Joey Magidson
Look out folks, here comes another one! Continuing a tradition I’ve been keen on for years, I’m ranking the new crop of Academy Award winners. For nearly all of the Oscar categories, you’ll see me list the top 25 recipients of that prize. Sometimes, our newest winner will appear. Other times, they’ll be relegated to the Honorable Mention category. Who knows, maybe one or two won’t even make the cut? It’s a list series that I’ll do each and every single year, in the weeks after the ceremony concludes. So, while this is a fun way to think about the Oscars in the aftermath of the latest telecast, it’s also a beginning for another column here on the site. Of course, definitely show us your own lists as well, in the comments section below. We’re definitely keen to know what you think!
Today, I’m once again taking a look at the Best Documentary Feature category. Non-fiction cinema is its own beast, and one look at the winners in this field reveal some all-time classics. At the same time, anyone who pays attention to how the Best Documentary races have gone in recent years will know that the best films are rarely even nominated by Oscar. So, the Academy Awards do more recently pull from a reduced field. Still, there’s tons of movies I was able to pull from. For me, Michael Moore‘s Bowling for Columbine is still the best of the bunch, but there’s no shortage of quality here. Where does the most recent winner in Mr. Nobody Against Putin debut, ranking-wise? Does 20 Days in Mariupol, Navalny, No Other Land, or Summer of Soul remain on the list after winning in the past four years? Find out below…
Here now are what I consider to be the 25 best winners of the Best Documentary Feature Oscar, to date:
25. Inside Job
24. Woodstock
23. Undefeated
22. Mr. Nobody Against Putin
21. 20 Feet from Stardom
20. Searching for Sugar Man
19. The Last Days
18. In the Shadow of the Stars
17. American Dream
16. Anne Frank Remembered
15. Born into Brothels
14. Citizenfour
13. Free Solo
12. Taxi to the Dark Side
11. Harlan County, USA
10. One Day in September
9. Man on Wire
8. The Fog of War
7. March of the Penguins
6. OJ: Made in America
5. When We Were Kings
4. The Times of Harvey Milk
3. An Inconvenient Truth
2. The Cove
1. Bowling for Columbine
Honorable Mention: 20 Days in Mariupol, American Factory, Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport, Navalny, No Other Land, and Summer of Soul
Stay tuned for another category early next week!
This is a category I have a lot of catching up to do.
The ones that stand out to me most
Anne Frank Remembered
Bowling for Columbine
The Living Desert
The Cove
An Inconvenient Truth
The Times of Harvey Milk
March of the Penguins
I’m with you on Bowling for Columbine, The Cove, and An Inconvenient Truth, obviously.
I don’t think I’ve seen enough from this category to have a top twenty-five, but I feel pretty confident about this top ten:
10) 20 Days in Mariupol
9) Anne Frank Remembered
8) Taxi to the Dark Side
7) Inside Job
6) Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt
5) American Factory
4) American Dream
3) Hearts and Minds
2) The Times of Harvey Milk
1) Harlan County, U.S.A.
With Honorable Mentions to Free Solo, Man on Wire, Woodstock, O.J.: Made in America, The Fog of War, and not that stupid octopus movie.
Solid list.