a good documentary is supposed to teach
us something we didn’t already know but
what happens when the filmmakers leave
us with more questions than answers
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for another top
10 controversial documentary films it
took five men to bring down the
six-foot-five 300 pound killer and force
handcuffs on him
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking back at nonfiction films
infamous for the stir they caused around
their real-life subjects now I tell the
kids if you want to become a stronger
Christian and have your spirit man be
strong there’s certain things you need
to do number 10
catfish hey Megan hey it’s Nev your
voice is not at all what I expected
this documentary sensation follows Nev a
young photographer who develops feelings
for a girl he meets online when he
travels to her home in rural Michigan he
learns that her idyllic family is all
the invention of a suppressed
middle-aged woman living with her
husband and children she says I mean she
must be awesome because the kids are
pretty awesome at least from from
Facebook the film had a major impact on
popular culture for showing how easily
people can craft false identities using
social media and was even transformed
into an MTV reality series however Nev
and his filmmaker brother received
criticism from viewers who believed the
story was a little fishy and documentary
and Morgan Spurlock went so far as to
call it quote the best fake documentary
he had ever seen I mean
I guess I don’t know that much about her
yeah number nine 2016
oppa m’as America just like the rest of
the country I was intrigued by Obama
while it’s considered one of the
highest-grossing documentaries in the US
the positive reception of 2016 Obama’s
America pretty much ends there based on
a book by right-wing author Dinesh
D’Souza the movie claims that the
president harbors anti-american
sentiments inherited from his father
leading him to try and diminish the u.s.
as influence over the rest of the world
he doesn’t think well the United States
and therefore he doesn’t want to see its
influence expand which is a strange
thing for a u.s. president inspired by
the marketing of Fahrenheit 9/11 during
the Bush administration D’Souza released
the film at a time when he believed he
could deter those who were considering
voting to reelect Obama his ploy didn’t
work however and the majority of
audiences and critics recognized the
film for what it really was an attempt
at character assassination which dream
will we carry into 2016
the American dream or Obama’s dream
number eight The Iceman tapes
conversations with a killer how do you
feel about
I don’t
it doesn’t bother me this bone-chilling
HBO documentary centers on richard
kuklinski a prolific mafia hitman who
was nicknamed the ice man for his
trademark he would freeze his victims
corpses to hide their time of death the
filmmakers were granted unprecedented
access to the maximum security prison
where kuklinski was serving two life
sentences the murderer who was depicted
by Michael Shannon in the 2012 film The
Iceman speaks candidly about his violent
history and estimates that he’s killed
over 100 people also admitting that he’s
never been bothered by it when I was out
on the street to do something I carried
three guns number seven Kurt and
Courtney released only four years after
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died this
documentary rode a wave of controversy
because it investigated theories that
implied Courtney Love may have murdered
her husband the film was pulled by the
Sundance Film Festival because Love
refused to give director Nick Broomfield
the rights to use Nirvana’s music in his
work and because the whole musician
threatened to sue the festival for
defamation of character
Broomfield was forced to use Nirvana
esque bands and was so impacted by
Love’s refusal to take part in the
documentary that it evolved into a
criticism of her censorship of free
speech number six the thin blue line it
takes a great prosecutor to convict an
innocent man frequently cited as one of
the most important documentaries ever
made Errol Morris wanted to avoid the
label altogether and market his film as
a whodunit using innovative reenactment
and interview techniques the film
investigates the case of Randall Dale
Adams a man sentenced to death for
murdering a police officer however the
thin blue line suggests that five of the
witnesses committed perjury and law
enforcement officials took notice by
reopening the case and declaring Adams
innocent just a year after the film was
released
we started putting facts together on how
much information we actually had the
leaves that we had find out what we had
we found out we didn’t have anything
although Adams was grateful for getting
to go free he went on to sue Morris for
the rights to his own story and settled
with the filmmaker
out of court she said if there was ever
a hell on earth that’s Dallas County
number five going clear Scientology and
