The Documentaries That Aren’t

“Message documentaries” have of late become the liberal answer to conservative talk radio – ideology-driven propaganda with an annoying habit of playing fast and loose with the facts. “The makers of such films today see their cinematic contributions as an antidote to media consolidation that, they say, restricts topics and voices to the bland and the commercial. As such, they feel little or no obligation to heed documentary-film traditions like point-by-point rebuttal or formal reality checks.”