary tells the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece, On the Origin of Species, a book which explains the wonderful variety of the natural world as emerging out of death and the struggle of life.




In the twenty years he took to develop a brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him.

He also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world. The story is told with the benefit of Darwin's secret notes and correspondence, enhanced by natural history filming, powerful imagery from the time and contributions from leading contemporary biographers and scientists.

More documentaries like this...

The Genius of Charles Darwin

Evolution - Darwin's Dangerous Idea

Was Darwin Right?

Charles Darwin and the Tree of Life

Satan - Prince of Darkness

Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, the Devil...known by many names, he was the once-favorite angel who fell from grace. Cast out from Heaven, he became mankind's tormentor, vowing to destroy the creation of his former master.




From the Biblical tale of his fall to the incredible stories of those who believe they have crossed his path, this documentary takes us on a chilling journey through the long and legendary history of Satan. Scholars, historical experts, and theologians examine classic paintings, academic texts, and modern movies for an unprecedented look at the many ways Satan has been portrayed throughout the centuries.

Satan - Prince of Darkness paints the ultimate portrait of the face of evil, and reveals how over millennia the Devil has come to personify mankind's greatest fears.

John & Yoko's Year of Peace

The year: 1969. Headlines blare war and civil unrest while John Lennon and Yoko Ono are in love. The eccentic rock 'n' roll couple has just gotten married, and more than happy to be together, they want to change the world.




Lying in a hotel bed surrounded by journalists, they announce their mission for peace and invite the rest of the world to symbolically climb into bed with them and share their dream. People call them silly, naive, even ridiculous, yet one famous couple's bed-in spread new hope that there really could be an end to war, hate and violence.

Here is rare footage from that amazing time, including footage from John and Yoko's wedding, the infamous bedside confrontation between John and conservative cartoonist Al Capp, Lennon debating media expert Marshall McLuhan, and meeting Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Now twenty years after Lennon's murder, Yoko and others involved in the peace mission reflect on the events of that magical, mystical year.

The Genius of Mozart

The story begins with the composer's father Leopold with whom Mozart conducted a passionate and tortured correspondence. It is Leopold who knows Mozart's secrets. And there is another voice: that of the music itself. Music is the key to unlocking the emotions of Mozart, starting in this film with the great piano works.




Without this key, how can we ever understand the emotions that gave birth to some of the most beautiful sounds the world has ever heard? The first great phase of Mozart's brief life was that of the travelling child prodigy - gifted as a performer and writer of music - who grew into the genius who, working within the restrictions of his time, began to rewrite the musical rules.

But there was another facet to Mozart - the adult thinker aware of the bigger picture, passionately attached to the progressive values of the Enlightenment - impressively well-read, a speaker of most European languages (even a little English), an Austrian Catholic, a Freemason and above all a composer at the height of his formidable powers, determined to succeed in the most difficult and lucrative area of all - Opera.




Towards the end of his life, Mozart mastered the language of instrumental and orchestral writing - and how both love and loss provoked in him an extraordinary burst of creativity. This was essentially crystallised in three ambitious works that changed the future course of music: his last, great trilogy of symphonies - numbers 39, 40 and 41 - which he wrote in six short weeks. This is a must watch film for lovers of music and life!

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

Hannibal - The Fall of Carthage

Did Hannibal carelessly squander the power of Carthage? Were the ingenious strategist's legendary victories paradoxically the reason for the downfall of this incredibly rich trading empire? Why did Hannibal, at the very height of his triumphant campaign, refrain from attacking the city of Rome? Why was the military genius of Hannibal not enough the defeat the rising power of Rome?




This documenatary delves into the rise of the small trading city-state of Carthage that became one of the richest and most powerful seafaring nations in the Mediterrranian. Following the battles of the great Carthage general, Hannibal, the defeat of Rome seemed almost inevitable, yet Rome prevailed.

Whole new questions come to light in this documentary: not only historians, but also psychologists, scientists and doctors piece together the images of the past. Archaeologists provide the data for lavish computer animations that recreate the fascinating events of the past. Facilitated by computers, a breakneck journey leads us through the eye of the duellists, directly into the brain, where - split seconds before the decision is taken - possible alternatives are drafted as visions of history: 'What would have happened if...? - this teasing and likewise scientific question arouses the viewers' fantasy - and compellingly illustrates how, for a brief moment in history, the development of today's world hung by a thread.

The Trials of Ted Haggard

This documentary by Alexandra Pelosi takes a behind-the-scenes look at the recent life and hard times of ex-minister Pastor Ted. Ted Haggard had it all: prosperity, a doting wife, five kids, and a ministry that reached out to approximately 30 million followers who hung on his every word, whether on TV or in person at one of his arena sermons.




Ted Haggard had it all: prosperity, a doting wife, five kids and a ministry that reached more than 30 million followers who hung on his every word. But in 2006, it all fell apart in a sea of scandal. Journalist/filmmaker Alexandra Pelosi returns to talk with "Pastor Ted"--whom she met while filming Friends of God for HBO--who was exiled from the church he built and the state where he lived after admitting to "sexual immorality" and to buying methamphetamines.

