Not seeing this is not an option

Favourite quote from "Inside Job" said by Citigroup chief economist Willem Buiter: "Banking became a pissing contest. 'Mine's bigger than yours.' That kind of stuff. It was all men that ran it, incidentally." 

I admit it. I can be a bit overzealous when it comes to certain documentaries. I see a documentary that outrages me or that is wildly edifying, and I get all riled and wish I could scream from the rooftops (or my soapbox) that it is everybody's absolute duty as a responsible member of this society to see this documentary. Something like, you know, not littering.
That's how I felt when I rented the Oscar-winning doc "Inside Job." It's good because it clearly explains the financial meltdown, how it happened, who was involved. (Here's an interesting interview with filmmaker Charles Ferguson.) It's also good because Ferguson himself is a no-holds-barred interviewer who asks pointed questions that really expose the amorality (aka scumbag-ness) of not only the financial industry and political system, but also the corruption in American academia, something not really covered before.
So, yeah, I do believe it's everyone's duty to see this flick.

Other light-shedding documentaries I think are must-sees:

• "Taxi to the Dark Side" — directed by Alex Gibney
• "The Fog of War" — directed by Errol Morris
• "Food, Inc." — directed by Robert Kenner (I actually haven't watched Food, Inc. because, to tell the truth, I'm afraid that seeing the mistreatment of animals will traumatize me. And I figure I'm already a vegetarian and eat mostly organic, so why put myself through that. But I know a few people who have changed their eating habits since viewing it.)
• "Capturing the Friedmans" — directed by Andrew Jarecki
• "King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters" — directed by Seth Gordon
• "The Thin Blue Line" — directed by Errol Morris
• "No End In Sight" — directed by Charles Ferguson

Photo by Laura Muir