Grimmest documentaries you've seen

[Glebe]

Soaked in Bleach and Kurt and Courtney. Depressing shit. Not saying Courtney is definitely guilty, but by fuck is it ever a fishy situation. May have to bump Biggy's Cobain conspiracy thread. In any case, it's very disheartening stuff. Give me the music and fuck the greedy, miserable rock and roll shit.

Gonna watch Cobain: Montage of Heck to cheer meself up.

[clingfilm portent]

Has the Marc Dutroux documentary been mentioned/made the list yet? That one's sure to take the spring out of your step.

[non capisco]

Very keen to watch Cartel Land, when the opportunity arises. Anyone seen it?

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4126304/

Edit: IMDB link.

Yes. A fascinating tale compellingly told but, as befits this thread, quite a tough sit on occasion. One scene in particular where

Spoiler alert

the rebel militia drags a guy away in front of his wife and terrified young daughter, interrogates him at gunpoint in the back of a car and then throws him into a holding centre where the wails of ongoing torture can be heard from adjoining rooms and men sit with their hands clasped to their ears to drown it out

[close]

has stayed with me. There's some truly hair-raising footage captured by the dispassionate gaze of the cameras.

[Carpool Dragon]

Meant to post about this a while ago: Gothic King Cobra. It's about a guy from a small town in Wyoming who is a Harmony Korine character come to life. Maybe it's a bit petty compared to some of the other documentaries in this thread but I found it oddly compelling.

[garbed_attic]

Big Jack, you were on a roll and then... did you throw in the towel, mate?

Maybe such an epic (and potentially morale destroying) undertaking needs a kickstarter! I'd kickstarter you!

[DukeDeMondo]

Big Jack, you were on a roll and then... did you throw in the towel, mate?

We're gonna have to have a talk.

[Brundle-Fly]

This may have been mentioned before on this thread but I can't find my rubber waders tonight.

I've just watched this DVD The Backyard (2003) bought from Poundland. Grim, but also darkly hilarious portrayal of WWF wannabes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMLpNilRQP4

[Moribunderast]

The Hunting Ground - A new film by Kirby Dick (who made the similarly-themed The Invisible War) about rape and sexual assault on US college campuses and how the administrations of those facilities do everything in their power to dissuade survivors from reporting and/or seeking justice. Like with documentaries about abuse in the Catholic Church, rape at college is such an ingrained issue that it (sadly) almost feels like a tired cliché but some of the stories and statistics put forward in this film show how much work there is still to be done. I'm loathe to use such a word but there really is a true evil involved in administrators hearing of these cases and trying to shut down the victim/s while protecting the perpetrators. I know greed is a strong motivator for people but I see things like this and literally can't fathom how a human being can shame a survivor and side with a rapist just because it's financially convenient or the attacker is good at sport. There's some miscarriages of justice portrayed in this film that leave you shaking your head and swearing at the screen.

[newbridge]

This may have been mentioned before on this thread but I can't find my rubber waders tonight.

I've just watched this DVD The Backyard (2003) bought from Poundland. Grim, but also darkly hilarious portrayal of WWF wannabes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMLpNilRQP4

This is actually the most depressing one in the entire thread. The collective id of capitalism's rejects.

[Don_Preston]

The Lost Gold of the Highlands / Garnet's Gold (inexplicably re-titled for Storyville)

Nary a nonce in sight, but by far the harshest, skin-crawliest experience I've had in an age. Notionally the story of one man's search for a cache of Jacobite gold lost in the highlands, it is in reality an exploration of total failure and mounting existential despair. Our protagonist, Garnet, is pushing 60, lives with his ailing mother and seems increasingly stricken by the realisation that his life has amounted to nothing. He's plainly a dreamer and his quest seems doomed from the start. Wonderfully shot with an eye for cloying detail, I'll confess it struck a bit of a chord and I was left asking myself all sorts of difficult questions. 'What's the bloody point?' indeed. The final scenes are extraordinarily moving.

Whole thing is up on youtube here - sound seems a little dicky in places, but otherwise a very workable copy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I27BDo7PGHY

When he's realises he's been stood up by the pianist on the way to the cafe. I actually work with someone who's very similar in character to Garnet, albeit far less tolerable.

