Have Your Say: What's The Best Theatrically Released Documentary Ever?

Theatrically released documentaries are a strange sub-class of film. Sometimes they can get away with not having a narrative or (other) technical merits, when the subject is interesting enough to just point a camera at. Sometimes, they take a mundane subject but manage to create a work of art through interpretation, juxtaposing, narration and editing. Documentaries are also often regarded as news rather than entertainment.

With that in mind, documentaries are not often what we have in mind when we think of blockbusting crowd-pleasers. Interestingly, these films do have the potential to become hugely popular at film festivals though. Looking through the audience favorites at the International Film Festival Rotterdam reveals that there are no less than three documentaries in the top 5: It Hurts So Much (rated 4.61 out of 5, reviewed here), When Paul Came Over the Sea (rated 4.57 out of 5, and the source of the screenshot above), and Bamseom Pirates Seoul Inferno (rated 4.54 out of 5, reviewed here). Impressive!

Which brings us to the question of the week: what is your favorite theatrically released documentary? Chime in, in the comments below, and HAVE YOUR SAY!