The 27 best nature / environmental / science / health documentaries of 2010-2014


10. America’s Medicated Kids (Danny Horan, 2010)

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Kids can be annoying sometimes, some even more than others, I don’t have any time for this, let’s drug them to keep them quiet for now.

 

9. Le quattro volte [The Four Times] (Michelangelo Frammartino, 2010)

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The slow life of a shepherd in the south of Italy.

 

8. Leviathan (Véréna Paravel / Lucien Castaing-Taylor, 2012)

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A fishing crew films their dangerous job in a fascinating, artful manner.

 

7. LA Stories: City of Dogs / Edge of Life / Among the Sex Offenders (Rob Farquhar / Jamie Pickup, 2014)

Louis Theroux's LA Stories

Louis tends to visit extreme cases. This documentary about the city of angels comes in three parts. Dangerous wild dogs, ‘dead’ people kept alive and a day in the life of a sex offender.

 

6. Miesten vuoro [Steam of Life] (Mika Hotakainen / Joonas Berghäll, 2010)

Fra filmen Miesten vuoro (Steam of Life)

Finnish men lay bare their souls in the sauna. Moving stories about family and life.

 

5. Extreme Love: Autism (Jamie Pickup, 2012), Dementia (Dan Child, 2012)

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Theroux again meets some strange people. This time he discovers the unconditional love families express for their children with autism and parents or partners with dementia. Both are horrible and merciless diseases, as well for the sufferers as for their loved ones.

 

4. Cave of Forgotten Dreams (Werner Herzog, 2010)

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Gripping Herzog story about astonishingly old cave paintings, just see it.

 

3. Fed Up (Stephanie Soechtig, 2014)

hero_FedUp-2014-1

Watch this terrifying documentary about the West’s biggest epidemic, its horrible eating culture. We’ve been all victims.

 

2. Human Planet (Brown / Flowers / Hugh-Jones / Stone, 2011)

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Mini-series about humans adapted to extreme situations to survive. What some of these superhero people achieve to accomplish is insane! In contrary to us, rich, fat, spoiled Western civilians.

 

1. Samsara (Ron Fricke, 2011)

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Ron Fricke was cinematographer of the fabulous Koyaanisqatsi (Reggio, 1982) and director of the similar beautiful Baraka (1992). Samsara resembles those two but tends to be more cynical. It shows nature, human culture and religions all over the world, including the effects of our endless consuming behavior and humanity’s sometimes destructive relationship with his environment.