There has been so much influx of TV series content in the last few months and it had me overwhelmed. I decided to take a little break and focus on content with a confirmed start and stop, that did not require a committment.
I have always liked documentaries. They are straight to the point and based on facts (well depending on what story the director would like to skew) what I mean is, its a real life story. Although I do wonder why there aren’t joyful documentaries…hmm.
Here are my thoughts on the docs:
Bikram – Yogi.Guru.Predator : I listened to the 30 for 30 podcast series this was based on, last year and I was blown away by what the combination of power and delusion can do to people. Bikram Choudry came to America brandishing a yoga phenomenon that swept the nation and made him famous while hob knobbing with famous people. He began a training camp to license teachers which apparently was a playground for him to prey on women and sexually assault and rape them. The podcast gave more information but Bikram is so animated that it was interesting seeing him in person and showing his madness. Available on Netflix
There’s Something Wrong With Aunt Diane: This is an old one from 2011 about the 2009 Taconic State Parkway crash in Upstate New York when Diane was returning from a family vacation with her kids and nieces and nephew and ended up going the wrong way on the highway, crashing into another car and ended up with all of them dead except her son, Henry. The meat of the documentary is her husband and sister-in-law trying to find out what happened that day especially when the toxicology report showed she had THC and alcohol in her system. I don’t think this was very well done but that could be attributed to the age of the doc, there were a lot of loose ends. Available on HBO
The Family I Had: This was a tough one. The documentary starts with a home video of a young boy and his little sister at Christmas and the next thing we hear is a chilling 911 call of a 13 year boy saying he knows he has killed his 4 year old sister because he stabbed her many times. We follow their mom, Charity as she navigates forgiving the child who killed her other child and if there were signs her son is a sociopath. Her mother is also featured and there is a whole other story with that. Available on Starz and Prime Video
Tell Me Who I Am: 18 year old Alex is in a motorcycle accident on his way back from a wedding. He wakes up in the hospital and the only thing or person he remembers is his twin brother, Marcus. He begins to try to rebuild his memory through his brother who tells them about their fun childhood and vacations. When both their parents die, Alex is confused as to why Marcus isn’t showing emotion. As they are cleaning out their house, they come across a picture of both them at 10 years old. In the picture, they are both naked and their heads have been removed from the pic. That moment is when they take us into this dark, twisted secret in this family. The emotion between the brothers was real and we get to experience a very real moment between them. Honestly, not everyone should be parents. Available on Netflix
Let me know which of these docs you would like to watch based on this. And if you do, let me know what you think in the comments!
