HOw ‘true’ are documentaries

“All documentaries are constructions and the viewer discover the ‘truth’ in a film through the
director’s assembly of cinematic choices”

JANUARY 16, 2024

Emily-rose
Thomas
 HOW ‘TRUE’ ARE DOCUMENTARIES?
“All documentaries are constructions and the viewer discover the ‘truth’ in a film through the
director’s assembly of cinematic choices”

I am investigating the truth of documentaries. I have chosen this topic because for my FMP I
want my documentary to uncover and investigate, so it is important to understand bias in
similar productions. Cinéma Vérité (“truthful cinema”) started in late 1950, traditionally these
films are full of hand-held cameras and panning transitions creating a feeling of immersion.
In 90’s shows like NYPD Blue it contains the “you are there” cinematography sudden zooms
it clearly is used to create a sense of Chaos. “The War Room (1993)” from Pennebaker and
Chris Hegedus was the start of American ‘Cinema Vérité’ filmmaking. This documentary
takes you behind the scenes of Bill Clintons 1992 presidential campaign. The style of
Pennebaker and Hegedus shows Clinton and Carville in their ‘natural’ habitat. Previously
people had only seen these politicians on the news, when now they were being given the
chance to watch them plan political ads, answer phone calls and eat making them scene like
‘real’ people. Throughout the documentary he is made out to be nice and a competent person.
William Rothman said that “when news footage is shown, it is accompanied by a newscasters
voice who addresses the camera directly” the difference between this and the documentary is
that there is no voiceover swaying anyone’s opinions, obviously the footage in the
documentary has been very heavily edited and precisely chosen for each moment but there is
never a hurry in the documentary to cut the camera away meaning that moments where they
are just sat eating in between a debate are kept in, creating this level of relationship between
the politicians and the audience will help to sway the audiences political views.
(https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/blog/cinema-verite-the-movement-of-truth/)
There are also different types of truth that can be chosen, or not chosen, to be shown during a
documentary. For instance, there is a ‘Universal Truth’
and the ‘Subjective Truth’. The universal truth is
something accepted by all as fact, for example a lion
will attack an antelope, when subjective truth can vary
on an individual’s interpretation, for example
depending on the editing of a wildlife documentary the
audience will either want the lion to win or the antelope
to escape
(https://matibascjournalblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/24/truth-
in-documentary-films/) . This is supported by the quote
spoken by Pieter Biesterfield stating “All
documentaries are constructions and the viewer discovers the ‘truth’ in a film through the
director’s assembly of cinematic choices”. A very good example of a directed truth is in the
documentary ‘Amy’. This is a biographical documentary about the life of singer Amy
Winehouse in the years before her death in 2011. It is unknown whether the viewers wanted
to see her lowest moments or the director actively chose to focus on her downfall, but the
overall message was that viewers where effectively watching her die. The director, Asif
Kapadia, made the decision to use the footage that Winehouse had been keeping which
catalogued her day to day life. Because it was made up of so much found footage it created
what was essentially an intensely intimate video diary. Amy’s own family have complained
about the documentary saying that the movie is “misleading and contains some basic
untruths”, this is due to the fact that Amy Winehouse had passed away before production has
even started, meaning that the director was able to make whatever decisions he wanted about
the way she was perceived by the public. This documentary, however was still sold to the
public as ‘Amy’s true story’ even though the director had the ultimate say as to what was
included and could manipulate the audience into seeing whatever version of Amy they
wanted to have perceived. In the movie’s blurb, shown in this picture, its states “AMY tells
the incredible story of six-time Grammy-winner Amy Winehouse – in her own words.” This
proves that the documentary was very heavily advertised as being her words, her life and her
truth, however the truth being sold to the audience is the truth that has been fabricated by Asif
Kapadia to gain views. (https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/03/movies/review-amy-an-intimate-
diary-of-amy-winehouses-rise-and-destruction.html)

