TV Documentary Movies

This documentary explains the procedures and tactics used by the Drug Enforcement Agency in order to apprehend and successfully bring down one of the world's most infamous arms dealers, Monzer al-Kassar. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

The municipality of Colorado Springs, Colorado - an apparently charming community situated about an hour south of Denver - might seem an unlikely source of mass tumult. But the city in fact bears a dark connection to the Iraq War of the early 21st Century. A U.S. Army base called Fort Carson is situated in the immediate vicinity , and witnessed the suicides of 36 servicemen and 11 homicides during the Iraq War period. And nearly all of those slayings emerged from the same U.S.A.F. unit: Third Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Battalion of the 506th Infantry. But what events transpired in this unit to account for such horrors? As produced for the groundbreaking WGBH series Frontline and originally aired on PBS, this documentary program concurrently relays the horrifying tale of this drug and alcohol-riddled platoon, and asks unflinching, incisive questions about the mental, emotional and psychological impact of the Iraq War on ordinary young Americans - questions which lead to the inescapable conclusion that post-traumatic stress and repeat military tours of duty may returning an entire generation of servicemen to the homefront as deeply confused and tortured instruments of destruction. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

MacNeil-Lehrer Productions and the journalist-cum-think tank leader Robert Satloff teamed up to create this unique documentary, directed by William Cran and adapted from a tome by Satloff. The program begins with a key question: given the breadth of Holocaust denial within the Arabic universe, did any Arabs play key roles in rescuing Jews from Nazi annihilation? Satloff sets out to find an Arab hero who filled this role; in the process, he not only found several of these individuals but uncovered a fascinating "lost history" concerning what happened to over 500,000 Jewish men and women who occupied the Arabic lands of North Africa just prior to the Second World War. Among the Righteous documents Satloff's findings. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

For much of the 20th Century, vaccines were hailed as a medical miracle for their ability to ward off such devastating diseases as mumps and polio; at the onset of the 21st Century, however, many parents began to wonder whether bombarding infants and toddlers with such a wide array of powerful drugs cold have adverse effects on their children's health as cases of ADHD and autism began to skyrocket. By the time most children reach the age of six, they have been subjected to approximately 26 inoculations for more than a dozen different diseases. Some experts, such as Dr. Robert Sears, have suggested that alternative vaccination schedules may be safer than the traditional approach since they allow our children's bodies more time to adapt to the multiple drugs they are being given without overloading their immune systems. Other parents have opted not to give their children a single vaccination, citing evidence that diseases like polio are no longer a threat to the average American. As the vaccine war rages, Frontline takes viewers into the heart of the battle to offer a comprehensive examination of the arguments being made by both sides. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are "The Yes Men" -- two guys who combine political activism, performance art, and the love of a good prank in the name of demanding that the private sector take responsibility for the damage it has done to the world and its people. Bichlbaum and Bonanno specialize in setting up realistic-looking mock websites that claim to represent famous and powerful multinational corporations, and when they're contacted to speak on behalf of the companies, they deliver absurd satirical presentations that sometimes fool their audiences into believing they've seen the real thing. The exploits of Bichlbaum and Bonanno were chronicled in the 2003 documentary The Yes Men, and their further adventures have spawned a second film, The Yes Men Fix the World, which follows the radical pranksters as they claim responsibility for a major environmental disaster in Bhopal on European television, demonstrate a new corporate rescue orb, "defend" corporate interests in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and publish a mock edition of The New York Times that declares the end of the war in Iraq. The Yes Men Fix the World received its world premiere at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Frontline explores the future of the credit-card industry as it faces new regulations and the possibility of a consumer finance protection agency. Featured are CardWeb.com CEO Robert McKinley, former Providian Financial Corporation chairman-CEO Shailesh Mehta, Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, and Center for Responsible Lending CEO Martin Eakes. Lowell Bergman reports. ~ Jeff Gemmill, Rovi