the prison of belief cults they prey on
people it should come as no surprise
that this HBO doc came under fire for
attempting to cover one of the most
secretive organizations in the United
States
the Church of Scientology in going clear
director Alex Gibney speaks with 8x
Scientologists including filmmaker Paul
Haggis to bring to light the
manipulative tactics used by figures
like founder l ron hubbard and current
church leader David Miscavige as well as
celebrity Scientology scandals like the
alleged wiretapping attempt on Nicole
Kidman when she was with Tom Cruise I
mean he wants to tap her phone he said
god damnit get it done the film faced a
mix of festival praise and viewer
backlash including a Twitter account
dedicated to disparaging the documentary
in fact some networks have refused to
license it for fear of being attacked by
the church there is no logical
explanation as to why other than faith
number 4 citizen 4 my name is Edward
Snowden I go by a head this Academy
Award winning documentary captures the
top secret political disclosure between
filmmaker Laura Poitras and
whistleblower Edward Snowden set
predominantly in a Chinese hotel room in
the moments after the former CIA
employee unveiled the NSA spying scandal
to the world the film chronicles
Snowden’s simultaneous transformation
into a heroic household name and an
enemy of the US government in real-time
ask only that you ensure this
information makes it home to the
American public but he wasn’t the only
one to become an enemy Poitras was
forced to move to Germany to finish
editing the film after border detainment
and threats that the FBI would seize her
laptop and the producers were sued by
oil executive Horace Edwards quote on
the
of the American people although that
case was later dropped
we should be having debates about
whether we want government I mean this
is massive and extraordinary and it’s
amazing number three supersize me I
think I’m gonna have to go supersize
Morgan Spurlock became a world-renowned
documentarian after this experiment in
extreme eating Spurlock spent a month
consuming only food that could be
purchased from the McDonald’s menu
exposing the link between the fast food
chain and health effects including
obesity and heart disease and if you
have any heart disease in the family or
any heart and the underlying heart
disease and you’re putting your heart at
risk it was an eye-opening study of a
mega corporation that actually wanted
its customers to eat poorly in order to
gain profit but Spurlock still got some
flack for being the bearer of bad news
critics noted that he singled out
McDonald’s over eight and didn’t
exercise to exaggerate his results still
there is no denying the film was a
catalyst in getting apple slices added
to the menu I’m feeling a little bit
crazy
number two Jesus camp did you get to the
part on here where it says that science
doesn’t prove anything
the kids on fire school of ministry
summer camp was the subject of this
documentary that zeroes in on three
highly indoctrinated evangelical
Christian children although the
directors claimed they were merely
trying to produce an unbiased movie
about the campers and their beliefs
scenes of the children attending
aggressive sermons were denounced by
faith-based groups who believed the camp
was cast in a negative light
whether it was the filmmakers agenda or
not the same year Jesus camp was
released head pastor Becky Fisher
announced the camp’s closure over fears
that the movies viewers would vandalize
the property that’s not to mention
anti-gay pastor Ted Haggard who was
later involved in a scandal involving
sex with other men before we unveil our
top pick here are some honorable
mentions that’s the way she should go
through life she’s already born the
unborn children don’t even stand a
chance they kill them number one
capturing the Friedman’s I had a good
family right where did this come from
this documentary is made up of home
video footage of the Freedmen’s a
seemingly perfect family whose story
takes a dark turn
when child pornography is discovered
Arnold and Jesse Friedman a father and
son who taught computer classes to local
children both eventually plead guilty to
sexual abuse but something doesn’t quite
add up what’s going on and the lawyers
will take care of this and they’ll
straighten this out because it’s still
just a matter of this is a big
misunderstanding capturing the
Friedman’s received a great deal of
acclaim for its ability to portray what
roger ebert deemed quote the elusiveness
of facts yet filmmaker Andrew Jarecki
faced accusations of playing it safe by
never taking a stance which allowed him
to take on heavy subject matter without
dealing with the consequences faced by
the film’s subjects I don’t think any of
us had any notion of what was going on
or what we were doing or where any of
this was leaving do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
[Music]
us something we didn’t already know but
what happens when the filmmakers leave
