The 5: Vice Documentaries Before The HBO Show

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This Week on The Five:  Great  Early Vice Documentaries 

Before Vice on HBO and even The Vice Guide to Everything on MTV, they were making incredibly interesting documentaries on their website VBS.tv. Before they ever hit mainstream television, they said fuck it and went out and documented some of the craziest and most interesting places in the world. Below are 5 of their documentaries that you can watch right now, for free, that laid the groundwork for their TV show.

  • Liberia.  There are 2 places that everyone talks about the Vice guys going to, and the Liberia piece is one of them. Vice co-founder Shane Smith headed to Liberia to investigate the 14 years of civil war that ravaged the country. You’ll be blown away by his meeting with General Butt Naked, a man responsible for countless deaths, who became a Christian preacher in the aftermath. You’ll get a glimpse into a world that you would never want to live in.  Watch it here on vice.com.
  • North Korea.  The other place that Vice visited that is most talked about, is their initial visits to North Korea. Shane Smith has since been banned from entering the country, but in this documentary, after much hard work, he’s able to get into North Korea. For a lot of the world, this would be the first time they saw any footage from the inside of this secretive Communist State. They were able to pull off what a lot of established networks had no chance of, access to one of the most highly guarded places in the world.  Watch the documentary here on vice.com.
  • Slab City.  In Vice’s Americana series, they ended up in Southern California’s Slab City. What’s Slab City? It’s a collection of squatters, vets, and hippies living on the remains of the World War 2 Marine barracks of Camp Dunlap. There’s 150 permanent residents who are their because they’re on the run, they want off the grid, or they can’t afford anything else. It’s a fascinating look at an American community few have heard about. It was featured in the book and film Into the Wild.  Watch it below or here on vice.com.
  • Vietnam Reenactors.   Who knew? The Vice guys found out about the Virginia-Carolina Military History Association who were putting on Vietnam re-enactments, fighting Viet Cong. The group consists of veterans and regular Joes who never served. It gets really weird when they show how they grab local college kids to act as the Viet Cong. It’s ridiculously fascinating as Vice get embedded with the reenactors as they’re in the shit.  Watch it below or on vice.com.
  • The Prostitutes of God.  Vice ends up in India, meeting a group of women who are put into a life of prostitution in the name of the Hindu Goddess Yellamma. 5,000 young girls a year are forced into this life as a sex worker and Vice gets access to them. It’s a dark and depressing look into the sex trade of India.  Watch it below or on vice.com.

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LIBERIA

NORTH KOREA

SLAB CITY

VIETNAM REENACTORS

PROSTITUTES OF GOD

Interrobang Staff

Interrobang Staff