Rhea Posted August 28, 2010 Share Posted August 28, 2010 I tried searching but had no luck. Please tell me what you think are the don't miss movies or documentaries for any time period. Or please point me to where this has already been answered. :001_smile: Last year we watched the John Adams miniseries and it engendered a lot of questions and a desire to learn more in my eldest. Not so much the younger two, but they did enjoy the series. ;) I would like to incorporate many more this year. Thanks so much! Rhea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alphabetika Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Are you looking for any particular subject matter? This would help in giving recommendations. In the realm of US history, we've greatly enjoyed the Ken Burns documentaries about Lewis and Clark and about the Civil War. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MGK Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 This is a blog that has Netflix movies linked to Story of the World - a chronological list of suggested movies by time period. I'm planning to use her list this year to supplement our Ancient History studies. http://runofthemillfamily.blogspot.com/p/story-of-world-resources-for-volume-one.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JennW in SoCal Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 The BBC series on WWI is one of the best documentary series I've seen. I've watched it twice now as I had each kid watch it for history and I was impressed and learned so much each time. You can find it at Netflix: The First World War Ghandi is a terrific movie that was as informative and fascinating for my teen as it was when I first saw it in the theaters way back when... Disney has an interesting set about its role in the war effort during WWII, called Walt Disney: On the Front Lines There are documentaries produced by the company and some shorts. The PBS series on the history of Broadway ties together cultural and political history in a seamless manner. If your kids have any interest in theater, they'll enjoy it. I love all of Ken Burns' series, but my kids found them very slow. NOVA on PBS has had some terrific episodes, and some duds. The ones that stick out in my memory are: Secrets of Lost Empires There are two sets of these, which have modern engineers try to build ancient monuments using period technology and material Newton's Dark Secrets About Newton's dabbling in alchemy DNA: Secret of Photo 51 About Dr. Rosalind Franklin's contribution to the discovery of DNA The Pluto FilesNeil deGrasse Tyson's fun episode on Pluto's recent demotion. Other movies that have been hits here: Master and Commander The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (a cold war comedy) Dr. Strangelove Casablanca It's a Wonderful Life Sands of Iwo Jima Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea Posted August 29, 2010 Author Share Posted August 29, 2010 Ladies, you are wonderful! Wow. Are you looking for any particular subject matter? This would help in giving recommendations. In the realm of US history, we've greatly enjoyed the Ken Burns documentaries about Lewis and Clark and about the Civil War. Any time period, any subject matter. We're not going to worry about it matching where dd15 is in history. I just want good films that inform, and/or inspire and/or engender questions. This is a blog that has Netflix movies linked to Story of the World - a chronological list of suggested movies by time period. I'm planning to use her list this year to supplement our Ancient History studies. http://runofthemillfamily.blogspot.com/p/story-of-world-resources-for-volume-one.html That is a great resource. Thank you MGK. The BBC series on WWI is one of the best documentary series I've seen. I've watched it twice now as I had each kid watch it for history and I was impressed and learned so much each time. You can find it at Netflix: The First World War Ghandi is a terrific movie that was as informative and fascinating for my teen as it was when I first saw it in the theaters way back when... Disney has an interesting set about its role in the war effort during WWII, called Walt Disney: On the Front Lines There are documentaries produced by the company and some shorts. The PBS series on the history of Broadway ties together cultural and political history in a seamless manner. If your kids have any interest in theater, they'll enjoy it. I love all of Ken Burns' series, but my kids found them very slow. NOVA on PBS has had some terrific episodes, and some duds. The ones that stick out in my memory are: Secrets of Lost Empires There are two sets of these, which have modern engineers try to build ancient monuments using period technology and material Newton's Dark Secrets About Newton's dabbling in alchemy DNA: Secret of Photo 51 About Dr. Rosalind Franklin's contribution to the discovery of DNA The Pluto FilesNeil deGrasse Tyson's fun episode on Pluto's recent demotion. Other movies that have been hits here: Master and Commander The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming! (a cold war comedy) Dr. Strangelove Casablanca It's a Wonderful Life Sands of Iwo Jima Thank you Jenn! We will definitely watch the BBC series on WWI and probably a few others on your list. Btw, we loved Master and Commander. Rented it so many times we finally bought it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farmgirl70 Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 These are not documentaries, but do incorporate lots of true things in the stories. One of my three particularly seeks heroes and these movies have inspired us: "Invictus" (Nelson Mandela/South Africa/apartheid) "Amazing Grace" (William Wilberforce/slave trade) "The Young Victoria" (Queen Victoria and Albert) "Bright Star" (John Keats and Fanny Brawne) There are undoubtedly more, but these come to mind right now : ). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea Posted August 29, 2010 Author Share Posted August 29, 2010 These are not documentaries, but do incorporate lots of true things in the stories. One of my three particularly seeks heroes and these movies have inspired us: "Invictus" (Nelson Mandela/South Africa/apartheid) "Amazing Grace" (William Wilberforce/slave trade) "The Young Victoria" (Queen Victoria and Albert) "Bright Star" (John Keats and Fanny Brawne) There are undoubtedly more, but these come to mind right now : ). Thank you, FarmGirl70. We saw Invictus and The Young Victoria last year. We read a fair bit about Queen Victoria after watching that one. The other two looked really good, I think we just forgot about them. Thanks much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 Someone on this board suggested A State of Mind. Probably the most eye opening documentary I've seen in a while. We also really love anything by Michael Palin. Connections is also fun. When We Left Earth is also amazing. Oh! Almost forgot. . And another. We Shall Remain. So many good ones. These are ones I recall most vividly...at this moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ester Maria Posted August 29, 2010 Share Posted August 29, 2010 My daughter found online a BBC documentary called "Dangerous Knowledge" on mathematics of infinity, Cantor, etc. I was pleasantly surprised with it. We're not much of a movie family so I can't give many suggestions, but this one popped into my head as the most recent thing we saw some months ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea Posted August 29, 2010 Author Share Posted August 29, 2010 Thank you, Lisa and Ester Maria! Our list of possibilities is growing... Rhea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 (edited) I'm homeschooling an AS/MR adult who wants to get his HS diploma, so I've been trying to put together a mostly-documentary-based American History course for him. So far I have these: Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower (this was excellent) Conquest of America (History Channel) Liberty! The American Revolution (PBS) Revolution (History Channel) Washington the Warrior (History Channel) Ben Franklin (PBS) Thomas Jefferson (Ken Burns) John Adams (HBO) The Civil War (Ken Burns) Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery (Ken Burns) We Shall Remain (PBS) The West (Ken Burns) World War I in Color The First World War: The Complete Series The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) The War (Ken Burns) American Presidents (History Channel) The Supreme Court (PBS) A few World History documentaries: Legacy: The Origins of Civilization Decisive Battles of the Ancient World Infinite Secrets: The Genius of Archimedes (NOVA) Engineering an Empire: Complete Series Rome: Power & Glory The Roman Invasion of Britain The Dark Ages (History Channel) Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons The Germanic Tribes The Normans The Vikings (NOVA) Empires (PBS) The Plague (History Channel) Terry Jones trilogy: Medieval Lives, Barbarians, Crusades The Story of Math The Story of 1 (Terry Jones) I find the search feature on Netflix to be pretty worthless for general browsing, so I usually search on Amazon to find interesting documentaries, then search for the exact title on Netflix to see if they have it. I think they do have most of the above documentaries. Jackie Edited September 1, 2010 by Corraleno added videos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lagirl Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I purchased "The History of US" from the History channel, however you could simply Tivo them as they are aired. We are enjoying them as we study American History. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 The movie/miniseries HBO made on Temple Grandin just won a bunch of Emmys--certainly worth a look for its depiction of a fascinating woman who has autism. Although it may be labelled sensationalism, the documentary Food, Inc., is wonderful. It's available on Netflicks on the Wii, if you have that instant thingy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lisabees Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I'm homeschooling an AS/MR adult who wants to get his HS diploma, so I've been trying to put together a mostly-documentary-based American History course for him. So far I have these: Desperate Crossing: The Untold Story of the Mayflower (this was excellent) Conquest of America (History Channel) Liberty! The American Revolution (PBS) Revolution (History Channel) Washington the Warrior (History Channel) Ben Franklin (PBS) Thomas Jefferson (Ken Burns) John Adams (HBO) The Civil War (Ken Burns) Lewis & Clark: Journey of the Corps of Discovery (Ken Burns) We Shall Remain (PBS) The