This month’s selection of documentaries honour the human spirit and how it can be forged, honed, destroyed and resurrected. Whether they’re exploring gun law reform, a death in custody, the hallucinatory mix of poverty and riches in 1940s Italy, the spiritual power of a mountain, or the vagaries of a creative life in one of the world’s great metropolises, these are films that variously challenge, provoke and uplift.
Moutain
Australian filmmaker Jennifer Peedom teams up with writer Robert Macfarlane, the Australian Chamber Orchestra and Oscar nominee Willem Dafoe to explore the allure of mountains. For centuries, they were feared and revered; now mountain climbing is seen as an act of spiritual liberation. Peedom explores this shift and, with help from some of the world’s most accomplished cinematographers, illustrates the beauty and danger of the world’s highest peaks.
91%: A Film about Guns in America
Documentary filmmakers often need to work to persuade viewers who don’t already share their belief that their subject matters. Here, the public is already overwhelmingly onside. Director John Richie collects stories of shooting survivors and those who lost loved ones in acts of violence that may never have happened had Congress acted on the will of the 91 per cent of Americans who support background checks on firearm purchases.
The Tall Man
The death of Cameron Doomadgee in a Palm Island police station in 2004 was a pivotal moment in recent Australian history. Police claimed Doomadgee’s fatal injuries were the result of an accident, but soon his family, then the local community, and eventually the media and the courts would question this version of events. Director Tony Krawitz marshals a range of perspectives to piece together a story whose repercussions are still being felt.
Naples '44
The 1978 memoir Naples ’44, by British intelligence officer Norman Lewis, is a vivid account of wartime occupation that takes in famine, fascism, political chaos and the eruption of Mount Vesuvius. This documentary, narrated by Benedict Cumberbatch, features excerpts from the book accompanied by newsreel footage and clips from films that offer glimpses of humanity as a country endures extraordinary times.
Iris
Iris Apfel is renowned not only for her epoch-shaping glamour but also for her indomitable spirit. Albert Maysles was one of the 20th century’s best-known documentarians. In Iris, the 87-year-old director affectionately captures the 93-year-old fashion icon’s work ethic and her undimmed enthusiasm for youth, energy, colour and creativity. This is a rousing tribute to a woman raised during the Great Depression who became one of the legends of a vanishing New York.