us with more questions than answers
welcome to watchmojo.com and today we’re
counting down our picks for another top
10 controversial documentary films it
took five men to bring down the
six-foot-five 300 pound killer and force
handcuffs on him
before we begin we publish new videos
every day so be sure to subscribe for
more great content for this list we’re
looking back at nonfiction films
infamous for the stir they caused around
their real-life subjects now I tell the
kids if you want to become a stronger
Christian and have your spirit man be
strong there’s certain things you need
to do number 10
catfish hey Megan hey it’s Nev your
voice is not at all what I expected
this documentary sensation follows Nev a
young photographer who develops feelings
for a girl he meets online when he
travels to her home in rural Michigan he
learns that her idyllic family is all
the invention of a suppressed
middle-aged woman living with her
husband and children she says I mean she
must be awesome because the kids are
pretty awesome at least from from
Facebook the film had a major impact on
popular culture for showing how easily
people can craft false identities using
social media and was even transformed
into an MTV reality series however Nev
and his filmmaker brother received
criticism from viewers who believed the
story was a little fishy and documentary
and Morgan Spurlock went so far as to
call it quote the best fake documentary
he had ever seen I mean
I guess I don’t know that much about her
yeah number nine 2016
oppa m’as America just like the rest of
the country I was intrigued by Obama
while it’s considered one of the
highest-grossing documentaries in the US
the positive reception of 2016 Obama’s
America pretty much ends there based on
a book by right-wing author Dinesh
D’Souza the movie claims that the
president harbors anti-american
sentiments inherited from his father
leading him to try and diminish the u.s.
as influence over the rest of the world
he doesn’t think well the United States
and therefore he doesn’t want to see its
influence expand which is a strange
thing for a u.s. president inspired by
the marketing of Fahrenheit 9/11 during
the Bush administration D’Souza released
the film at a time when he believed he
could deter those who were considering
voting to reelect Obama his ploy didn’t
work however and the majority of
audiences and critics recognized the
film for what it really was an attempt
at character assassination which dream
will we carry into 2016
the American dream or Obama’s dream
number eight The Iceman tapes
conversations with a killer how do you
feel about
I don’t
it doesn’t bother me this bone-chilling
HBO documentary centers on richard
kuklinski a prolific mafia hitman who
was nicknamed the ice man for his
trademark he would freeze his victims
corpses to hide their time of death the
filmmakers were granted unprecedented
access to the maximum security prison
where kuklinski was serving two life
sentences the murderer who was depicted
by Michael Shannon in the 2012 film The
Iceman speaks candidly about his violent
history and estimates that he’s killed
over 100 people also admitting that he’s
never been bothered by it when I was out
on the street to do something I carried
three guns number seven Kurt and
Courtney released only four years after
Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died this
documentary rode a wave of controversy
because it investigated theories that
implied Courtney Love may have murdered
her husband the film was pulled by the
Sundance Film Festival because Love
refused to give director Nick Broomfield
the rights to use Nirvana’s music in his
work and because the whole musician
threatened to sue the festival for
defamation of character
Broomfield was forced to use Nirvana
esque bands and was so impacted by
Love’s refusal to take part in the
documentary that it evolved into a
criticism of her censorship of free
speech number six the thin blue line it
takes a great prosecutor to convict an
innocent man frequently cited as one of
the most important documentaries ever
made Errol Morris wanted to avoid the
label altogether and market his film as
a whodunit using innovative reenactment
and interview techniques the film
investigates the case of Randall Dale
Adams a man sentenced to death for
murdering a police officer however the
thin blue line suggests that five of the
witnesses committed perjury and law
enforcement officials took notice by
reopening the case and declaring Adams
innocent just a year after the film was
released
we started putting facts together on how
much information we actually had the
leaves that we had find out what we had
we found out we didn’t have anything
although Adams was grateful for getting
to go free he went on to sue Morris for
the rights to his own story and settled
with the filmmaker
out of court she said if there was ever
a hell on earth that’s Dallas County
number five going clear Scientology and
the prison of belief cults they prey on
