Searching for Sugar Man

This 85th Annual Academy Award Best Documentary Feature records the efforts of two fans from Cape Town, South Africa as they search for the truth about American musician, Sixto Rodriguez. Although his musical career went fairly unnoticed in America, his popularity soared in South African, and the two fans are determined to seek out the truth behind his mysterious life and rumored death.

This is one of the few, modern Best Documentary films that I have yet to get my hands on, and while stewing in my shame and frustration, I began to think about some of my favorite documentaries that were recently overlooked by the Academy.

“The Gatekeepers” is a 2012 documentary that revolves around a series of interviews with six former heads of the Shin Bet, Israel’s secretive intelligence/security service, with accompanying archival footage and reenactments. The director, Dror Moreh, said he found inspiration in Errol Morris’ “The Fog of War” (one of my favorites), and became determined to further investigate Israeli defense after his own feature about former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The film covers a lot of ground, including the agency’s inception, the Bus 300 affair, the Oslo Accords and meditations on more recent Shin Bet activities and impact. This film gives history and puts in context the enduring conflict between the state of Israel and Palestinians. This film is huge not only because of this once in a lifetime opportunity to hear, first-hand, from the former heads of the agency, but because it gives some insight into the inflexibility that engulfs this region, which is symbolic of the stubbornness that plagues the entire realm. 

“Exit through the Gift Shop,” was released in 2010. Directed by Banksy, it explores Thierry Guetta’s documentation and eventual obsession of street art and Banksy himself. Guetta fails in his attempt to finish a coherent documentary about street art, and Bansky picks up the pieces and turns the camera onto Guetta, as he blossoms into an artist, Mr. Brainwash, who directly immolates Banksy’s distinct style. This film left me in total awe as it showcased the very secretive world of street art, as wells as the efforts of the hopeless and unintentionally goofy artist, Guetta. However, some believe the film is scripted, with The New York Times even speculating that it might be the first "prankumentary." Regardless, the film is beyond entertaining. With quotes from Mr. Brainwash like, “I don't know how to play chess, but to me, life is like a game of chess,” how could you go wrong?

Also released in 2010, “Restrepo” documents a U.S. Army platoon of the 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team during their station in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan. The platoon’s mission is to abolish the Taliban insurgency, while holding and defending the observation post named after fallen Private First Class Juan Sebastián Restrepo. During the year-long deployment, in what the platoon refers to as "the deadliest place on Earth," the soldiers battle against insurgents, distrusting Afghani civilians and the burden of war. This is one of the most emotionally heavy and horrifying films I’ve ever seen. 

“Winnebago Man” premiered in 2009, and follows Ben Steinbauer’s effort to track down the origin of a viral video and the man nicknamed “the angriest man in the world,” Jack Rebney. Rebney is the star of a series of hilarious, obscenity-filled outtakes from a late-1980s Winnebago commercial/promotional video. After quite a bit of effort, the Internet phenom is tracked down in a serine, mountainous region of California. After several interviews and encounters at his home, the old and tirelessly irate man reveals himself to be an oddly thoughtful and articulate character, but still a bitter proponent of the Internet “fame” he has unwillingly acquired. Steinbauer spends most of the film trying to get to know the man behind the outbursts, while trying to convince him of the true joy that the worst day of his life has brought to his fans. This film’s ending does the impossible by unveiling the warmth of a medium (the Internet) that seems rot with pessimism.  

These four documentaries may not have won any Oscars, but they do represent our times well. These films blanket a breadth of topics and investigate integral components of society. “Exit through the Gift Shop” questions the validity of art, “Restrepo” reveals the horrors of war, “The Gatekeepers” investigates the history of deep-rooted animus in the Middle East and “Winnebago Man” glances at the light-hearted infatuation of all things contemporary in the West.