Documentary AreaSimply the best Documentaries

On the second part of his journey through the dark ages Richard Rudgley continues into the age of the wandering peoples, the Volkerwanderung. These Northern people enjoyed a golden age unaffected by Rome and just 30 years after the Romans relinquished Britain, the 'Anglo-Saxons' made their move. The bedraggled legions are in retreat. Walls are pulled down. Mosaics shattered. And yet there never was a people called Anglo-Saxon. We look at the lasting influence of Saxon leaders like Alfred the Great, and his blue print for social justice.

The third assault on the tattered remains of Roman civilization came from even further North, where the melting glacial ice had created immense sheltered fjords, leaving its inhabitants little choice but the sea. These fearless navigators understood that dominion over the oceans was the key to their ambitions.
Where the Romans expanded incrementally, the Vikings adopted a bolder, more aggressive approach. So was it the Dark Age which failed Europe, or the stifling uniformity of the great Roman experiment? Were the lost tribes more victim than failure? Richard Rudgley will hope to shed new light on the real secrets of the so-called Dark Age.

The film is focused on and celebrating the radical changes in postwar Britain under the Labour government of Clement Attlee, which came to power in 1945. Relying primarily on archive footage and interviews, and without a narrative voiceover, the documentary recounts the endemic poverty in prewar Britain, the sense of optimism that followed victory in World War II and the subsequent expansion of the welfare state, founding of the National Health Service and nationalisation of significant parts of the UK's economy.
The film documents the extent to which these achievements, as the filmmaker Ken Loach sees them, have since been subject to attack in the decades that followed, particularly under the Conservative governments of Margaret Thatcher in the 1980s

Without words, Ron Fricke shows us the world, with an emphasis not on 'where,' but on 'what's there.' It begins with morning, natural landscapes and people at prayer: volcanoes, water falls, veldts, and forests; several hundred Balinese Hindu men perform kecak, the monkey chant. Indigenous peoples apply body paint; whole villages dance. The film moves to destruction of nature via logging, blasting, and strip mining. Images of poverty, rapid urban life, and factories give way to war, concentration camps, and mass graves. Ancient ruins come into view, and then a sacred river where pilgrims bathe and funeral pyres burn. Prayer and nature return. A monk rings a huge bell; stars wheel across the sky. (Click CC for places description)

The film reveals the secret story behind one of the greatest intellectual feats of World War II, a feat that gave birth to the digital age.
In 1943 Bill Tutte, a 24-year-old maths student and a GPO engineer called Tommy Flowers combined to hack into Hitler's personal super code machine - not Enigma but an even tougher system, which he called his 'secrets writer'. Their break turned the Battle of Kursk, powered the D-day landings and orchestrated the end of the conflict in Europe. But it was also to be used during the Cold War - which meant both men's achievements were hushed up and never officially recognised.

(Click CC for subtitles) Hannes Rossacher's documentary is a great journey. It begins in summer 1988 on the Ostseestrand in East Germany and accompanies the band on their long, sometimes painful, but finally successful conquest of the American continents up until 2001. It continues with their farewell to the US after the events of September 11th and ends in front of thousands of cheering Americans in Madison Square Garden. For the documentary, Rammstein provided extensive, previously unreleased footage and photos from the band archive. In numerous interviews from various periods in the band's history, the band members speak about their experiences across the Atlantic.
Old and new friends and acquaintances, as well as many American colleagues, pay tribute to the band and recount anecdotes. Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), Moby, CJ Ramone, Steven Tyler (Aerosmith), Iggy Pop, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley from KISS, Wes Borland (Limp Bizkit), Marilyn Manson, Melissa Auf der Maur, Scott Ian (Anthrax), Jonathan Davis and Munky Shaffer from Korn, Shawn Crahan (Slipknot), director David Lynch, actor Kiefer Sutherland and many more.