Documentary Obsession

Thanks to Netflix, my obsession with documentaries has only heightened as I have a slew of options to choose from. I've always enjoyed watching reality tv over other genres. I have a deep interest in learning how others live - from the very richest to the poorest, from learning about Muslim, Christian, or Jewish traditions, and overall gaining and idea of people's perspectives on life around the world. I always said that in another life, I would have been a sociologist.

Here is a list of some documentaries that have impacted me the most:

1) Jesus Camp - A Christian camp in North Dakota that teaches and encourages children to be evangelists and spread the good word of Jesus.

2) Exit Through the Gift Shop - A documentary about Thierry Guetta, who loved to film everything and ended up catching some graffiti artists in action, which turned into an obsession. He ended up meeting legendary street artists Banksy and Shepard Fairey, and later turned himself into a renown street artist.

3) Which Way Home - This follows a group of young boys from El Salvador and Honduras who ride atop trains through Mexico to try and reach the U.S. It's a long and dangerous trip that often ends of death or deportation back to their impoverished homes.

4) Seoul Train - People often forget about North Korea and the millions of people who are dyeing in the hands of their cruel and unforgiving government. They are isolated from the world, and this documentary shows you the people who try and help them escape as well as a peek inside North Korea through hidden cameras. (I cried through most of this documentary).

5) Forgiving Dr. Mengele -Dr. Mengele was a Nazi doctor who used Jewish twins for genetic experiments, which were often pure torture. One of the surviving twins brings us back to this time in detail as well as where she currently is in life.

6) Steal a Pencil For Me - This follows a love story that could influence a blockbuster romance film. During WWII in the Netherlands, a married man, Jack, falls in love with a woman, Ina. There love does not grow until they have been placed into labor camps where they write secret love notes to one another. They are later sent to the same extermination camp where they end up surviving, and later meet once again, marry, and lived a happy life.