Documentaries - Exciting Reality

Armadillo is a Danish documentary film about Danish soldiers in the war in Afghanistan. The film follows a group of soldiers from the Guard Hussars (Horse Cavalry) regiment who are on their first mission in Helmand Province at a forward operating base near Gereshk named FOB Armadillo.

There is footage of very intense fighting - even more intense than in Restrepo.

Restrepo is a 2010 documentary film about the Afghanistan war. Two journalists (Sebastian Junger, Tim Hetherington) are embedded with a Platoon of the 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Korangal Valley.

The Korangal Valley was at the time regarded as "the deadliest place on Earth". They begin their deployment at OP Korangal, and early in the campaign PFC Restrepo is killed, as well as another team member, PFC Vimoto. The film portrays negotiations with the local people, construction of an advanced outpost, OP Restrepo (named after their killed comrade), as well as the challenges and intermittent firefights they face...

Baghdad ER is a documentary released by HBO on May 21, 2006. It shows the Iraq war from the perspective of a military hospital in Baghdad and by that, illustrates what war really means. It has some relatively disturbing scenes in it (e.g. amputations), therefore the U.S. Army is officially warning that military personnel watching it could experience symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Channel (Germany): RTL

Documentary following a British counter IED Team, the Searchers and the bomb disposal operators who make up the Brimstone units. This documentary follows their tour of duty lasting six months in Helmand province Afghanistan.

In my opinion this documentary about a British bomb squad is better than the US documentary 'Bomb Patrol: Afghanistan'.

German title: Die Bombenentschärfer - Arbeit zwischen Leben und Tod
Channel (Germany): RTL Crime

Bomb Patrol Afghanistan is an American documentary television series. It follows members of a United States Navy EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) unit as they hunt for and dismantle explosives in Afghanistan.

German title: Bomben Patrouille in Afghanistan
Channel (Germany): RTL Crime

'Breakout' is an American reality television series. It tells the dramatic stories of some of the most ingenious jailbreaks in recent US-history, and the detective work that led to the successful recapture of escapees.
Each breakout is told from the perspectives of the criminals and the teams who hunt them down.

German title: Prison Breaks
Channel (Germany): National Geographic

This series tells the true stories that could be any traveller’s worst nightmare - when a holiday in paradise becomes a journey into hell that ends up in prison abroad. Each film tells the story of someone who’s been arrested and thrown into a foreign prison. It could be for smuggling drugs, falling foul of local corrupt policemen or for being duped into carrying illegal goods through customs.

German title: Horror Trips - Wenn Reisen zum Albtraum werden
Channel (Germany): National Geographic

Elite World Cops (or 'Shadow Soldiers') is a television series starring former SAS soldier and author Chris Ryan. Ryan travels the world meeting some of the worlds most elite police units: JUNGLAS (Colombia), BOPE (Rio de Janeiro), SUNKAR (Kazakhstan), BOA (Poland), Yamas (Israel), STF (Sri Lanka), GOPES (Mexico). The format of the show usually involves Ryan training with the unit, observing tactics and hardware and comparing them to his own experiences in the SAS.

German title: Undercover – Spezialeinheiten im Einsatz
Channel (Germany): Kabel eins

The episode about Venezuela is amazing. The life in Caracas is highly dangerous - probably the highest murder rate in the world. Prisons that are almost completely controled by prisoners. Murders and kidnappings are part of everyday life in Caracas.

My rating for this episode: 8-9

The other episode that I've seen was about Glasgow and it was by far worse than the one about Venezuela.

Channel (Germany): RTL Crime

Season 24, Episode 3 (14 Feb. 2006):

The Meth Epidemic



Speed. Meth. Glass. On the street, methamphetamine has many names. What started as a fad among West Coast motorcycle gangs in the 1970s has spread across the United States, and despite lawmakers' calls for action, the drug is now more potent, and more destructive, than at any time in the past decade. In The Meth Epidemic, FRONTLINE, in association with The Oregonian, investigates the meth rampage in America: the appalling impact on individuals, families and communities, and the difficulty of controlling an essential ingredient in meth—ephedrine and pseudoephedrine—sold legally in over-the-counter cold remedies.

www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/meth/

German title: Crystal Meth - Die Horror-Droge
Channel (Germany): RTL Crime

Every year, hundreds of millions of tourists head off in pursuit of adventure in foreign lands where they become victims of crime.

Travelling to the world’s great cities with an undercover team and hidden cameras, Conor Woodman exposes the ruthless ploys of criminals used to steal the tourist's hard-earned holiday cash by getting himself scammed, robbed and conned.

German title: Tatort Grossstadt
Channel (Germany): National Geographic

Bob Arno wows audiences with his pickpocketing show in Las Vegas. The self-proclaimed Pickpocket King, he says has never met a thief who can match his skills. Until now. Now, Bob takes us to Naples, Italy, which he calls "the pickpocketing capital of the world," to uncover some of the worlds best pickpockets. With his access well get an inside glance into how an international crew of pickpockets operates and well see if Bob really is the Pickpocket King!

German title: Taschendieben auf der Spur
Channel (Germany): National Geographic

Storm Chasers was an American documentary reality television series that followed several teams of storm chasers as they attempted to intercept tornadoes in Tornado Alley in the United States.

I'm a big fan of this series. One year after the end of the series (May 31, 2013) three members of the TWISTEX team were killed while chasing an EF-5 tornado near El Reno, Oklahoma for a Storm Chasers special of The Discovery Channel.



German title: Verrückt nach Tornados
Channel (Germany): Discovery Channel

This Episode belongs to the "Witness: Disaster" series.

The world watched in horror on March 11, 2011, as the fourth largest earthquake ever recorded crippled Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that swallowed entire communities, leaving an unprecedented catastrophe in its wake. Amateur videographers, news crews, tourists and countless others were recording the sights and sounds of the unfolding chaos. This documentary is entirely presented through the eyes of those who experienced it.

German title: Japans Erdbebenkatastrophe

TLC's "Japan Tsunami: Tales of Terror" reveals new rare footage from amateurs and video enthusiasts who were caught in the middle of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated so many in March 2011.

The Boxing Day Tsunami (2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami) was the most devastating natural disaster in recorded history - almost 230,000 people were killed. And as the catastrophe unfolded, remarkable amateur video footage emerged. It was shot by people from all around the vast impact area and depicted the terror and chaos they experienced as the massive waves struck land.

There are of course many more documentaries about the 2004 Tsunami but they are not all listed on IMDB, e.g. an 4 hour long German documentary:
"Der Tsunami - Als das Paradies verschwand" (Spiegel TV, 2009)

Episode: Katrina (2011)

Over the course of 72 hours, Hurricane Katrina went from a cataclysmic storm to a catastrophic flood, which in turn became an apocalyptic human tragedy. All the while, amateur videographers, news crews, and countless others were recording the sights and sounds of the unfolding chaos. Weaving together more than a dozen of these sources, Witness: Katrina reconstructs Hurricane Katrina as it happened, entirely through the eyes of those who experienced it.

Witness: Katrina received the 2011 News and Documentary Emmy for Outstanding Historical Programming.

German title: Im Auge des Sturms - Hurrikan Katrina hautnah

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Episode: Caught by Disaster (2011)

An American photographer is buried alive during the Haiti earthquake. With the help of news footage and photos he took from inside the crumbled building, he shares his harrowing story of being trapped inside. A family in Iowa records a deadly tornado barreling down on their home, and haunting images of the devastation and destruction that followed. A skier tells his chilling account of surviving an avalanche and storm chasers put their lives on the line while documenting a Florida Hurricane with 150mph winds.

