I use to love documentaries. I grew up watching them and thought I was learning history. The problem, of course, is that images tell us nothing unless it is explained to us. This is why Palestinians cheered 9-11 while we cried. The most profound artist of this criteria is the legendary founder of NFL films Steve Sabol. If he had taken his art to the political level we don't know what he would have achieved.
Ms. Reifenstahl's "Triumph of the Will" brought Mr. Hitler to the big screen. It made him real and made her a star, albeit a Nazi star.
Television is not educational if it only indoctrinates. Wonderful as a film may be as "art" it has a tendency to preach. There are many series I came to cherish including Ken Burns "Civil War" and Juan Williams "Eyes on the Prize" but they cannot be the last word. The uncritical will mistake the series for history itself.
Stanley Karnow's "Ten Thousand Day War" a many part PBS series about Vietnam goes well out of its way to tell us, why America was so wrong. It literally created an image in them mind that portrays the United States as bafoons in the Cold War. The image is played out in nearly every high school and literally poisons them against America. Thank goodness that education is deficient.
Documentaries of the sort by Michael Moore is overplayed satire to to the most silly passes for truth. A video with narration, without actors seems to be all that is required to be a documentary.
Leni to the end she was an unrepentant nazi and a friend to Siegfried und Roy - Leni website
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