people it should come as no surprise
that this HBO doc came under fire for
attempting to cover one of the most
secretive organizations in the United
States
the Church of Scientology in going clear
director Alex Gibney speaks with 8x
Scientologists including filmmaker Paul
Haggis to bring to light the
manipulative tactics used by figures
like founder l ron hubbard and current
church leader David Miscavige as well as
celebrity Scientology scandals like the
alleged wiretapping attempt on Nicole
Kidman when she was with Tom Cruise I
mean he wants to tap her phone he said
god damnit get it done the film faced a
mix of festival praise and viewer
backlash including a Twitter account
dedicated to disparaging the documentary
in fact some networks have refused to
license it for fear of being attacked by
the church there is no logical
explanation as to why other than faith
number 4 citizen 4 my name is Edward
Snowden I go by a head this Academy
Award winning documentary captures the
top secret political disclosure between
filmmaker Laura Poitras and
whistleblower Edward Snowden set
predominantly in a Chinese hotel room in
the moments after the former CIA
employee unveiled the NSA spying scandal
to the world the film chronicles
Snowden’s simultaneous transformation
into a heroic household name and an
enemy of the US government in real-time
ask only that you ensure this
information makes it home to the
American public but he wasn’t the only
one to become an enemy Poitras was
forced to move to Germany to finish
editing the film after border detainment
and threats that the FBI would seize her
laptop and the producers were sued by
oil executive Horace Edwards quote on
the
of the American people although that
case was later dropped
we should be having debates about
whether we want government I mean this
is massive and extraordinary and it’s
amazing number three supersize me I
think I’m gonna have to go supersize
Morgan Spurlock became a world-renowned
documentarian after this experiment in
extreme eating Spurlock spent a month
consuming only food that could be
purchased from the McDonald’s menu
exposing the link between the fast food
chain and health effects including
obesity and heart disease and if you
have any heart disease in the family or
any heart and the underlying heart
disease and you’re putting your heart at
risk it was an eye-opening study of a
mega corporation that actually wanted
its customers to eat poorly in order to
gain profit but Spurlock still got some
flack for being the bearer of bad news
critics noted that he singled out
McDonald’s over eight and didn’t
exercise to exaggerate his results still
there is no denying the film was a
catalyst in getting apple slices added
to the menu I’m feeling a little bit
crazy
number two Jesus camp did you get to the
part on here where it says that science
doesn’t prove anything
the kids on fire school of ministry
summer camp was the subject of this
documentary that zeroes in on three
highly indoctrinated evangelical
Christian children although the
directors claimed they were merely
trying to produce an unbiased movie
about the campers and their beliefs
scenes of the children attending
aggressive sermons were denounced by
faith-based groups who believed the camp
was cast in a negative light
whether it was the filmmakers agenda or
not the same year Jesus camp was
released head pastor Becky Fisher
announced the camp’s closure over fears
that the movies viewers would vandalize
the property that’s not to mention
anti-gay pastor Ted Haggard who was
later involved in a scandal involving
sex with other men before we unveil our
top pick here are some honorable
mentions that’s the way she should go
through life she’s already born the
unborn children don’t even stand a
chance they kill them number one
capturing the Friedman’s I had a good
family right where did this come from
this documentary is made up of home
video footage of the Freedmen’s a
seemingly perfect family whose story
takes a dark turn
when child pornography is discovered
Arnold and Jesse Friedman a father and
son who taught computer classes to local
children both eventually plead guilty to
sexual abuse but something doesn’t quite
add up what’s going on and the lawyers
will take care of this and they’ll
straighten this out because it’s still
just a matter of this is a big
misunderstanding capturing the
Friedman’s received a great deal of
acclaim for its ability to portray what
roger ebert deemed quote the elusiveness
of facts yet filmmaker Andrew Jarecki
faced accusations of playing it safe by
never taking a stance which allowed him
to take on heavy subject matter without
dealing with the consequences faced by
the film’s subjects I don’t think any of
us had any notion of what was going on
or what we were doing or where any of
this was leaving do you agree with our
picks check out these other great clips
from WatchMojo and subscribe for new
videos every day
[Music]
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