Publication Date: Friday, January 5, 2007

Inconvenient truths
The documentary films of 2006 took on a myriad of tough topics

by Susan Tavernetti

When almost-president Al Gore outgrosses Brad Pitt in "Babel" or Leonardo DiCaprio in "Blood Diamond," it's safe to say that documentaries have become mainstream entertainment. Who would have predicted that "An Inconvenient Truth," a message picture about global warming, would become a box-office hit and push the topic into public discourse?

This movie actually made a difference.

In what amounts to a 96-minute PowerPoint presentation, Gore reaches out to the average American with his relaxed style and clear explanation of complicated information. The climate -- not a Florida ballot with a partially punched chad -- hangs in the balance. The former veep makes a passionate case for viewers to act "boldly, quickly and wisely" to help save the planet.

And he had plenty of company in 2006. Documentaries this year made passionate cases on a myriad of tough topics, criticizing, analyzing and asking hard questions.

Another environmentally conscious film, "Who Killed the Electric Car?" questions why General Motors pulled the plug on America's first emission-free vehicles. Palo Alto native Chris Paine mourns the death of his sleek GM EV1. He zipped quietly past the gas guzzlers from 1998 until 2003, when the world's largest automaker confiscated all the lease-only cars and crushed them. Watching nearly mint-condition models subjected to the shredding process will almost make you weep.

Reflecting growing concerns about the Iraq War, many 2006 releases focus on the battles raging in the Middle East and their impact at home. Two of the soldiers' stories are on the shortlist of 15 feature documentaries vying for five Oscar slots. Patricia Foulkrod's "The Ground Truth" puts a face on the casualties of war, interviewing American combat veterans and featuring unforgettable images of Iraqis gunned down and manhandled by the U.S. military.

Deborah Scranton distributed digital cameras to New Hampshire National Guardsmen on the front lines. They shot all the footage of "The War Tapes," which situates the viewer in the midst of firefights and close to car bombings. Whenever the men address the camera, they also draw you into their soldier mindsets.

For "Iraq in Fragments," Seattle journalist James Longley spent two years turning the camera on three groups of Iraqis. The poetry of his cinematography counters the growing frustration expressed by a Sunni Muslim boy, a Shiite cleric, and two families of Kurds over the ongoing war.

Having stood up to Rupert Murdoch's media empire and Wal-Mart, Robert Greenwald takes war profiteers to task in "Iraq for Sale." Former workers in the multibillion-dollar, private-contractor industry testify about the fraud, waste and abuse fueled by American tax dollars. The exposé particularly criticizes Halliburton and Blackwater, contending that both corporations snare no-bid contracts and endanger the lives of their employees for more profits.

Politics also entered concert venues and hit the airwaves, taking the Dixie Chicks by surprise after lead singer Natalie Maines made an anti-Bush quip during their 2003 European tour. In the vibrant "Shut Up & Sing," Barbara Kopple and co-director Cecilia Peck capture the trio's spunk during the subsequent outpouring of hatred.

Taking an amusing approach to the culture wars, Kirby Dick hired endearing private detectives to unmask the members and secretive policies of the Motion Picture Association of America. Film artists ranging from John Waters to Maria Bello talk about tangling with the board in "This Film Is Not Yet Rated." The light-hearted but serious investigation questions why the MPAA favors violence to sex ("Kiss a breast, you get an R. Lop it off, PG-13.") and considers the impact on American culture.

Amy Berg's "Deliver Us From Evil," Stanley Nelson's "Jonestown: The Life and Death of the Peoples Temple" and Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady's "Jesus Camp" got religion. Berg's powerful, gut-wrenching look at clergy sexual abuse focuses on a former Lodi-and-Stockton-area Catholic priest. Other local angles surface in Nelson's study of charismatic Jim Jones and the rise of his religious cult in San Francisco. "Chilling" doesn't begin to describe the interviews with Bay Area survivors of the 1978 mass murder-suicide in the jungles of Guyana.

The emotionally intense "Jesus Camp" is a Rorschach test that hinges upon your religious and political beliefs. Kids on Fire, a Pentecostal summer program in North Dakota, trains born-again children for leadership roles in God's army. For some viewers, this fly-on-the-wall documentary qualifies as the horror film of the year.

Michael Apted's absorbing "49 Up" repeats the saying "Give me a child until he is 7, and I will give you the man." In 1964, he began filming a group of British children from diverse backgrounds in seven-year intervals. They've grown into middle age before our very eyes, creating a fascinating anthropological study while raising questions about how Apted presents the "reality" of their lives.

For sheer fun, don't miss Patrick Creadon's "Wordplay" about New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz and the quirky world of the American Crossword Puzzle Tournament. Celebrity solvers Bill Clinton and Jon Stewart discuss their habit while taking pen to paper.

Eleven letters across.

Type of feature filmmaking that informs, provokes and entertains.

D-o-c-u-m-e-n-t-a-r-y.

It's the word of the year.