‘Stories We Tell” by Sarah Polley is a great example of a documentary that displays how
impossible it is to know one single truth. The documentary is about filmmaker Sarah
investigating the truth about her family history. In this documentary Polley makes a clear
difference between the ‘universal’ and ‘subjective’ truths. This was shown in the
documentary when the family where asked about Michael’s relationship with Sarah. Susy
depicts “complete and utter disuse” and Joanna observed him “smoking all day” whilst
Michael himself said it was a “great period” of time in his life and that he was fond of his
memories. This shows that the truth of this period of time is subjective to where they were,
their own opinions and what they were feeling. Sarah Polley choosing to show both
contrasting opinions reveals that the truth of her family at this point is entirely subject to each
individual experience in that moment of time. Polley presenting multiple different views is
key to the success of the film as it highlights how different narratives can be told based on
who is chosen to speak about what moment. She constantly says that it is ‘difficult to pin
down’ the full truth as it can be ‘refracted’ over time and everything will be slightly clouded
by a personal bias. As seen in this image a review of
the film says “A REVELATION. Sarah Polley has
transformed the secrets and lies of her own life into glowing artistic truth.” This Artistic truth
is what makes this documentary such a good example of the difference truths able to be
shown through film. She very openly makes it clear that different people who were in
different places and had different opinions recalled the same scenario very different showing
that the truth, even in real life, can never be 100% certain and that if people can’t accept or
even remember the whole truth than the film being made is also not going to be providing the
full truth. (https://www.vcestudyguides.com/blog/stories-we-tell)

Bias is something you have to keep in consideration whilst watching a documentary.

Independent film makers are always going to have a personal opinion ad nonmatter how hard
they try not too it will always come across in their filmmaking. Fredrick Wiseman, wo made
his career out of keeping bias out of his films, admitted that “everything about movies is
distortion”. This bias may not be as obvious as fact being given to the audience however it
can be as subtle as the viewer making choices based on the directors’ cinematic choices likes
the position of the camera, what scenes are kept in and how long each shot is. These choices
ultimately represent the filmmaker’s version of the ‘truth’. In the documentary “Making A
Murderer” on Netflix, the filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moria Demos made sure not to
simplify any details and travelled all the way from New York City to North East Wisconsin
to gain more access to the 2 men convicted of murder. Even though this documentary had
documented everything in extreme detail it was till targeted and was under accusations of
bias towards the defence and against the state, however the director simply said “we pointed
the camera at people and we’re showing people what happened”. After this documentary was
released Netflix was accused of creating an ‘ethically shady’ series and that the true crime
documentary was just a way of trying to convince people that he was ‘wrongfully convicted
of murder’, due to some of the film making choices that had been explained. This shows that
even the most detailed documentaries can still be shot in a way that creates doubt for the
audience on whether they are being shown the full truth or just what the film makers believe
to be the ‘correct truth’. (https://www.videomaker.com/article/c06/18569-documentary-bias-
rearranging-the-truth/) It is very easy as a filmmaker to manipulate the audience into believing
the ‘manipulated truth’ being shown to them. This can be done as subtly as using terms like
‘youths’ which stereotypically is viewed as negative or holding onto a shot for a few seconds
longer than the rest to emphasise onto that person for both good or bad reasons.
(https://medium.com/@elskenney/factual-programming-issues-9f94625d21f4 )
(https://nypost.com/2023/09/13/netflixs-making-a-murderer-a-setup-candace-owens-claims/)

To conclude, in documentary as well as other journalistic pieces the truth will always be
slightly clouded by personal opinion and memory. In mainstream news there is always a level
of ‘distortion bias’ where the fact is slightly distorted or fabricated to create the ‘correct’
opinions for the filmmaker. In the more modern media it isn’t uncommon for filmmakers,
such as Louis Theroux, to produce investigative pieces and honestly and tell the camera their
opinion and making their stand in the subject clear, but are willing to possibly change their
views and aim to understand their opinions. This style of filmmaking is a great way to flip the
bias of the documentary maker into a great angle for the documentary and the audience.
(https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/aug/23/bbc-too-worried-about-avoiding-offence-
says-louis-theroux)
 BIBLIOGROPHY

Sean Axmaker. (2015). Cinema Verite: The Movement Of Truth. [Online]. Independent
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Manohla Dargis. (2015). Review: ‘Amy,’ an Intimate Diary of Amy Winehouse’s Rise and
Destruction. [Online]. New York Times. Last Updated: July 2. Available at:
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James Whitfort. (2019). Stories We Tell By Sarah Polley. [Online]. vce study guides. Last
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[Accessed 16 January 2024].

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https://www.videomaker.com/article/c06/18569-documentary-bias-rearranging-the-
truth/ [Accessed 16 January 2024].

Els Kenney. (2018). Issues Commonly Found in Modern Day Documentaries Els Kenney.
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Joshua Rhett Miller. (2023). Netflix sensation ‘Making A Murderer’ was a ‘setup,’ Candace
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Jim Waterson. (2023). BBC too worried about ‘avoiding offence’, says Louis Theroux.
[Online]. The Guardian. Last Updated: August 23. Available at:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/aug/23/bbc-too-worried-about-
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