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What do you want to watch tonight?

Each title says who it's good for, and who it isn't. Tap what you want tonight, or say no to one and why.

Closest to The Act of Killing first

  1. Waltz with Bashir 2008

    Documentary

    A film director from Israel interviews fellow veterans of the 1982 invasion of Lebanon to reconstruct his own memories of his term of service in that conflict.

    The sides of Waltz with Bashir

    • An Israeli director who can't remember his war
    • Interviews with fellow veterans of Lebanon, 1982
    • Animated memories that end on real footage

    Good for you if

    • you want to know what a war does to the memory of those who fought it.
    • you like a director investigating his own past.
    • you like dreamlike animated images, like soldiers rising from the sea at night.

    Bad for you if

    • you'd rather not see a war documentary in animation.
    • you won't read subtitles. It's in Hebrew.
    • you can't take a film about guilt and the dead of a war, seen through a soldier's nightmares.

    About: memory · guilt · war

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  2. Night and Fog 1956

    Documentary

    Filmmaker Alain Resnais documents the atrocities behind the walls of Hitler's concentration camps.

    The sides of Night and Fog

    • The grass grown back over Auschwitz ten years after
    • Archive film and photographs from the camps
    • A commentary written by a deported poet

    Good for you if

    • you want the camps documented a decade after, while the sites were still standing.
    • you want the record itself, the archives and the places as they were left.
    • you can face what was done there, stated plainly.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't look at archive images of the dead and the survivors of the camps.
    • you need a film to leave you some hope, and this one closes by asking who is still keeping watch.

    About: the camps · memory · war

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  3. Chernobyl 2019

    Series

    The true story of one of the worst man-made catastrophes in history: the catastrophic nuclear accident at Chernobyl. A tale of the brave men and women who sacrificed to save Europe from unimaginable disaster.

    The sides of Chernobyl

    • The night a reactor exploded
    • Scientists against the lies of a state
    • Men sent onto the roof

    Good for you if

    • you like dread that never lets go.
    • you want to understand a real disaster.
    • you can take a grim, unflinching story.

    Bad for you if

    • radiation sickness shown in detail is too hard for you.
    • you can't watch animals being shot. Soldiers clear the zone of the pets left behind.

    About: truth · sacrifice · lies

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  4. A boy’s brutal murder and the public trials of his guardians and social workers prompt questions about the system’s protection of vulnerable children.

    The sides of The Trials of Gabriel Fernandez

    • A boy the adults paid to protect him failed
    • Social workers on trial
    • A Los Angeles courtroom

    Good for you if

    • you want a case told by the people who testified.
    • you want to follow how every warning about this boy was missed.
    • you can watch a story with no consolation at the end.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't hear a child's abuse recounted in court.
    • you want an evening that leaves you calm.

    About: child protection · accountability · the system

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  5. The true story of how businessman Oskar Schindler saved over a thousand Jewish lives from the Nazis while they worked as slaves in his factory during World War II.

    The sides of Schindler's List

    • A businessman who saves his workers
    • Black and white, and a red coat
    • A list that means life

    Good for you if

    • you like striking black and white images, and a little girl in a red coat you won't forget.
    • you like a villain who's frighteningly human.
    • you want to understand a true story from the inside.

    Bad for you if

    • the Holocaust on screen is too much for you tonight.
    • over three hours is too long for one evening.
    • black and white puts you off.

    About: humanity · courage · evil

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  6. Blackfish 2013

    Documentary

    Notorious killer whale Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of three individuals, including a top killer whale trainer. Blackfish shows the sometimes devastating consequences of keeping such intelligent and sentient creatures in captivity.

    The sides of Blackfish

    • Tilikum, a captive killer whale
    • Former SeaWorld trainers telling what they saw
    • The death of a trainer during a show

    Good for you if

    • you like former trainers admitting what they didn't want to see.
    • you care about how intelligent animals live.
    • you like seeing a company's story taken apart piece by piece.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch real attacks and a real death described in detail.
    • you want a light animal film. This one leaves you angry.

    About: captivity · guilt · profit

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  7. The Wire 2002

    Series

    Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.

    The sides of The Wire

    • Baltimore cops wiretapping a drug crew
    • The docks, the schools, City Hall and the newspaper
    • Dealers and detectives seen from both sides

    Good for you if

    • you like seeing how police, politics and schools keep a city stuck.
    • you like a case built patiently over a whole season.
    • you want people like Omar, Stringer Bell and McNulty to stay with you.

