By Andrés Muñoz
Many years ago, I witnessed one of my first documentary projects. A Chilean crew of 4 was driving a sedan across South America, relying on used cooking oil to fuel their car. Their entire car had been scribbled and signed in Sharpie by people they had met along their journey. The guys promised to create a documentary to promote eco-friendly initiatives that would help flora and fauna conservation initiatives across South America’s rivers.
While I have never seen the final documentary (and in fact, it made me think whether they were simply some cool automotive engineers exploring the continent in a time before the advent of social media), it left an impression.
It inspired an interest in the storytelling aspect of non-fictional content, opening the door to the gritty world of showcasing reality for me. Many years later, content streamers have a firm slate of documentaries and docuseries. Several of them have even won prestigious awards in recent years.
I love Netflix (who doesn’t?!), so I decided to check out some available documentaries that will hopefully open your mind about past, present, and future events.
Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia
In the 1980s, New York City was under the grip of organised crime. Just like legitimate American corporations, criminals had highly structured groups of individuals. The American Mafia was at its height and heavily involved in real estate developments spreading across the city’s five boroughs.
Spearheaded by a ruling committee called The Commission, this criminal “board of directors” was composed of the heads of the Five Families of organised crime of New York: The Gambino, Colombo, Bonanno, Lucchese, and Genovese families, and other members of the American Mafia. Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia is a docuseries that uncovers the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s crackdown on organised crime in the mid-80s.
Spread across three episodes, the series lays out how the FBI wiretapped different high-ranking members of the families. It shows the agents’ difficulties in getting quality audio, amongst other technical challenges. Most importantly, though, the agents were able to connect the members of the families as a criminal organisation thanks to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations, or RICO Act. This is what would ultimately allow the American legal system to indict and convict an entire network of criminal “corporations”. If the Mafia intrigues you, this is a must-watch.
Icarus
Have you ever wondered why, during the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympics, all Russian athletes were representing the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and not the actual country of Russia? They cannot fly the Russian flag or listen to their national anthem if they win a gold medal. The same thing will apply at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. Allow Icarus to tell you the story behind this!
This Academy Award-winning documentary feature, directed by Bryan Fogel, started out as an experiment to see the effects of doping on an amateur cyclist’s race performance. Through his conversations with Grigory Rodchenkov, the head of Moscow’s Anti-Doping Laboratory, Fogel would soon realise how deeply involved the Russian government was in the world of performance-enhancing drugs.
Thanks to Rodchenkov’s testimony, the World Anti-Doping Agency and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) held an investigation that would reveal a state-sponsored scheme to subvert anti-doping policies. Scandals like these would result in the IOC making their decision regarding Russian athletes. It’s a gripping tale about how far countries are willing to go to achieve results in international sporting events. Watch it now, and make the Winter Olympics even more interesting!
The Social Dilemma
I recently promised to avoid Instagram as much as possible. I thought it would be easy and I would enjoy my newly recovered life away from my phone. After checking my IG feed several times in the past week, I admit that the process has been more challenging than expected.
I strongly recommend watching The Social Dilemma to understand why. Directed by Jeff Orlowski, this Emmy Award-winning docudrama shows how much tech companies (specifically social media companies) maximise their profit strategies and social media design plans around digital addiction.
Reminding me of one of the most fascinating articles I’ve ever read, The Social Dilemma features interviews with former social media employees who indicate how these corporations control peoples’ emotions, ideas, and behaviour without their knowledge.
Not only have addictive strategies become highly dangerous for people’s physical and mental well-being, but there have been massive privacy breaches. The data collection and surveillance techniques apps use are nothing short of Orwellian. The interviewees even give you guidelines on how to live a healthy life in this overconnected world. Crucial viewing.
These past, present, and future stories are all grounded in real life and are just the tip of the iceberg of the fantastic stories in Netflix’s documentary section. In the comments section below, let us know what other titles you want to watch!