Any film fan - by which we mean anyone who's spent a whole day in bed on Netflix - will tell you that documentaries are one of the most vital genres in cinema. These are non-fiction explorations of important and controversial topics which illuminate aspects of history, society and culture which we'd be none the wiser about were it not for the crusading likes of Errol Morris, Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock. Rather than cloak their messages behind the veil of fiction, these filmmakers take cameras to where the real action is, capturing in unflinching detail everything from serious war crimes to a document of why you probably shouldn't eat fast food everyday for every meal. Except, sometimes, the distinction between fiction and non-fiction isn't quite so... well, distinct. Guardian columnist Ian Jack calls documentaries "a confection and often built on a series of small lies", arguing that since their very beginning these films which supposedly show us real-life events are often full of staged scenes, cynical editing and a fair amount of editorialising through voiceover and choice of interviewees. Despite a bunch of high-profile scandals involving documentaries that turn out to be made from at least half cloth (we've looked at a bunch before, in fact), we still implicitly believe everything we're told in these supposed real stories. We're like the audiences who fled from the cinema when they saw the film of the train coming into the station, terrified it's going to crash through the screen as it hurtles towards the camera. Morris has gotten off light but Moore's political tracts have been picked apart for their purposeful inaccuracies and, really, it seems Spurlock's better off making films about One Direction. Those are just the tip of the iceberg, however - there's a whole raft of classic (and not-so-classic) pieces of film reportage out there that are similarly built on a tissue of lies. Here are ten such bullsh*t documentaries that aren't worth your time.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
