Couldn't agree with you more gfb345. While documentaries often provide useful information to those who would go and look further, they just so effective at telling their side the story, they leave viewers with absolutely no doubt in their mind that the documentary has the correct point of view. Michael Moore movies being a perfect example. To be honest, it's not just documentaries either. I have very intelligent friends who read 'The Shock Doctrine' by Naoimi Klein, and as soon as they had read 50 pages they were convinced Milton Friedman was a war mongering corporatist SOB. Nothing could be further from the truth, and it's scary just how convinced they are. It's just sad when media tries to simplify down very complex situations while pasting their narrow viewpoint over it.

The documentary as a vehicle in itself is fine, it's just not often used well. This doesn't matter much for some topics, but the more political the narrative is, the more it seems either canonized presuppositions or disingenuous polemics come into play.

Also: http://www.arthurmag.com/2007/09/20/rush...theorists/