Documentaries without (too much) annoying music
Many documentaries these days rely entirely on emotional soundtracks to get emotional responses from audiences. This is a list of films that put more effort in story-telling, images, and actual documentation and feature little, or at least not too much music. (In some, the music is even interesting by itself and is an actual contribution rather than a decoration)
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18 titles
- StarsCatherine OxenbergIndia OxenbergJanja LalichSeduced follows India Oxenberg's abuse and her own culpability inside the NXIVM cult, an organization marketed as a self-help group.
- DirectorHeidi BrandenburgMathew OrzelStarsAlberto PizangoAlan GarcíaAruwihtu PizankuAn indigenous environmental activist takes on the large businesses that are destroying the Amazon.
- DirectorAlexander NanauStarsDan Alexandru CondreaLiviu IoluRazvan LutacDirector Alexander Nanau follows a crack team of investigators at the Romanian newspaper Gazeta Sporturilor as they try to uncover a vast health-care fraud that enriched moguls and politicians and led to the deaths of innocent citizens.
- DirectorChristian HornungDecades ago, they ended up in St. Pauli, a borough in the port city of Hamburg, Germany, hoping to escape the narrow-minded confines of the petit bourgeoisie, looking for work and a different kind of life. They struggled as dancers and strippers, barkeepers, sailors and pimps. Now they turn up at their favorite watering holes in broad daylight - the Hong Kong, the Utspann and the Kaffeepause (Coffee Break) - reminiscing about when they were in their primes. Telling stories about gold hunting, sinking ships, the old days in the St. Pauli red light district and contraband crocodiles. And of course the savings clubs, which they continue to be members of to this day, even though they don't consider themselves the money-saving types - they're live-for-today kind of people. When the money was rolling in, they spent it freely, never considering the future. But that savings club case hanging on the bar wall gave them a chance to keep a few marks, a few euros safe - first and foremost from themselves. A little nest egg to get by with. And so these divey establishments and their savings clubs became a home and an anchor to them through the years.
- StarsKhaled HosseiniNadja BerlinghoffShukria BarakzaiLook at 40 years of war through the eyes of those who suffer most from it - the women of Afghanistan. The documentary begins in the 1960s, when peace reigns in the Kingdom of Afghanistan. When the communists take power, an endless war begins that changes the face of Afghanistan. Women become pawns in ideological battles. After September 11, 2001, Afghan women hope for the return of peace. They want to take their fate into their own hands, but the spiral of violence continues to this day.
- DirectorChrista PfafferottThe film uses a women's ward at a forensic psychiatry clinic as an example of how to deal with a situation like this.
- DirectorDenis SneguirevIn the vastness of Eastern Siberia, Russian scientist Sergei Zimov and his son Nikita are conducting an extraordinary experiment: They want to "recreate" the Ice Age in order to save the planet from destruction by climate change.
- DirectorTorsten KörnerStarsJutta AllmendingerMelanie BrinkmannKristina DunzThe documentary takes time to show the staying power of the exceptional politician Angela Merkel and traces fundamental questions defining her politics.
- StarsRoger OrdishMark LawsonMeirion JonesJimmy Savile once ruled the airwaves with a quirky persona and good works. So how did this icon manage to hide his many alleged bad deeds for so long?
- DirectorVolker HeiseStarsDieter DegowskiHans-Jürgen RösnerIn August 1988, two armed bank robbers keep German and Dutch police at bay for 54 hours during a hostage-taking drama that ends badly.
- StarsChristian GononStéphane BittounJoël KotekA deep exploration into the 2000-year history of anti-Semitism, drawing on experts across fields to understand its enduring manifestations despite the Holocaust's devastation.
- DirectorCarsten RauStarsGuy BrunelLucas DavidGuido GüntherGermany is turning away from nuclear power in 2022. Yet the country's nuclear nightmare goes on: with umpteen thousands of tonnes of radioactive waste and the hazardous dismantling of power plants which will take decades. NUCLEAR FOREVER by Carsten Rau takes an equally profound and alarming look at mankind's dream of atomic energy, in grand scenes that have yet to be portrayed like this, and in six interwoven episodes.In the end, the viewer can and must form their own impression of the mania called nuclear power. That has no end.