Then again, could it not be a reflection on myself? I'm off to get my metal detector out the cupboard.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Watched The Food Bank: Scotland's Hidden Hunger last night on BBC One (Scotland)

Seemed to be in the same vein as other poverty porn shows such as The Scheme, Girls Behind Bars and Boys Behind Bars. The doc centers round several characters and how their life changes have meant they are now dependant on a local Food Bank for their survival. Grim stuff indeed, re-inforced by the fact it is filmed in Dundee (I like Dundee) and there are some proper grim parts round there. Actually there is a story to tell here and ultimately an important message from our society but it does seem a tad exploitative, maybe that is just me though.
Anyway definitely belongs in the Vault of Grim Documentaries.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Yes. A fascinating tale compellingly told but, as befits this thread, quite a tough sit on occasion. One scene in particular where

Spoiler alert

the rebel militia drags a guy away in front of his wife and terrified young daughter, interrogates him at gunpoint in the back of a car and then throws him into a holding centre where the wails of ongoing torture can be heard from adjoining rooms and men sit with their hands clasped to their ears to drown it out

[close]

has stayed with me. There's some truly hair-raising footage captured by the dispassionate gaze of the cameras.

Well you are spot on there. I watched this last night, unfortunately with a few interruptions so will view again. It is an awful situation there alright and definitely belongs in here alright. Those militia chaps were pretty unhinged, well what would I expect really. Great doc though and as said will get another viewing tonight, I hope.

[Ringside]

Catching a Monster, The Manhunt For Paedophile Peter Gerard Scully is particularly vile.

I was actually quite close to turning this off a couple of times.

[Pinckle Wicker]

Catching a Monster, The Manhunt For Paedophile Peter Gerard Scully is particularly vile.

I was actually quite close to turning this off a couple of times.

Yes that does sound pretty grim, having no knowledge of who he was I looked him up! Grimness indeed!

[Ringside]

Yes that does sound pretty grim, having no knowledge of who he was I looked him up! Grimness indeed!

The worst bits for me was when it showed you the intro's to the video's he produced. Obviously the abuse is censored but he was charged with producing this shit with an 18 month old, 8 year old, 12 year old etc. And he was advertising them in "full HD", with the synopsis saying how they were getting "destroyed" for your pleasure etc.

Fucking horrific and a vile, vile piece of shit of a person.

[Pinckle Wicker]

The worst bits for me was when it showed you the intro's to the video's he produced. Obviously the abuse is censored but he was charged with producing this shit with an 18 month old, 8 year old, 12 year old etc. And he was advertising them in "full HD", with the synopsis saying how they were getting "destroyed" for your pleasure etc.

Fucking horrific and a vile, vile piece of shit of a person.

Sweet Lord, that is fucked up.

I read further that he may face execution. I have to say my first thought was,
good.

[imitationleather]

Catching a Monster, The Manhunt For Paedophile Peter Gerard Scully is particularly vile.

I was actually quite close to turning this off a couple of times.

I didn't really like the presentation of that documentary, but my word that is one fucked up story.

[Ringside]

I didn't really like the presentation of that documentary, but my word that is one fucked up story.

Yeah I know what you mean and agree. There are a couple of others on youtube but I didn't delve.

[imitationleather]

Last night I went to the premiere of Chemsex, which funnily enough is directed by forum favourite Max Gogarty, who has managed to shake off the trauma of having his travelogue blog canned and now is a fully-paid up member of the media establishment. It's a gruelling piece of absolute grimness about the growing popularity of injecting crystal meth and getting with loads of guys for unprotected having it off on the gay scene, and the resulting health crisis. Proper difficult to watch at points, and also includes bits where you can definitely see real blowjobs and anal boning, which is a bit hot. Very interesting how there's apparently a "perfect storm" of drug use, risky sex and the technology to facilitate it. There was a Q&A after with our Max, a man who is a drugs counsellor at that Dean Street sex clinic that accidentally released all those details of people with HIV, and a guy in the film who describes his experiences of chemsex. What really comes through is a massive sense of sadness and loneliness in the participants. There's one particularly hard-to-watch bit where a guy, in full psychosis, is desperately trying to inject himself repeatedly while imagining he's hearing people outside his door. Brrrr. I recommend watching it, it definitely fulfills the criteria of this thread!

Also this week I've been to premieres of The Fear of 13, which is about a guy who spent over two decades on death row, and The Hard Stop, about Mark Duggan's family and friends. At that screening I was sat right next to Mark Duggan's family! Anyway, both are very grim but also very good in their own way. The Fear of 13 is quite uplifting in the end too, so there is some light at the end of the grim tunnel. After that was shown yer man who was on death row all that time came on stage to answer questions, which was surreal. Turned out once he was released he wanted to be anonymous and so he moved to England and got a job in Next, of all places.

