The 5: Movies Based on Documentaries

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TheFiveMoviesBasedonDocs

This Week on The 5:  Best Films that Were Based on Stories Told in Documentaries

There are plenty of movies which claim to be “based on a true story” each with their own degree of committment to that claim. But to base a movie on a story already documented on film, featuring the real people being portrayed is a whole different challenge only a few directors will take on. Here are five of the best films based on documentaries.

  • Little Dieter Needs to Fly/Rescue Dawn.  Werner Herzog directed both of these films (and appears briefly in Little Dieter). In Little Dieter, Herzog follows Dieter Dengler as he recounts his unbelievable story of survival during the beginning of the Vietnam war. The two men share a bond as German immigrants, and Dengler is a captivating, charismatic narrator, who moves the story along. Most interesting is his recreation of his trek through the Vietnam jungle and demonstration of how he removed his handcuffs in the Vietcong prison.  Herzog was interested enough in the story and had such a strong connection to Dengler that he revisited the story almost 10 years later, recreating the crash, prison, and rescue described in the documentary. Although he includes several fictional moments throughout, Christian Bale’s portrayal of unbearably optimistic Dieter is unforgettable and showed a charisma we didn’t see in any of the Batman movies.
  • The Times of Harvey Milk/Milk.  Rob Epstein’s 1984 film about Harvey Milk, made at the height of the AIDS epidemic and protests for Gay Rights brought the personal and political life of San Francisco’s first openly gay mayor to the public. Although the film is largely archival and interview heavy and occasionally presents Milk as a symbol, the historical moments captured and impact Milk made in his brief time in office makes the movie an emotional experience. Sean Penn’s performance actually fleshes out the story of Milk, showing the more complex personal side of this gay martyr. Althoguh Gus Van Sant recreates several pieces of footage made iconic by the documentary, he’s more interested in Milk and the people surrounding him than politics and activism. Equally timely in its release to the Times of Harvey Milk, which was a benchmark film in the time of gay rights in politics, Milk was released when the movement for marriage rights were just beginning to gain momentum.
  • Breathing Lessons/The Sessions.  The Oscar winner for best short documentary showed the life of Mark O’Brien, a man living most of his life in an iron long. A writer/poet, O’Brien was a major figure in the fight for rights for the disabled community, specifically the right to live independently. A brief section in the film he discusses his experiences with a sex surrogate, which he also wrote an essay about. Sadly, O’Brien died three years later.   Although the movie has been criticized for being simplistic about the daily life for men like O’Brien– and Hawkes performance is much lighter than the real O’Brien, his physical transformation is remarkable and subject of a man wanting to lose his virginity is both compelling and heartwarming to witness.
  • High on Crack Street/The Fighter.  Three crack addicts are profiled in this vivid portrait about desperate area of Lowell Massachusetts. Although they were all fascinating individuals to watch with shock and pity, former boxer Dicky Eklund stood out. Facing criminal charges and about to lose his son, he seems clueless about his own situation and why a documentary crew is actually following him. And his enabling mother only adds to his delusions.  15 years later, Dicky and his mother were portrayed by Christian Bale and Melissa Leo in The Fighter, who both won Oscars for their performances. Add Mark Wahlberg, Amy Adams, and a handful of crazy sisters, and David O’Russell’s feature about boxing brothers Dicky and Micky Ward is a powerful family drama about families who are too supportive for their own good.
  • Don’t Look Back/I’m Not There.  D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary on Bob Dylan is the definitive documentary of a music icon. Although his genius can’t be disputed, he is also as unlikable, aggressive, and egotistical, as he is funny and charismatic. And his love of the camera is both fascinating and disturbing to watch.  While there are a few other movies which pull from Don’t Look Back’s iconic imagery (Bob Roberts, Walk Hard), the entirety of Cate Blanchet’s segment in I’m Not There (along with other segments in Todd Hayne’s experimental biopic) come from Don’t Look Back. Besides the black and white photography and brilliant impression by Blanchet, Dylan’s very public fight with a Times reporter (played by Bruce Greenwood), his relationship with Allen Ginsberg (David Cross), along with a fantasy sequence about his obsession with it girl Edie Sedgwick (Michelle Williams) are almost as compelling.

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Lesley Coffin

Lesley Coffin is a feature editor for FF2media and has also written the books Lew Ayres: Hollywood Conscientious Objector (2012) and Hitchcock's Stars (2014), and currently writing a third book. Follow on twitter @filmbiographer for thoughts on movies and cat pictures.
Lesley Coffin
Lesley Coffin
Lesley Coffin is a feature editor for FF2media and has also written the books Lew Ayres: Hollywood Conscientious Objector (2012) and Hitchcock's Stars (2014), and currently writing a third book. Follow on twitter @filmbiographer for thoughts on movies and cat pictures.