TIME OUT: 50 DOCUMENTARY

As long as there is fantasy and wish fulfillment onscreen, audiences will also yearn for the truth—or something close to it. In arriving at our favorite documentaries (from all eras and countries), we bumped up against some thorny questions: What makes a documentary essential? Is it the political or social import? Its popularity? Can we allow for staged scenes? Or must we insist on pure vérité? How “real” is reality? We invite your own thoughts in response to our ranked list.