    Bad for you if

    • you lose track with dozens of characters on both sides.
    • you need some hope. Baltimore rarely changes here.

    About: institutions · the drug war · loyalty

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  8. The film profiles eight former members of the Church of Scientology, shining a light on how they attract true believers and the things they do in the name of religion.

    The sides of Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief

    • Eight former members of the Church of Scientology
    • How a science fiction writer founded a religion
    • Testimony about abuse inside the church

    Good for you if

    • you like hearing people explain how they came to believe, and how they left.
    • you want to know how an organisation keeps control of its members.
    • you like long testimonies where people choose every word.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't listen to accounts of psychological abuse and broken families.
    • you lose track when names pile up. Eight former members, two church leaders and a few film stars come and go.

    About: belief · control · leaving

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  9. Stories from survivors fuel this docuseries examining how convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth and power to carry out his abuses.

    The sides of Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich

    • Survivors telling their own stories
    • A billionaire's homes in Palm Beach and New York
    • A 2008 plea deal and its consequences

    Good for you if

    • you want to hear the survivors in their own words.
    • you want to understand how money and connections protected one man for years.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't hear accounts of the sexual abuse of teenage girls.
    • you need some hope, and justice here comes late and incomplete.

    About: abuse of power · justice · survivors

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  10. In the pre-Civil War United States, Solomon Northup, a free black man from upstate New York, is abducted and sold into slavery. Facing cruelty as well as unexpected kindnesses Solomon struggles not only to stay alive, but to retain his dignity. In the twelfth year of his unforgettable odyssey, Solomon’s chance meeting with a Canadian abolitionist will forever alter his life.

    The sides of 12 Years a Slave

    • A free man kidnapped into slavery
    • Twelve years on plantations
    • A hope he never lets go of

    Good for you if

    • you like performances that are hard to watch and impossible to forget.
    • you want history shown without looking away.
    • you like a true story taken from Solomon Northup's own memoir.

    Bad for you if

    • the cruelty of slavery shown in full is too much tonight.
    • whippings shown at length are too hard for you.

    About: slavery · survival · dignity

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  11. 13th 2016

    Documentary

    An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

    The sides of 13th

    • The loophole in the amendment that ended slavery
    • From chain gangs to mass incarceration
    • Historians, activists and politicians on camera

    Good for you if

    • you like an argument built from archives, laws and numbers.
    • you want to see how a law from 1865 still shapes prisons today.
    • you want to know who profits from locking people up.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch real footage of Black people killed by police.
    • you want to come out lighter. This one leaves you angry.

    About: racism · justice · freedom

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  12. Making a Murderer 2015

    Documentary

    Filmed over 10 years, this real-life thriller follows a DNA exoneree who, while exposing police corruption, becomes a suspect in a grisly new crime.

    The sides of Making a Murderer

    • A man freed by DNA after 18 years in prison
    • A new murder charge two years later
    • A nephew's confession and the trials that follow

    Good for you if

    • you want to weigh the evidence in the Steven Avery case yourself.
    • you like seeing how a county police force and a court work up close.
    • you like a case followed over ten years, hearing by hearing.

    Bad for you if

    • a real young woman's murder and a teenager's interrogation are too much for you.
    • you need some hope, and a family's ten-year fight through prison visits and appeals wears you down.

    About: justice · doubt · family

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  13. A unique look inside the mind of an infamous serial killer with this cinematic self-portrait crafted from statements made by Ted Bundy, including present-day interviews, archival footage and audio recordings from death row.

    The sides of Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes

    • Ted Bundy's own taped interviews from death row
    • Archive footage of 1970s trials
    • Detectives and journalists who followed the case

    Good for you if

    • you want to hear a real case from the recordings themselves.
    • you like 1970s archive footage of a case that marked America.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't listen to a man describe crimes against real young women.
    • you need some hope, and this offers none.

    About: evil · justice · the media

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  14. The Pianist 2002

    Film

    The true story of pianist Władysław Szpilman's experiences in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation. When the Jews of the city find themselves forced into a ghetto, Szpilman finds work playing in a café; and when his family is deported in 1942, he stays behind, works for a while as a laborer, and eventually goes into hiding in the ruins of the war-torn city.

