Documentaries have the ability and responsibility to show things as they are. How accurate is this claim. Discuss in relation to two of the documentary films.

Introduction

The electronic media today is bombarded with fictional and illusory content. While many find solace in these programs and regard them as tension-relievers, it is basically the real world that we are going far from. We may find the films and dramas full of attraction, fun and amusement; however they are still something that is pretended, untrue and temporary. In such times when the real world is undergoing radical changes every second, it is imperative that while one should enjoy watching fictional stuff we should also keep an eye on the real world happenings. Documentaries serve just the right purpose when we talk about picturing what was really going on. In times like these where people blindly believe in the information of certain television and mass media, which increasingly seems to be valued with less effort and rigor, it is appreciated that there are documentaries that aim to portray brave and accurate look at the origin of things, dissections and point directly to those persons, companies or institutions that cause misery and exploitation of millions of people.

Documentary is primarily an act of reporting rather than invention: real people and real events are its subject matter, rather than the imaginary characters and stories of fiction. The word documentary is derived from the Latin docere, which means to teach. Documentary entered the English language even before film to describe a lesson, an admonition, or a warning. The first nonfiction films were given many titles, including actualités, topicals, interest films, educationals, travelogues, and documentaires. The earliest filmmakers, such as Auguste Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Lumière (1864-1948) in the 1890s, sought to document scientific and cultural phenomena. However, it was primarily through the work of John Grierson (1898-1972) in Britain that documentary came to define a specific genre of nonfiction film.

Documentary filmmaking is primarily an act of reporting rather than invention: real people and real events are its subject matter, rather than the imaginary characters and stories of fiction. The word documentary is derived from the Latin docere, which means to teach. Documentary entered the English language even before film to describe a lesson, an admonition, or a warning. The first nonfiction films were given many titles, including actualités, topicals, interest films, educationals, travelogues, and documentaires. The earliest filmmakers, such as Auguste Lumière (1862-1954) and Louis Lumière (1864-1948) in the 1890s, sought to document scientific and cultural phenomena. However, it was primarily through the work of John Grierson (1898-1972) in Britain that documentary came to define a specific genre of nonfiction film.

Documentary filmmakers have always used a variety of styles and modes of technique and address within a single film. Film scholar Bill Nichols (1991) offers four modes or organizational structures of documentary—expository, observational, interactive, and reflexive—to help viewers appreciate the variations of form and content that abound, keeping in mind that these categorizations are understood to be flexible rather ...