West (Ken Burns) World War I in Color The First World War: The Complete Series The World at War (30th Anniversary Edition) The War (Ken Burns) American Presidents (History Channel) The Supreme Court (PBS) A few World History documentaries: Decisive Battles of the Ancient World Engineering an Empire: Complete Series Rome: Power & Glory The Dark Ages (History Channel) The Germanic Tribes The Normans The Vikings (NOVA) Empires (PBS) Terry Jones trilogy: Medieval Lives, Barbarians, Crusades I find the search feature on Netflix to be pretty worthless for general browsing, so I usually search on Amazon to find interesting documentaries, then search for the exact title on Netflix to see if they have it. I think they do have most of the above documentaries. Jackie How cool are you??? :hurray: You just helped me out so much!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted August 30, 2010 Share Posted August 30, 2010 I love all of Ken Burns' series, but my kids found them very slow. All of us here like Ken Burns. But...we admit they can get a little slow. My kids do like to make fun of his movies because of a Jimmy Neutron episode in which Miss Fowl shows an 80-hr Ken Burns documentary about Egypt: "Sand...so much sand..." :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhea Posted August 30, 2010 Author Share Posted August 30, 2010 Thanks for all the great suggestions! Through this thread we've learned of quite a few we didn't know about. All of us here like Ken Burns. But...we admit they can get a little slow. My kids do like to make fun of his movies because of a Jimmy Neutron episode in which Miss Fowl shows an 80-hr Ken Burns documentary about Egypt: "Sand...so much sand..." :D This gave us a good laugh this morning. Thanks for that. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Time for Chocolate Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 The John Adams - HBO doc. that Jackie mentioned is incredible!! Thanks for the thread. Lots of awesome suggestions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cathmom Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 Eyes on the Prize, about the Civil Rights movement. It's 14 hours long, and when we finished the last episode, dd asked if we could watch it again! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Imprimis Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 We recently watched (and truly enjoyed!) Backstairs at the White House, the miniseries based on the lives of Maggie Rogers and her daughter, Lillian Rogers Parks. They worked as maids in the White House for eight first families---Taft to Eisenhower. Features a wonderful cast including Leslie Uggams, Olivia Cole, Cloris Leachman, and Louis Gossett, Jr. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
emubird Posted August 31, 2010 Share Posted August 31, 2010 http://www.navigatinglife.org/historybusters/id47.html This website supposedly has 1000 historically accurate films. But you have to check for appropriateness. Some are even beyond me, and I'm pretty open. We've never managed to get through a Ken Burns documentary. They're not just slow, they're repetitive. There must have been other photos, other music, etc from those time periods that could have been used. And the civil war one tended to be a lot of battle strategy, which just did not interest us. There wasn't enough analysis of historical events for us. We just tried to get through an Ansel Adams documentary, done by Ric Burns. Couldn't finish that one either. We were hoping for info on photographic techniques, history of the Sierra Club or Yosemite or San Francisco ... actually almost anything. We've watched 2 documentaries on John Adams. One was really good. The other was kind of so-so. Unfortunately, I can't remember which one was which. But if you get one and it's boring, you might try to search out a second one to see if it's the more interesting one. (Liberty! and the Ben Franklin PBS series were both good.) Michael Woods does some ok documentaries, although a few of them do get too much into just watching him walk around in his all terrain outfit. David Attenborough has done some very nice nature videos. (Although the ones he's only the narrator on aren't as good. Look for the ones where he appears on camera. He had more hand in the making of those and they come off better.) There's a nice video on the cichlids of Africa called The Jewel of the Rift (I think). I haven't watched it yet, but I've heard Hummingbirds:Magic in the Air is interesting. A few others are: Einstein's Big Idea (although I wish they'd spent more time on the science and less on his wreck of a personal life) Darwin's Dangerous Idea (and the other PBS videos that were part of this series) and there was a series PBS did on the discovery of basic physics principles which I wish I could remember and find again (if anyone knows what it is, fill me in! I know Faraday was covered. I think also Maxwell and Meitner and a few others.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murphy101 Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 How cool are you??? :hurray: You just helped me out so much!! I second that - thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAMom Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 with Jimmy Stewart. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.