Docs in the House

DIRECTORS DISCUSSED IN THIS ESSAY:
Jonathan Caouette (Tarnation, 2004)

Michael Moore (Bowling for
Columbine, 2002; Fahrenheit 9 /11, 2004)

Andrew Jarecki (Capturing the
Friedmans, 2004)

David Sutherland (The Farmer’s
Wife, 1998)

Nick Broomfield (Heidi Fleiss:
Hollywood Madam, 1994)

Despite the recent wailing and gnashing of teeth over Hollywood’s creative decline, one form of moviemaking is flourishing: documentaries are revelling in a golden age.

In 1989, when Michael Moore sold his first film to distributors for over $1 million (US), the Industry was amazed. Documentaries do not make that kind of money! The Industry was wrong. Roger & Me went on to make a tidy profit for all concerned. Even so, the record-breaking run of that movie and the popular success, in 1992, of the Canadian political documentary Manufacturing Consent were explained away as the result of clever niche marketing that pandered to a bunch of dissatisfied lefties. Only when the extraordinary Hoop Dreams, in 1994, and Crumb, in 1995, filled theatres was it clear that documentaries had arrived. Over the last few years, titles such as Mr. Death, Bowling for Columbine, Bloody Sunday, Être et avoir, Winged Migration, and Touching the Void have entered the mainstream. It had only taken eighty years or so—not since Robert Flaherty’s Nanook of the North was a box-office success in 1922 have audiences flocked to see documentaries at their local theatres.

After decades of playing second fiddle to dramatic directors, documentary filmmakers are entering the spotlight. In North America, Errol Morris (Mr. Death; The Fog of War) is arguably the most interesting director working in any film genre, while Ken Burns (The Civil War; Jazz) is the most popular documentary filmmaker, and Michael Moore is certainly the best-known.