That's three films I've been to as part of this year's London Film Festival and they've been three massive grim hits. Can't wait until next year!

[Pinckle Wicker]

A good friend of mine introduced me to a little gem, of grimness, at the weekend past. It is called The Blight and is set in the East End of Glasgow in 1982. It covers all aspects of what you grim documentary lovers would expect, violence, gangs, drugs, poverty & loneliness (I could actually go on a good bit more). Anyway here is a link to it- https://vimeo.com/24531931

[great_badir]

Catching a Monster, The Manhunt For Paedophile Peter Gerard Scully is particularly vile.

I was actually quite close to turning this off a couple of times.

Fucking hell, I've only read the brief Wiki page on him and that alone was enough to turn my stomach over.  I can't handle stuff like that being a parent now, so will steer well clear of it.

[wooders1978]

Cartel-land has popped up on netflix - pretty grim all said

[Puce Moment]

Fucking hell, I've only read the brief Wiki page on him and that alone was enough to turn my stomach over.  I can't handle stuff like that being a parent now, so will steer well clear of it.

Worst filmmaker ever.

[Dannyhood91]

This had me on the brink of suicide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tlp0l1S2Iyg

[DukeDeMondo]

I finally saw 66 Months last night. I think it's frustrating as a chunk of film at times, but fuckin hell. Fuckin hell.

I wish nothing but the best for that fella. Is there any sort of follow up anyone knows of that tells us he didn't go back to drinkin and fittin himself to death? Website or anything? I can't find any information at all.

Fuckin hell.

[Steven]

I finally saw 66 Months last night. I think it's frustrating as a chunk of film at times, but fuckin hell. Fuckin hell.

Are we a gud team?

Unfortunately looks like the film-maker Gordon Wilson has since died, and the documentary originally formed as he had been jobless and homeless himself before going to an Oxford Film Course and of course in his travails befriending Nigel Fletcher, the subject of the film, which is probably why there's been little news since. He also made another Oxford based film following a heroin addict named Lottie.

Wilson also worked on Skint for Channel 4 before dying from a drugs overdose, father of three and all, doesn't get any better does it?

[Big Jack McBastard]

Think I might pick up where I left off since I've got an abundance of time on my hands.

[fatguyranting]

Another vote for CHEMSEX here. After writing a book about sex parties, bukkake events and gay porn a few years back I genuinely thought I was unshockable when it came to people's sexual behaviour, but after watching this I was depressed for a good twenty four hours. It's just so fucking bleak, especially the relaxed outlook the protagonists have when it comes to viral transmission, some even searching out partners who are HIV positive. It raises so many questions for the gay community, especially when you take into account that this, all be it I hope, isolated group of gay men are indulging in the kind of destructive sexuality that caused so many questions to be raised by activists around the time of the mid 1980s HIV pandemic. The people featured ooze loneliness and a sense that their lives are without any value beyond IV drug use and multiple sexual partners. The whole scene feels pathological in its unwillingness to accept responsibility for its actions. The only positive note being the guys featured willingness to at least speak with brutal honesty about what motivates them. Horribly dark and best avoided by any heterosexual folk squeamish about representations of extreme gay sex.

Similarly, there was a doc featured on Storyville recently called FBI INFORMER that was equally heartbreaking in a different way that is well worth searching out, although I think it's now been removed from IPlayer.

[DukeDeMondo]

It's just so fucking bleak, especially the relaxed outlook the protagonists have when it comes to viral transmission, some even searching out partners who are HIV positive.

Have a wee sniff around on google for the Breeding Zone forum. The number of says on there dedicated to such will keep you busy for days. Terrifying, for, if we can believe that lot, not only are there lads actively huntin a dose of fuck flu for one reason or another (either because it's a fetish or because they're young enough to think HIV is something they just have to get out the way at some point and if they take the medication they won't even know it's there), but also a lot of lads keen on gifting unsuspecting partners, and exchanging tips on how best to do so. Horrible stuff, really, in all sorts of ways.

Tuh! Bloody poofs!

[fatguyranting]

So Duke I followed your advice and googled that. What a mad, sad and profoundly depressing world we live in.