One of NEWSWEEK'S top 5 documentaries
Top 5 Docs
NEWSWEEK
Dec. 15 issue — It was a banner year for
documentaries, which made most Hollywood fictions look
anemic. Here’s the pick of a rich crop.
‘BUS 174’
Jose Padilha's brilliant investigation of the tragic
hijacking of a Rio bus is both a taut thriller and a
devastating anatomy of the iniquities of Brazilian
society.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘BALSEROS’
The fates of seven Cuban ’rafters’ who fled their
island for America are charted with novelistic depth
in this astonishing, seven-years-in-the-making saga
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS’
Andrew Jarecki's unnerving, ambiguous look at a family
torn apart by a sex scandal raises many chilling
questions
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘FOG OF WAR’
Errol Morris peers into the heart and mind of
85-year-old former secretary of Defense Robert
McNamara in this revelatory, relevant study of
American power.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
‘SPELLBOUND’
This suspenseful, touching and sociologically astute
film follows eight kids who made it to the finals of
the National Spelling Bee. You hang on every
misspelled word