Discover how President Franklin Roosevelt addressed the pressing economic and environmental challenges of his time in this documentary about the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), the agency founded to shape up our economy by creating jobs in natural resource conservation. The year was 1929: The stock market had just crashed, unemployment was rising, and the Midwestern farmers were losing valuable topsoil to the first winds of the Dust Bowl. Realizing that drastic action was needed in order to prevent an all-out economic collapse, President Roosevelt proposed the CCC and put 250,000 Americans to work in the first two months alone. By day the workers would construct flood barriers, fight fires, plant trees, and maintain roads on both private and federal land; by night they would attend classes designed to educate them and instill them with valuable job skills. In July of 1942 the economy was on an upswing and the program was dissolved, but the impact of this important agency can still be felt today by the millions of American families who frequent our national parks every year. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Based on Michael Pollan's bestseller, this intriguing PBS documentary examines the ways that humans rely on (and relate to) four key plants: the apple, potato, tulip, and marijuana. Frances McDormand (Fargo) narrates each unique segment, offering a plant's-eye view of botanical evolution and of the shifting relationships between people and their food sources. ~ Carly Wray, Rovi

The collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 triggered fears that a Depression-like economic free fall was fast developing. To head it off, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson helped arrange the Bank of America-Merrill Lynch merger and, a month later, pressured the nation's largest banks to take $125 billion of taxpayers' money. Featuring interviews with Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis and former Merrill Lynch CEO John Thain, Frontline: Breaking the Bank examines those goings-on through the prism of Bank of American and also explores the consequences of the infusion of public capital into the private sphere. ~ Jeff Gemmill, Rovi

Astronomer Sir Patrick Moore presents rare archival footage of the first moon landing in this compilation of BBC coverage of the historic event. Watch as the Apollo 11 ascends to the heavens, see the astronauts' first, dramatic moonwalk, and witness the splashdown that brought the brave space explorers safely back to Earth. Intercut with the vintage live reports are the comments of BBC science reporter James Burke, who offers a detailed guide to space exploration by demonstrating the zero-gravity experience, testing an escape chute, and revealing how astronauts relieve themselves while wearing bulky space suits. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The apparent acceleration in the melting of glaciers and ice sheets is documented through the efforts of photojournalist James Balog, who places time-lapse cameras in 26 alpine and arctic locations, including Alaska and Greenland. The long-term consequences of the melt: sea levels would rise by some 200 feet and force massive numbers of people -- from Bangladesh to Florida -- to move inland. Includes interviews with scientists Richard Alley (Penn State), Tad Pfeffer (UC-Boulder), and Jim White (UC-Boulder). ~ Jeff Gemmill, Rovi

Pinehurst is alternately referred to as the "Capital of Golf" and the "St. Andrews of American Golf." Built in what was once a rather rustic area of North Carolina, this golf retreat has long been a favorite place to play for both amateurs and professionals. Older footage shows such legendary players as Ben Hogan on the course. Narrator Charles Osgood interviews both Sam Snead and Arnold Palmer about their special affection for Pinehurst and their views on recent changes made to its facilities and to the way the resort is run. ~ Elizabeth Smith, Rovi

Join Frontline producer Michael Kirk as he ventures behind closed doors in Washington and Wall Street on a mission to discover how the economy went so bad so fast, and learn why emergency measures by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernake and Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson couldn't manage to prevent the worst economic crisis in a generation. It was 2007 when the housing bubble began to burst and Wall Street started to panic. By spring of the following year, rumors began to swirl that prominent investment bank Bear Stearns was about to go bankrupt due to billions of dollars in bad mortgages. In the world of finance rumors can be the difference between success and failure, and Bear Stearns was only hours away from declaring bankruptcy when former Princeton economics professor Bernake orchestrated a shotgun marriage between the high-profile investment bank and commercial bank JP Morgan. But there was a catch; in order to make this happen, the federal government would pledge $30 billion to account for Bear Stearns' questionable assets tied to festering mortgages. A student of the Great Depression, Bernake knew what was at stake should Wall Street fail to act fast. But this was only the beginning of a bad chain reaction, and when Wall Street's Lehman Brothers, too, began teetering on the brink of collapse, Bernake and Paulson were called upon to bail them out as well. By this time, conservative Republicans in Washington were exerting pressure to invoke moral hazard and let Lehman Brothers fail, prompting CEO Dick Fuld to seek out a buyer for the failing investment bank. But his efforts were all for naught, and Lehman Brothers quickly declared bankruptcy. Over the course of the next 24 hours, the stock market crashed and credit markets across the globe froze, effectively sending the economy into a downward spiral. Would the $700 billion bailout plan subsequently proposed by Paulson and Bernanke -- and ultimately passed by Congress -- be enough to steer the economy clear of disaster, or is the United States headed towards a depression the likes of which haven't been felt since the early 20th century? This question, and many more, are at the heart of Inside the Meltdown, a Frontline special produced to provide the average American a better understanding of the economic crisis, and the problems it may pose for the country's future. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi