Documentaries - ones that are really engaging

Not to be confused with mocumentaries, i.e. those comedic gems that play on the documentary format to reveal a story, documentaries are generally films that are out to educate their audience about a topic and to (with the exception of Michael Moore) provide a balanced view.

It is rare outside of the realm of the film festival for documentaries to garner an international release on several screens within a country. Generally, for that to happen, they need to have a pretty big sponsor - like Michael Moore or Al Gore.

Documentaries of the Michael Moore kind have a specific objective and provide a very one sided view of a topic. If you are into that style of documentary then the following films will appeal to you:

Bowling for Colombine (although one-sided the inclusion of people like Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Chris Rock really make this documentary an enjoyable watch)
Sicko
Farenheit 9/11;
Super Size Me;
Food, Inc; and
An Inconvenient Truth

For the nature lover, I found the following couple of documentaries to be incredibly engaging:

Winged Migration; and
Microcosmos

For those who are more interested in documentaries that follow people as they participate in or overcome a challenge, you cannot go past the following films:

Spellbound
The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters; and
Touching the Void

For those interested in fashion, The September Issue is definitely a great watch.

For those who like musicians, Madonna: Truth or Dare (aka In Bed with Madonna) is great as it is when the woman really was at her peak in terms of celebrity and was the first musician to do this. People like Beyonce and Katy Perry have done similar films since but they are nowhere near as good as this one.

I am not much of a sports documentary viewer as I prefer the based on a true story drama type of sports movie like Invictus and The Replacements and so I cannot offer any recommendations on this type of film. I am of two minds as to whether I would watch a documentary about Lance Armstrong.

My most recent viewing of a documentary was The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters and I have watched it a couple of times now and found it to be incredibly engaging. The film almost doesn't feel like a real documentary because it is a real subculture that I haven't had exposure to and the people in it are quite unique.

What's your favourite documentary?