Watching Lately: Netflix Documentaries

Remember when I used to make monthly goals?
Yea, me either.

Once upon a time I used to make monthly goals and I shared them on this little piece of the internet. I'd like to eventually get back to that place, but I'm not ready to be held accountable for shit again. #Truth. Back in the Spring, in my monthly goals I said I wanted watch 10 documentaries on Netflix. I didn't quite make it to 10. Well, that's misleading, I did, technically watch at least 10, but several of them were those 30 for 30 Sports documentaries and I would watch those anyway (i'm weird, don't try to understand). My goal was to watch 10 Netflix documentaries to learn something new. I've said it before -

Life goal: To know a little about a lot, just enough to make me dangerous.

Back to the documentaries, I did watch a few and before I forget them, I wanted to write a little review of sorts about some of them. Just in case any of you wanted to geek out with me and watch a bunch of documentaries.

Blackfish

This fascinating documentary examines the life of performing killer whale Tilikum, who has caused the deaths of several people while in captivity.

Most everyone has seen this documentary by now. It is incredibly popular and everyone has an opinion. My opinion is that I have never been to SeaWorld and I don't currently have any desire to go now, but to each his own.
As far as the documentary goes, I felt that it did its job well. It wanted you to feel a certain way while watching and leave a lasting impression and it did that. I do find it interesting a little that of all of the trainers that SeaWorld has had through the years, they were only able to get a handful to participate and give their opinion in this film. If you didn't notice that or think that's interesting, then you're not watching close enough.

The Jeffrey Dahmer Files

Stripping away the headlines and hype, this documentary spotlights the people who surrounded serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer during and after his arrest.

Alright, so this was weird. Jeffrey Dahmer was a serial killer and sex offender in the 80s. He killed 17 men before he was caught and then later killed by another inmate in prison. Before I watched this the previous sentence was all I knew about the guy. Well, I learned some more stuff. Also that he liked young men and he preserved their.. male private parts. And that he had sex with them after he killed them. So.. that's gross.
Now let's talk about the documentary for a second, because I found something very interesting about it. Throughout the documentary they interviewed his neighbor multiple times and she helped set the tone of the documentary. I felt the whole time during the documentary that the directors wanted me to feel bad for Jeffrey Dahmer. Unlike most documentaries about serial killers, where they basically list the awful things they did, talk about their victims families, the suffering of the victims, and the ultimate demise of the killer, this documentary talked almost exclusively about Jeffrey Dahmer. Barely focusing on the victims other than to tell you that they were victims. It was so confusing for me as a viewer.

How Beer Saved The World

Scientists and historians line up to tell the untold story of how beer helped create maths, poetry, Pyramids, modern medicine, labor laws and America.

I'm not totally sure if any of the things in this documentary are true, but they made me laugh. Basically it goes throughout history and explains how beer made something happen. As far back as hunting and gathering and such. Like I said, I don't know how much of this you can actually believe, I mostly thought a lot of it was horse shit, but I spent half of this documentary laughing, so that's a bonus.
It also had some actual, real information about beer that I found really interesting. So for everything that might be a stretch of the true, there was something that was actually true that was cool. I learned a lot about beer too, which was a plus.

Where Soldiers Come From

This documentary follows a tight-knit group of friends who grow up together, sign up for the National Guard and are subsequently sent to Afghanistan.

I loved this documentary! In my opinion it is a must watch! It follows this group of 18 year old boys in northern Michigan who sign up for the National Guard together and then are later sent to Afghanistan together. I loved this a lot because you really got to know the personal lives of these boys and then you got to see how the war effected them once they were home. I cried multiple times because THIS IS REAL LIFE. This is what kids are doing RIGHT NOW. They sign up for things without totally realizing what they've signed up for, then they're sent into a war, and if they get to come home they're expected to just go back to their lives before they left. It was absolutely heartbreaking watching some of the scenes and watching some of the interviews.
This documentary stuck with me long after I finished watching. I read that the director hadn't intended to make this particular documentary. She was just going back to her hometown to make a film about where she came from. Then she met these boys and ended up following their lives for 2 years. It's so good, so, so good. Click here for more about this documentary and a place to watch a trailer! SO GOOD.

Now, if anyone has any recommendations on documentaries that I NEED to watch, let me know! I'm trying to watch a little bit of everything, so no subject is off limits!