12 of the Most Disturbing Documentaries Ever Made
The purpose of documentaries are to present the viewer with unbiased, objective truth; however, sometimes that objective truth might be too much for viewers to handle.
Jesus Camp
'Jesus Camp' gives viewers a look at the extreme edge of the evangelical Christian movement, focusing especially on the scripture-based children's camp for which the movie receives its name. The documentary questions the nature of the camp's teachings, asking if what they sell is salvation or indoctrination.
Zoo
'Zoo' follows a group of men who live with zoophilia, a sexual attraction to animals. Although the film portrays the group in a sympathetic manner, note that the group gained wider attention after one of the members died as a result of injuries sustained during intercourse with a horse.
Child of Rage
'Child of Rage' is one of the most tragic documentaries on the list. Made in 1990, it tells the story of six-year-old Beth Thomas, who was viciously sexually abused by her father after losing her mother as an infant, and suffers from reactive attachment disorder as a result. She coldly and flatly discusses abusing her sibling and animals and shows no emotion when talking about the prospect of killing her adopted family.
Crazy Love
'Crazy Love' is the story of Linda Riss, who eventually fell in love and married the obsessive older man, who later blinded her with lye in 1959. Although the man spent 14 years in jail for the attack, the two kept in touch and upon his release got married. The documentary questions the nature of their relationship as being one either of love or manipulation.
Interview With a Cannibal
In 1981, Issei Sagawa murdered a young woman in Paris and spent three days eating her flesh before turning himself in by walking up to a stranger and confessing while carrying the remains in a suitcase. The film focuses not only on the crime, but also on the bizarre set of legal loopholes which resulted in Sagawa's release after only five years in an institution, as well as his reasons and retrospective opinions on his own actions.
Capturing the Friedmans
In 'Capturing the Friedmans,' a normal, all-American family is suddenly torn apart when police busted Arnold Friedman for trafficking child pornography. They charged him, along with his eldest son, with child molestation and sodomy, and the film takes an impartial look at the entire twisted story of darkness hiding in the family unit.
Grizzly Man
Timothy Treadwell spent the last 13 years of his life in Alaska living among the grizzly bears. He envisioned himself as a protector of the animals, but this did not save him from eventually being killed by a bear in 2003. After his death, Warner Herzog pieced this film together from the many hours of video that Treadwell took in the last five years before his death.
Grey Gardens
'Grey Gardens' is a uniquely bizarre vision; former socialites Edith Beale and her daughter 'Little Edie' reside in a crumbling mansion on Long Island. Their lives are almost like a parody of the classic elite, socialite lifestyle, demonstrated as they walk about in old fur coats whilst trudging through mounds of garbage and cat feces.
Shut Up Little Man! An Audio Misadventure
'Shut Up Little Man!' was a novel concept for a documentary based largely on vicious arguments taped by two friends in late 1980s San Francisco, which documents the relationship between their neighbors. The two subjects of the film were a pair of middle-aged alcoholics, one of whom was gay and the other straight, who were best friends on the rare occasion of sobriety, but hated each other at all other times.
Marwencol
After a brutal beating leaves him severely brain damaged, Mark Hogancamp retreats into an imaginary world which he assembles from a 1/6 scale model of a WWII-era Belgian town. After the New York art scene begins to catch wind of his model, Hogancamp must decide whether to embrace his unexpected art career or to flee from it.
Brother's Keeper
The Ward brothers were four elderly brothers who lived on an inherited plot of land as impoverished dairy farmers. 'Brother's Keeper' explores the alleged murder of Bill Ward by younger brother Delbert. Rather than the outcome of the trial, the film focuses on the lives which the Ward brothers live, plagued by illiteracy and poverty, without access to indoor plumbing or heating.
The Elephant in the Living Room
'Elephant in the Living Room' is an in-depth look at the issue of exotic animal ownership. The film deals primarily with one couple who have owned a pair of lions since they were cubs, but which now threaten to be too much to handle. The film casts exotic animal ownership in a somewhat ominous light, but also portrays the owners of these animals as people who start with good intentions but who find themselves in over their heads.