Following Haggard and his family as they move from house to house and motel to motel, Pelosi interviews the sullied ex-minister as he works as a traveling insurance salesman...and maps out a strategy for redeeming himself and supporting his family.

The Medici - Godfathers Of The Renaissance

The Medici were one of European history's most influential merchant families and patrons to some of the greatest artists in the Italian Renaissance -- including Leonard da Vinci, Michelangelo and Raphael. Movers and shakers from the 14th century onward, the Medici used any means necessary, whether it be money or merciless tactics, to leave a lasting impression on art and science.




From a base in 15th-century Florence, the Medici family used charm, patronage, duplicity, and ruthlessness to amass wealth and power. The Medicis also ignited Western history's most important cultural and artistic revolution, the Renaissance, but doomed their own ordered world. This epic drama in the courts, cathedrals, and palaces of Europe traces a family's powerful ambition and a continent's tortured struggle to emerge from the Dark Ages.

PART ONE

PART TWO

PART THREE

More documentaries like this...

The True Story of Rasputin

Spartacus - Behind The Myth

Leonardo - The Man Behind the Shroud?


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Biography - Jack the Ripper

'Jack the Ripper' is one of the most enduring and famous serial-killer legends that still captivates the world's imagination.

The culprit responsible for slaughtering five prostitutes, and possibly more, in London's East End in the autumn of 1888 was never apprehended. Despite countless investigations which claim to have definitive evidence of the killer's identity, the brutal murderer's name and motivation are still unproven.

The moniker 'Jack the Ripper' originates from a letter written by someone who claimed to be the Whitechapel butcher, which was published at the time of the attacks. The killings all took place within a mile area and involved the districts of Whitechapel, Spitalfields, Aldgate and the City of London.

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Adding to the mystery of the affair is the fact that several letters were sent by the killer to the London Metropolitan police, taunting them about his gruesome activities and speculating on further murders to come. The plethora of theories as to the identity of the killer, ranging from the famous Victorian painter Walter Sickert to a Polish migrant and even the grandson of Queen Victoria have all contributed to a culture of folklore and ghoulish entertainment.

Wiki has this to say about Jack the Ripper.

More on Jack the Ripper...

Aleister Crowley

Here are two documentaries on Aleister Crowley...famous amongst other things for his association with Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.




Wiki has this to say about 'The Beast" and his assocciation with the order...

Involved as a young adult in the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, he first studied mysticism with and made enemies of William Butler Yeats and Arthur Edward Waite. Like many in occult circles of the time, Crowley voiced the view that Waite was a pretentious bore through searing critiques of Waite's writings and editorials of other authors' writings. In his periodical The Equinox, Crowley titled one diatribe, "Wisdom While You Waite", and his note on the passing of Waite bore the title, "Dead Waite".

His friend and former Golden Dawn associate, Allan Bennett, introduced him to the ideas of Buddhism, while Samuel Liddell MacGregor Mathers, acting leader of the Golden Dawn organization, acted as his early mentor in western magic but would later become his enemy. Several decades after Crowley's participation in the Golden Dawn, Mathers claimed copyright protection over a particular ritual and sued Crowley for infringement after Crowley's public display of the ritual. While the public trial continued, both Mathers and Crowley claimed to call forth armies of demons and angels to fight on behalf of their summoner. Both also developed and carried complex Seal of Solomon amulets and talismans.

In 1899, Crowley acquired Boleskine House, in Foyers on the shore of Loch Ness in Scotland. In a book of fiction, titled Moonchild, Crowley later portrayed Mathers as the primary villain, including him as a character named SRMD, using the abbreviation of Mathers' magical name. Arthur Edward Waite also appeared in Moonchild as a villain named Arthwaite, while Bennett appeared as the silent, monkish Mahathera Phang. While he did not officially break with Mathers until 1904, Crowley lost faith in this teacher's abilities soon after the 1900 schism in the Golden Dawn (if not before). Later in the year of that schism, Crowley travelled to Mexico and continued his magical studies in isolation. Crowley's writings suggest that he discovered the word Abrahadabra during this time.

In October 1901, after practicing Raja Yoga for some time, he said he had reached a state he called dhyana—one of many states of unification in thoughts that are described in Magick (Liber ABA). 1902 saw him writing the essay Berashith (the first word of Genesis), in which he gave meditation (or restraint of the mind to a single object) as the means of attaining his goal. The essay describes ceremonial magick as a means of training the will, and of constantly directing one's thoughts to a given object through ritual. In his 1903 essay, Science and Matter, Crowley urged an empirical approach to Buddhist teachings.

Aleister Crowley - The Other Loch Ness Monster

Aleister Crowley - The Wickedest Man in the World

Mao’s Bloody Revolution Revealed

Mao’s Bloody Revolution Revealed is hosted by Philip Short, BBC correspondent and author of Mao: A Life. Bloody Revolution can be divided into two parts. The first half of the documentary covers the course of the Chinese revolution up to the the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution.




