The quirky song that virtually everyone in America has experienced at one time or another is uncovered in the documentary Hava Nagila (The Movie). The Electric Slide, The Hokey Pokey and even YMCA have nothing on this age-old Jewish standard. We all know it. We’ve all experienced it — or soon will (for younger readers) — and yet almost […]

“Kill Mumia now!” That’s what I yelled at the Free Mumia Now crowds outside City Hall in Philadelphia some years ago. I just happened to be driving by one day when I didn’t expect the rally and would have otherwise avoided the area. If you’re from the Philadelphia area, you heard about Mumia Abu-Jamal at […]

Relative newcomer Neil Barsky looks at the man most New York City residents knew simply as “The Mayor” in his new film entitled Koch. Ed Koch dominated New York City politics in a way no other politician of recent memory ever has. He first shot onto the scene as a congressman for New York’s 17th District […]

Emotions lie at the heart of every moviegoing experience. If a movie makes you feel nothing, then the filmmakers didn’t do their job right. Most narrative films make you laugh or exhilarate you with drama or action. Documentaries are a different breed entirely. More often than not, they bring out the anger that’s inside you […]

Imagine a film in which all of the living presidents of this country — or any country for that matter — talked about their successes, failures and strategies for their administrations. It would be a gift to politics fans and history buffs alike because of the perspectives and stories concentrated into a couple of hours. It’s one […]

We all know that the health care system in this country is in a pretty bad state. One could argue that ObamaCare is not at all the right way to fix this situation. Nevertheless, the existing system has too many flaws to ignore. There have been a variety of documentaries over the years that take […]

Documentaries that take a strong position are often hit or miss because they might alienate half of the audience from the start. With a title like Greedy Lying Bastards, there’s no question about the feelings of the filmmaker toward his subjects. A title like that would suggest that this documentary is funny or satirical. There […]

Hunger, obesity and their potential causes are scrutinized in the new documentary from the makers of Food, Inc. called A Place at the Table. The film points out that, in the 1970s, the will was there to end hunger in the United States. Action by the government nearly eradicated the epidemic only to have it storm back […]

Israel’s interior security service—the Shin Bet—is the target of a surprising documentary in The Gatekeepers. The most fascinating element of the movie is that it’s very much a self-examination as the only people interviewed are the very individuals who led the organization for the last 30 years—and this is the first time they’ve ever spoken on record. […]

Aging is definitely not a spectator sport. You must realize at some point that you’re as much of a participant as the subject. This peculiarity makes the popular Up series of movies an odd choice for entertainment. The familiar people in this set of documentaries are as much a mirror to our own lives as […]

On May 5th, 1993, three eight-year-old boys — Stevie Branch, Michael Moore and Christopher Byers — were reported missing and later found hog-tied, naked and submerged in a local stream. Almost at once, the authorities knew this had all the telltale marks of a satanic ritual killing, and they arrested the most likely suspects — […]

If I ever complain about my job or living conditions, just remind me how difficult they could be with the word “Taiga” and watch me shut up. The best documentaries take you someplace new or introduce a subject you never knew before and entertain you in the process. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga […]