“Cinema, as Jean-Luc Godard wrote, is truth 24 times a second,” said the Guardian. “Documentaries both prove and disprove the point; but the truth is their strongest weapon.”

These are the ten best documentaries according to the critics of the Guardian and Observer.

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1.

Shoah

(1985)

Director: Claude Lanzmann
Stars: Simon Srebnik, Michael Podchlebnik, Motke Zaidl

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2.

The Thin Blue Line

(1988)

Director: Errol Morris
Stars: Randall Adams, David Harris, Gus Rose

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$18.81

3.

Grizzly Man

(2005)

Director: Werner Herzog
Stars: Timothy Treadwell, Amie Huguenard, Werner Herzog

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4.

Nanook of the North

(1922)

Director: Robert J. Flaherty
Stars: Allakariallak, Nyla, Allee

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$37.84

5.

The Sorrow and the Pity

(1969)

Director: Marcel Ophüls
Stars: Georges Bidault, Matthäus Bleibinger, Charles Braun

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6.

Fahrenheit 9/11

(2004)

Director: Michael Moore
Stars: Michael Moore, George W. Bush, Ben Affleck

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7.

À Propos de Nice

(1930)

Director: Jean Vigo

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8.

Grey Gardens

(1975)

Directors: Ellen Hovde, Albert Maysles
Stars: Edith Bouvier Beale, Edith ‘Little Edie’ Bouvier Beale, Brooks Hyers

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9.

Crumb

(1994)

Director: Terry Zwigoff
Stars: Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky, Charles Crumb

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10.

Man with a Movie Camera

(1929)

Director: Dziga Vertov
Star: Mikhail Kaufman

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The Guardian (founded in 1821) is a British national daily newspaper, and the Observer (founded in 1791) is its Sunday sibling. They are amongst the most influential papers in the world. The Guardian and its journalists have won numerous journalism awards, especially in the last decades.

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