- DirectorEd PerkinsStarsPrincess DianaKing Charles IIIQueen Elizabeth IIPrincess Diana's story is told exclusively through contemporaneous archive creating a bold and immersive narrative of her life and death. It also illuminates how the public's attitude to the monarchy was, and still is.
- DirectorElsa KremserLevin PeterStarsAleksey SerebryakovNatalia KuranovaNadezhda SobetskayaThey are Moscow's stray shadows: a "pack" of dogs and humans, claiming their territory where the city is crumbling and yet reveals a magical landscape.
- Der "Fall Lügde" war eine jener überregionalen Nachrichten aus den Jahren 2018 und 2019, die sich verstörend in das öffentliche Bewusstsein frästen: Mutmaßlich zwei Haupttäter verüben auf einem Campingplatz in Lügde-Elbrinxen, einem beschaulichen Ort im Weserbergland in Nordrhein-Westfalen, über zwanzig Jahre ungestört sexuelle Verbrechen an mindestens 32 Kindern. Ein Dritter nimmt regelmäßig via Livestream teil. Man findet zudem ca. 14 Terabyte an Missbrauchsbildmaterialien. Trotz Hinweisen ans Jugendamt auf die Täter durch eine Angestellte des Jobcenters, Mitarbeiter des Kindergartens, eine Mitarbeiterin des Kinderschutzbundes sowie besorgte Bekannte, wird den Hinweisen nicht nachgegangen, die Polizei von den Ämtern nicht eingeschaltet. Die Mutter eines Opfers zeigt den Haupttäter 2018 schließlich wegen wiederholten Missbrauchs ihrer Tochter an und bringt so den Fall ins Rollen. Nach der Verhaftung im Dezember 2018 werden die geständigen Täter im September 2019 zügig verurteilt. Während der Nachforschungen kommt es jedoch zu zahlreichen Ermittlungspannen der Polizei, die bis heute nicht vollständig aufgeklärt sind. Die Täter sitzen derzeit ihre langjährigen Haftstrafen ab. Sie erwartet im Anschluss die Sicherheitsverwahrung. Die Dokureihe "Die Kinder von Lügde - Alle haben weggesehen" versucht in vier Folgen herauszufinden, wie es möglich war, dass so viele Menschen weggesehen haben: auf dem Campingplatz, im Ort, bei den Jugendämtern, bei der Polizei. Der erste Teil schildert das Umfeld des Haupttäters. Der zweite Film widmet sich den staatlichen Institutionen und Einrichtungen und fragt nach, warum sie seine Taten nicht verhindert haben. Der dritte Teil beleuchtet die Rolle der Polizei und Ermittler, die offenbar schlampig gearbeitet haben. Der vierte Teil begleitet die Urteilsfindung vor Gericht und im Untersuchungsausschuss. Er kehrt zu den Menschen des ersten Teils zurück, zu den Familien der Überlebenden und zum Schauplatz der Taten und fragt, inwieweit die Gesellschaft ihren Teil dazu beigetragen hat, dass dieser Missbrauch Jahrzehnte lang möglich war.
- DirectorTristan Ferland MilewskiDespite the social and legislative progress of the last decades, hateful acts towards LGBTQIA+ people remain a sad reality, and are even on the rise with the trivialization of extreme right-wing discourses. Between France and Germany, this documentary compiles the testimonies of ordinary people who tell their often traumatic experiences: Charlotte and Linda, who were brutalized in broad daylight in front of their daughter's eyes; Max, a high school student targeted by an anonymous cyber-stalker; Arnaud, victim of a violent assault in the middle of Paris; Tessa Ganserer, elected to the Bundestag, exposed to transphobic hate campaigns on the Internet; Ria and Leo, confronted with "queerphobia" mixed with racism... Activists or not, they all aspire to normality, to safety and to have society stop turning a blind eye to what they suffer.
- StarsSavannah BruffeyKim Winter MakoKyle RankinAfter his sister's disappearance, a brother is determined to find the truth no matter the cost.
- Chronicles the life and death of Amy Carlson, also known as Mother God, a self-proclaimed spiritual savior who built a cult through her online manifestos and live-streaming sessions.