12 Shocking Documentaries That Will Change How You See The World

Shoah is a masterpiece but with a running length of over nine hours, the film is unlikely to reach nearly as many viewers as the others on this list.

The Claude Lanzmann directed epic is about the holocaust and looks particularly at four locations: the Chelmno Extermination Camp, the Warsaw ghetto and the death camps of Treblinka and Auschwitz. Lanzmann is extremely confrontational in this film and instead of employing the use of archival footage, creates everything himself often to harrowing effect. He asks cruel questions but essential ones in order to capture the holocaust before the remaining parties pass away. The film is chilling.

While the sheer tragedy of the holocaust has led to many depictions throughout history, few make you reflect and remember quite like Shoah. Looking into the remains of the camps, talking to the surviving parties and recreating situations brings the memory alive and in it one of the greatest documentaries of all time is created. Shoah is disturbing but so masterful that it will alter your perspective on life.