#NewsBytesExplainer: Breaking down the fan-favorite genre of documentary
Documentaries have an irresistible charm, an allure about them. They offer a wealth of knowledge in a few hours and demonstrate in-depth, well-researched information about a wide variety of topics—from historical figures to contemporary issues. Widely popular on OTT, they condense profound information in a few minutes and often introduce us to issues we may only have fleeting knowledge of. Let's dissect them.
How do experts define the genre?
A documentary is defined as "a non-fictional motion picture intended to document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record." American film critic Bill Nichols has called the documentary "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception [that remains] a practice without clear boundaries." To put it simply, a documentary is based on real events.
Documentaries are divided into six types
Broadly speaking, documentaries are divided into six categories. These are: poetic, expository, observational, participatory, reflective, and performative. Performative, reflexive, and participatory styles can sometimes be confused with each other since their features sometimes crisscross with each other. At times, a single documentary can utilize multiple styles and may not stick to any one "type" per se. These categories, thus, are quite fluid.
Earlier, they were known as 'actuality films'
The earliest documentaries were reportedly only one to two minutes long, and were originally called "actuality films." Over the years, however, documentaries have evolved significantly, and are now longer in length (over an hour long), and sometimes, even spawn multiple episodes when released on OTT platforms. They are often, but not always, observational and educational in nature and touch upon societal menaces.
John Grierson is considered the pioneer of documentary-making
Spanish documentary filmmaker John Grierson is credited with coining the term in his review of Robert Flaherty's film Moana (1926), published in The New York Sun in February 1926. He believed that "cinema's potential for observing life could be exploited in a new art form; that the 'original' actor and 'original' scene are better guides than their fiction counterparts to interpreting the modern world."
How many of these documentaries have you watched?
While one can now watch numerous documentaries on YouTube, Netflix, or Disney+ Hotstar, this wasn't always the case. Some of the earliest examples include Drifters (1929), Night Mail (1936), The Plow That Broke the Plains (1936), London Can Take It (1940), Target for Tonight (1941), and Desert Victory (1943), among several others. All of these were centered around varying issues and dissected different topics.
'All That Breathes,' 'Menstrual Man' are some premier Indian documentaries
While documentaries remain a relatively under-explored genre in India, few films have brought out a paradigm shift in the scenario. Some examples include Shaunak Sen's critically acclaimed film All That Breathes, Rajesh S Jala's Children of the Pyre, Rahul Jain's Machines, Uraaz Bahl's Ladies First, Amit Virmani's Menstrual Man, James Erskine's Sachin: A Billion Dreams, Saurav Vishnu's Tailing Pond, and Rituparno Ghosh's Vande Mataram.
These documentaries have dominated OTT lately
There are some documentaries that have garnered worldwide recognition in the past few years, thanks to OTT streamers. These are Netflix's The Tinder Swindler, Making a Murderer, Wild Wild Country, Born in Gaza, The Social Dilemma, Girl in the Picture, and Anne Frank: Parallel Stories. Additionally, you can watch Nanook of the North, The Sorrow and the Pity, and Shoah, among others, on MUBI.
