Stranger than fiction
Ninth Street is being adorned with maroon and downtown is gearing up for the most exciting weekend in Columbia— True/False Film Fest. Since its humble beginnings seven years ago, True/False has grown into a dynamic (if a little chaotic), nationally recognized festival that draws the cream of the crop in documentary filmmaking. Some casual moviegoers may yawn just at the word “documentary,” but True/False has continually proven the oft-disregarded genre is anything but boring. Here is my list of my favorite three documentaries that show why the truth can be so much more fun than fiction.
'Woodstock'
The behemoth to beat in the ever-growing concert movie category, this 1970 smash was almost as big as the eponymous festival it depicted. It spawned a hit soundtrack and, for many captivated youth, was the next best thing to being there. Covering an impressive amount of music (including Sha-Na-Na’s goofy '50s number and Hendrix’s epic “Star-Spangled Banner”) while still capturing the tribal love fest in the audience, director Michael Wadleigh does a fantastic job of putting the audience into the historic moment. From the bad acid to the climactic mud-fest, “Woodstock” is so lively a document that just watching is almost as good as saying, “I was there, man.”
'Grey Gardens'
Perhaps the ultimate evidence that truth is stranger than fiction, this devastating 1975 character study broke ground and set trends with its intimate portrait of two lost souls. Directors Albert and David Maysles unravel the lives of elderly Edith Beale (aunt of former First Lady Jackie Kennedy) and her adult daughter Edie as they sing, fight, reminisce and waste away in their dilapidated Hamptons estate Grey Gardens. Totally bizarre and chillingly personal, “Grey Gardens” set the standard for fly-on-the-wall documentaries.
'Bowling for Columbine' You might love or loathe the politics, but Michael Moore’s 2002 magnum opus is an indisputably riveting piece of modern nonfiction that is as fresh and unnerving today as it was eight years ago. Moore pulled out all the stops for his thematic study on gun control in the U.S., appealing to news footage, interviews, cartoons and montage to turn a story on a school shooting into a full-fledged meditation on violence in America. It’s brutally honest and surprisingly funny, making you squirm and squeal at the most unexpected places. Gun-totin’ Libertarians may not agree with the pointed attacks, but sometimes the truth hurts.