The second half covers what is referred to as the Cultural Revolution decade of 1966 to 1976. About three quarters of the the second half focuses on the height of the Cultural Revolution from 1966 to 1969 or 1971; the remaining time mostly focuses on 1971 to 1976 and Mao’s death.

Bloody Revolution contains much boilerplate anti-communism of the ‘Mao was a butcher’ and ‘people ate their babies’ variety that has been addressed numerous times and in different ways. The narrative of Bloody Revolution is a convergence of the official revisionist Chinese state’s account and traditional western anti-communist ones.

Jimi Hendrix the Uncut Story

Those looking for historical details, insights, and heartfelt testimonials from family, friends, music industry royalty, and fellow musicians will be greatly satisfied with Jimi Hendrix: The Uncut Story. One would obviously expect a documentary spanning Hendrix's life and career to include the most important facet of the man: his music and him performing that music live. However, The Uncut Story has none of Hendrix's original music.




There are loads of great clips of Hendrix's performances, and lots of photos and stock video footage, but none of them are set to Hendrix's music. This is without a doubt the strangest thing about this documentary. The film is not endorsed or authorized by the James Marshall Foundation or Experience Hendrix, LLC, which is probably the reason the music was not allowed to be used. But even so, skeptics should shelve any prejudices that this documentary is not a high-quality representation of the master himself.




The content and attention to detail is exceptional. Another impressive aspect of the documentary is the number of songs that are analyzed by friends and family. Lack of music aside and the puzzling fact that the three-hour program is spread over three discs, it may be safe to say Jimi Hendrix: The Uncut Story is one of the best documentaries on the life of Hendrix that has been made. Fans looking for the story behind the music will be pleasantly surprised.

Part One - 1942 to 1961

Part Two - 1961 to 1967

Part Three - 1967 to 1970

Click here for the official Jimi Hendrix website.


Get this documentary on DVD today...

The True Story of Rasputin

This documentary is about Rasputin, a Siberian peasant who worked his way into the innermost circles of Russian royalty, then fell from an idealized holy man to a corrupt villain. Born in 1869 in Siberia, Rasputin was a young rogue with an eye for the ladies.




When he was 28, he joined a monastery where he became influenced by a religious sect that believed that to attain salvation, one had to sin, and Rasputin sought salvation often -- by indulging in orgies. In 1903, he went to Russia's capital in St. Petersburg where he worked his way into affluent society. Russians were titillated and disgusted by him. In 1905, he ingratiated himself into the royal family after he apparently used hypnosis to save the life of their young son, a hemophiliac.

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Legend has it that Rasputin endeared himself to Alexandra and that they had an affair. By World War I, certain Russians began to tire of Rasputin's antics and he was murdered in 1916. Eighteen months after his death, the royal family was executed by Bolsheviks.


Get the DVD today...

Werner Herzog: Beyond Reason

Legendary for his refusal to compromise in his search for the 'real truth', German film director Werner Herzoghas a reputation for pushing cast, crew and studios to the absolute limit. Stories from his best known film, Fitzcarraldo, are of a catastrophe-riddled shoot in the Peruvian jungle, which took three years to film and saw two plane crashes, a border war, and attacks from a hostile tribe.




Herzog is as far from the mainstream as it is possible to be, so it is a surprise when Alan finds him living in the Hollywood Hills. Spending time with Werner at some of his favourite Los Angeles locations, Alan attempts to uncover whether Herzog is the maverick risk-taker he appears to be. He also questions what the future is for Herzog - will he succeed in bucking the Hollywood system, or will he be forced to compromise his unique vision and style?




With footage from Werner's extensive back-catalogue of work, including Rescue Dawn, Grizzly Man, Even Dwarfs Started Small and Fitzcarraldo, the documentary is a revealing insight into one of modern cinema's most surprising and complex filmmakers.

PART ONE

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PART TWO

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Spartacus - Behind The Myth

Two thousand years ago, the Roman Empire was the strongest and most powerful assembly of people on Earth. In the year 73 BC, they boasted the greatest army in the ancient world, but their army was to be taken down many times over by Spartacus - an unlikely hero who achieved an extraordinary feat that would be remembered in history for decades to come. Spartacus: Behind the Myth is a fascinating one-hour special that unveils the truth about the man who is still a legend to this day.




Unearthing intriguing new details about his origins, ingenious tactics and mysterious death, the information detailed in this documentary goes way beyond the man who was made famous by Kirk Douglas's 1960 feature film. Combining special historical research with stunning dramatisations, find out how just one man, who lead a small band of lowly slaves that grew from 70 to 100,000, struck fear in the heart of Rome when he came close to crushing the mighty Roman Empire.

Questions about Spartacus's origins will be answered, and new information about his slave army will be revealed by a team of leading experts who include a top psychological profiler, US Special Forces, ancient archaeologists, and historians. They will share insights to unravel the true character of this freedom fighter who took on the ancient world's greatest power.

PART ONE

PART TWO