10 Controversial Documentaries Since 2000 That Shouldn't Be Ignored

8. The Jinx: The Life And Deaths Of Robert Durst

A six-part series which aired earlier this year on HBO, The Jinx (subtitled the Live and Deaths of Robert Durst) profiles affluent businessman, Robert Durst, a beguiling, enigmatic figure suspected in a series of murders. Part reconstruction, part talking-head interview, The Jinx bears great similarities to Errol Morris' influential The Thin Blue Line, both in its blend of fact and fiction and also in it the way that both have had an impact on the actual events of the real-life investigations at their centre (The Thin Blue was partly responsible for the acquittal of Randall Dale Adams, the man whose murder-charge the film was about, whereas Durst was arrested by the FBI on a charge of first degree murder as a result of new evidence presented in this miniseries). Directed by Andrew Jarecki (whom we will see again later), The Jinx makes for perhaps the most engrossing film on this list, with the filmmaker and his crew granted extraordinary access to Durst himself in the later episodes. By turns charming and repellent, Durst is one of the most fascinating creatures on show in any documentary, and by getting his own viewpoint we are drawn into his warped psyche and forced to make or own decisions about his ambiguous case (The Jinx turns the viewer into a kind-of detective). Most notable for its WTF ending - in which a still micro-phoned Durst appears to unwittingly confess to the killings while in the bathroom and talking to himself - The Jinx is a harrowing depiction of a man who may or may not be a murderer. The controversy of this one is as open-ended as it comes.