    The sides of The Pianist

    • A pianist hiding in Warsaw
    • Years alone in empty flats
    • Music for an enemy officer

    Good for you if

    • you like a quiet performance of pure survival.
    • you like a true story that stays with you.
    • you like watching someone hold on through everything.

    Bad for you if

    • the Holocaust shown in detail is too much tonight.
    • two and a half hours is too long for your evening.

    About: survival · art · humanity

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  15. The Platform 2019

    Film

    A slab of food descends down a vertical facility. The residents above eat heartily, leaving those below starving and desperate. A rebellion is imminent.

    The sides of The Platform

    • A tower prison with one platform of food
    • Levels from top to bottom
    • Who eats and who doesn't

    Good for you if

    • you like strange, allegorical stories.
    • you like a cruel, unflinching idea.
    • you like not knowing which level you'll wake up on.

    Bad for you if

    • gore and cannibalism ruin it for you.
    • you won't read subtitles. It's in Spanish (a dub exists).

    About: inequality · solidarity · greed

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  16. Set in a dystopian future, a woman is forced to live as a concubine under a fundamentalist theocratic dictatorship.

    The sides of The Handmaid's Tale

    • A woman forced to bear children for a ruling family
    • A religious dictatorship in America
    • A resistance in whispers

    Good for you if

    • you like Elisabeth Moss saying everything with a stare into the camera.
    • you like every conversation in Gilead feeling like it could be a trap.
    • you like seeing how a regime controls women's bodies and words.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch rape and torture on screen.
    • you can't stand hangings and mutilations.
    • you need some hope, and here the hope comes slowly over six seasons.

    About: freedom · motherhood · resistance · faith

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  17. Capitalism: A Love Story 2009

    Documentary

    Michael Moore comes home to the issue he's been examining throughout his career: the disastrous impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).

    The sides of Capitalism: A Love Story

    • Families evicted from their homes
    • Wall Street after the 2008 crash
    • Michael Moore walking into bank lobbies with a camera

    Good for you if

    • you want to hear from the families who lost their houses.
    • you like a film about who owns what and who decides.
    • you like the nerve of crime-scene tape strung across a bank.

    Bad for you if

    • two hours of archive and interviews is too much for one evening.
    • you can't watch families carried out of their homes.

    About: money · inequality · power

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  18. Seaspiracy 2021

    Documentary

    Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

    The sides of Seaspiracy

    • A filmmaker following plastic into the ocean
    • Industrial fishing fleets and what they catch by accident
    • Eco-labels and the bodies that award them

    Good for you if

    • you want a filmmaker going and seeing for himself.
    • you care what happens to the ocean and what lives in it.
    • you want to know who certifies what you buy.

    Bad for you if

    • you can't watch animals being killed on camera.
    • you need some hope left by the end.

    About: the ocean · the food chain · responsibility

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  19. Ruthless silver miner, turned oil prospector, Daniel Plainview, moves to oil-rich California. Using his son to project a trustworthy, family-man image, Plainview cons local landowners into selling him their valuable properties for a pittance. However, local preacher Eli Sunday suspects Plainview's motives and intentions, starting a slow-burning feud that threatens both their lives.

    The sides of There Will Be Blood

    • An oil man who wants everything
    • A young preacher he hates
    • I drink your milkshake

    Good for you if

    • you like watching Daniel Day-Lewis disappear into a ruthless oil man.
    • you like a slow, heavy story of ambition.
    • you like a strange, unsettling score.

    Bad for you if

    • over two and a half hours at this pace is too much.
    • you need someone to root for. Plainview cons and crushes everyone in his way.

    About: greed · faith · loneliness

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  20. At the height of the Vietnam war, Captain Benjamin Willard is sent on a dangerous mission that, officially, "does not exist, nor will it ever exist." His goal is to locate - and eliminate - a mysterious Green Beret Colonel named Walter Kurtz, who has been leading his personal army on illegal guerrilla missions into enemy territory.

    The sides of Apocalypse Now

    • A captain sent upriver to kill a colonel
    • Helicopters and Wagner
    • A jungle that drives men mad

    Good for you if

    • you like images of war that look like a fever dream.
    • you like a journey into darkness.
    • you like The Doors and Wagner over burning jungle.

    Bad for you if

    • two and a half hours of slow descent is too much for you.
    • you can't take much madness tonight. Soldiers on acid and men losing their minds fill the trip upriver.
    • brutal war scenes are too much for you.

    About: madness · war · morality

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