Five years in the making, it's powerful stuff with lots of highs and lows. Insights are provided into the hardships of black families who live in poverty while young boys use basketball as a means to get out of it. Because of racism, the Academy Awards voters never gave it a chance to be selected for the Best Documentary category.

If you missed Woodstock in Bethel, New York, from August 15 to 18, 1969, because you weren't there at the time or hadn't been born yet, there exists a documentary called Woodstock to help you catch up. There were between fourteen and eighteen video cameras at Woodstock, resulting in fifty miles of film that led to the split-screen technique. Hence, Thelma Schoonmaker, who was helped by a team of six editors, was given an Academy Award nomination, a rarity for a documentary film.

Made a bit more than ten years after the Holocaust, Nuit et brouillard, French for Night and Fog, is one of the earliest documentaries about what happened including the process at various concentration camps with footage of Auschwitz-Birkenau and Majdanek. It's only thirty-two minutes long but packs as much power as Schindler's List.

Leni Riefenstahl was the D.W. Griffith of documentary filmmakers, deserving a rightful place in the history of cinema. Hence, Triumph of the Will provides a rare insight into Nazi Germany at its height of nationalism. Thousands and thousands of Germans throw their arms up in the air just to salute one person and the leader of it all: Adolf Hitler.

This one is three hours long that's jam-packed with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speeches including the letter from Birmingham Jail, "I Have a Dream," and "I've Been to the Mountaintop" the night before he was gunned down. One thing is for sure: the man was an extremely gifted orator. An added bonus is the great black-and-white photography; whoever shot everything should be commended.

A magnificent piece of Americana, Harlan County, U.S.A. remains one of the finest documentaries made and serves as the benchmark of how they should be done. You get to see what it's like to work in the coal mines, the dangers surrounding the job, and how it affects the families.

Muhammad Ali was larger than life, and When We Were Kings shows why. It relives the famous boxing match that took place in Congo on October 30, 1974: Muhammad Ali versus George Foreman aka "The Rumble in the Jungle." It's a fascinating piece of documentary with rapid editing and plenty of African culture in between.

You're going to see what a motorcycle can do on any terrain possible, and there are plenty of ways of doing it, no matter the weather. If you aren't inspired enough to take up the sport, I suppose nothing else will. Having Steve McQueen on board is a bonus. He does all of his stunts, and they're authentic. Kick back, relax, and enjoy On Any Sunday, one of the fastest and most inspiring films about motorcycles.

Just like Roger & Me and Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine is an outstanding documentary, and it's very compelling stuff. Michael Moore tackles the national issues with an open mind and searches for answers before coming up with none just like the two bikers in Easy Rider. Hate him or not, he has guts and makes people talk.

"We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane." If you've seen Apocalypse Now, then you must see Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse, a documentary that chronicles Francis Ford Coppola's journey of making the Vietnam War masterpiece. It would be nice if Marlon Brando participated in the interviews.

An amazing journey of two surfers flying around the world in search of the perfect ride, Bruce Brown's beautiful narration makes it a fascinating documentary. If The Endless Summer doesn't inspire you, then your mind is truly dead.

It's a powerful documentary which consists of an open, healthy clash between two polarizing groups about cochlear implants. The Alexander Graham Bell-Edward Miner Gallaudet debate has been going on for a long time. It starts with a fundamental question: what's the best mode of communication for the deaf? Is it oral or manual? A mix of both? Which comes first: English or American Sign Language? What are the long term advantages and disadvantages?

The number one sporting accomplishment in U.S. history is the Americans' defeat of USSR in the 1980 Olympics hockey semifinal game. The fast one-hour documentary explains how they did it and is a must-see for all ages because it's very inspiring stuff. If you missed what happened or weren't alive at that time, this one will help you catch up.

Blackfish exposes SeaWorld for what it is: a giant marine animal abuse factory. Unlike Michael Moore's documentary films, it actually produced changes. SeaWorld no longer have shows with killer whales. The current orcas in captivity will be the last ones as the breeding program has been effectively shut down. The company got caught in a series of lies, refuting everything in the documentary by blaming the decline in revenue on other factors, and was forced to make a $65 million settlement.

This is the one that started it all for Michael Moore. Roger & Me is no different from others: arresting, bleak, sad, fascinating, and depressing all rolled into one. Hence, Michael Moore went on to be an important filmmaker, capturing a period of time in America and the price the people pay. The documentary remains the best example of the chasm between the haves and the have-nots in America, thanks to the spirit of the democratic capitalism.

Scared Straight! is a famous Oscar-winning documentary that presents an aggressive in-your-face intervention to wake up juvenile delinquents through harsh talks by real prisoners before they're sent to the big house for future crimes. It's brilliant stuff, but unfortunately, the technique has been proven counterproductive, thus increasing recidivism.

The Filth and the Fury is an informative documentary about England's most influential punk rock band: Sex Pistols. There's a nice flow that recounts the history of how it came to existence. Infamous moments are covered, and all of the surviving members, most especially Johnny Rotten, offer stories in bits and pieces that are intercut with excerpts of Laurence Olivier's Richard III.

The Decline of Western Civilization is an engrossing documentary that captures the Los Angeles punk music of 1979-80. The featured bands are Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Circle Jerks, Catholic Discipline, Fear, Germs, and X, and from them are numerous good punk rock songs with catchy lyrics, making for a really nice time capsule.

The documentary does an excellent job of explaining Harvey Milk's political stances. There was one impactful scene when an Asian couple was stopped and the guy wanted to explain what's going on. Almost all documentaries touching on politics never do that, having always been about garnering support and winning elections. It's a tragedy that Harvey Milk and San Francisco's mayor George Moscone were assassinated by a fellow politician on November 27, 1978.

Michael Moore does it again. Whenever his new documentary comes out, my expectations are super high. Sicko easily meets them. It's compelling stuff and, no doubt, a sad commentary about the United States of America. Given the one-liner comments on the DVD cover, one said Sicko was "so funny." Apparently, these harebrained critics think being denied basic healthcare only to end up dead to ensure profitability for such companies is funny.