Extreme adventurer Ed Wardle was dropped off in the wilderness of the Yukon Territory (Northern Canada) in order to make a documentary discovering what it was like to live completely alone in the wild, living off the land and the wildlife he could legally catch. His only means of communication with the outside world was via Twitter posting each day. His video diaries had detailed his problems finding food and his inability to cope with the solitude. He had intended to stay for three months, but after seven weeks he decided that he needed to get out. His bodyweight fell by 28 pounds and heart rate fell to below 30 beats per minute by the end of his adventure.

In this show, Bear Grylls shows how to survive and get to the closest civilizations when you find yourself in the worst wild scenarios. From the coldest Glaciers to the hottest rain forests and deserts, anything you need to know to survive and get back home safely.

German title: Abenteuer Survival; Ausgesetzt in der Wildnis
Channels (Germany): DMAX, Discovery Channel

In this series British filmmaker Graham Hughes attempts to break a world record by visiting 200 countries and travelling 90,000 kilometers in 52 weeks without flying. Racing against a ticking clock, Graham sets out with no support, a limited budget (100$ a week) and only a video camera for company. His plan is to not only bag a world record but raise oodles of cash for charity and win the hand of the girl he wants to marry on the finishing line. The trip of a lifetime, a flight of fancy, or a recipe for failure? Only time will tell.

For those who want to know about the highlights of his journey and how the story ended, read here the short facts:

- world record visiting all 201 countries in the world without using a plane
- 160,000 miles in exactly 1,426 days
- spent four days in a leaky boat to reach Cape Verde
- was jailed for a week in Congo
- was saved from Muslim fundamentalists by a Filipino ladyboy
- his sister, Nicole, died of cancer two years ago

or here in more detail.

German title: Grahams Weltreise

German title: Whale Wars – Krieg den Walfängern!
Channels (Germany): Animal Planet, DMAX, Discovery Channel

Season 1 is about dangerous roads in the Himalaya.

But until now I've only seen some episodes of season 2 where the same truckers are driving on dangerous roads in the Andes, like the famous Yungas Road in Bolivia.

German title:
Ice Road Truckers - Tödliche Straßen: Trucker in gefährlicher Mission

Channel (Germany): History Channel

German title: Der gefährlichste Job Alaskas
Channels (Germany): Discovery Channel, DMAX

One of the best documentaries about UFOs that I've ever seen (if not the best).
This documentary focuses on UFOs in Europe.

Altern. engl. title: UFO Europe - Untold Stories
German title: UFOs über Europa
Channels (Germany): National Geographic

Until now I've only seen the amazing 5th and 6th episode.
But I definitely will watch the others too!

Episode guide
Episode 1 - Valentich, Texas Blue Dogs
Episode 2 - Freaky Fires, Ghost Yacht
Episode 3 - Livestock Mutilation, Curse of the Ice Mummy
Episode 4 - Spontaneous Human Combustion, Carlos de los Santos
Episode 5 - Argentina UFO, Mothman, Morgellon’s
Episode 6 - Alien Rain, Carolina Beach Boom, Voynich Manuscript

German title: Unerklärlich - Rätselhafte Phänomene
Channels (Germany): Discovery Channel

When filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong to meet Edward Snowden for the first time, Poitras brought her camera with her. The result is a 100% real-life espionage story unfolding minute by minute before our eyes. Citizen Four is a major work on multiple levels, and a deeply unsettling experience.

Citizenfour won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 2015 Oscars.

more information:
citizenfourfilm.com/

'Loose Change' is a critical documentary film dealing with numerous questions that surround September 11th, 2001 to this day.

This is the final 'Loose Change' documentary. It's available on Netflix and in stores.

Michael Moore's view on what happened to the United States after September 11; and how the Bush Administration allegedly used the tragic event to push forward its agenda for unjust wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Filmmaker Michael Moore explores the roots of America's predilection for gun violence.

While examining the influence of the fast food industry, Morgan Spurlock personally explores the consequences on his health of a diet of solely McDonald's food for one month.