The most dangerous documentaries ever made

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Sean Penn is on the ground in Ukraine filming a documentary about the Russian invasion​

Media makers often get a bad rep for perpetuating fake news and manipulating their audience's emotions for financial gain. The journalist and filmmakers on this list do not fall into that category. These people took grave risks to tell spectacular stories and expose injustices that need our attention. From active war zones to wild animals, they risked life and limb for truth and art.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24 shocked the world. Kyiv went from a peaceful European capital to a warzone overnight under circumstances we're still struggling to understand. That being said, the conflict has been brewing for several years and escalated in recent months. Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn had already started the process of creating a documentary on the subject in 2021 and visited Ukraine as recently as November. He is back in the country now at the heart of the invasion, speaking to the Ukrainian government about the situation and showing his support. His actions have been praised by the office of the Ukrainian president, who released the following statement: “Sean Penn is demonstrating bravery that many others have been lacking, in particular some Western politicians. The more people like that — true friends of Ukraine, who support the fight for freedom — the quicker we can stop this heinous invasion by Russia.”

As Penn begins to film his documentary, produced by Vice Studios, at one of the most unstable moments in the country's history, there's no doubt he'll capture something truly astonishing.

 

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'Fata Morgana' (1971) -

Werner Herzog is one of the most famous filmmakers of all time. Both his feature films and documentaries capture human experiences at their extremes. This pursuit has put him in grave danger more than once.

 

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'Fata Morgana' (1971) -

The 1971 documentary 'Fata Morgana' was supposed to be an experimental film capturing mirages in the the Sahara and Sahel deserts. The filming took Herzog and his crew to Cameroon only a few weeks after a coup had taken place. They were mistakenly arrested and thrown in jail where they were beaten and held in a cell with 60 other men. Herzog even contracted a dangerous parasite called bilharzia.

 

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'Grizzly Man' (2005) -

Herzog's 2005 documentary 'Grizzly Man' did not put him in danger, but the subjects lost their lives. The documentary looks at footage taken by Timothy Treadwell, a man who famously spent every summer living among wild grizzly bears in Alaska. He documented his relationship with the bears carefully, capturing 90 hours of film. Sadly, Treadwell and his girlfriend Amie Huguenard were attacked and killed by the bears in 2003.

 

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'The War Show' (2016) -

'The War Show' is an insider look at the daily lives of Syrian people during the worst days of the ongoing civil war. The footage was taken by Syrian radio DJ Obaidah Zytoon as she and her friends lived through the fallout of the Arab Spring. Cameras and filming were strictly prohibited at the time.

 

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'The War Show' (2016) -

As suppression and violence grew, she took greater and greater risks to capture the situation, at times dodging snipers in streets reduced to rubble.

 

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'Blues by the Beach' (2004) -

'Blues by the Beach' is a documentary film by English writer Jack Baxter that focuses on a small beloved bar by the beach in Tel Aviv. It became a very different story when two bombers set off an explosion at the bar that killed three people and injured 50, including Baxter himself. Baxter was left with lifelong injuries.

 

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'The Last Sermon' (2020) -

Rather than being deterred by this experience, Baxter began to work on his next project. He started another journey, although this time it would put his emotional well-being at risk. He traveled around Europe to learn more about the two men responsible for the attack, and to speak to their families.

 

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'National Geographic: Inside North Korea' (2009) -

Lisa Ling is an American journalist and TV host who got the chance of a lifetime to enter North Korea when a friend invited her to join his medical missionary group. They were entering North Korea to perform cataract surgeries around the country.

 

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'National Geographic: Inside North Korea' (2009) -

The visit of this foreign doctor was highly publicized and thousands of locals came to see them, giving Ling the opportunity to interview many people about their real life experiences. It's commonly known that international journalists are not welcome in North Korea, and would not usually be allowed to interact with the citizens without approval and supervision.

 

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The story continues -

Lisa Ling completed her mission successfully, but her sister was not so lucky. Laura Ling was filming at the border in China for a documentary about defectors escaping North Korea. According to Laura, North Korean guards dragged her and journalist Euna Lee across the border. They were then charged with illegal entry into North Korea and sentenced to 12 years in a labor camp.

 

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The story continues -

After months of negotiations, and a personal visit to North Korea by President Bill Clinton, the two journalists were pardoned and returned home to their families. They had been detained for 104 days.

 

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'Free Solo' (2018) -

Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi is a documentary filmmaker, while her husband Jimmy Chin is a professional climber and photographer. Chin happened to have been recording the climbs of world-famous free solo climber Alex Honnold for a decade, when they decided to make a documentary together about Honnold's greatest challenge yet.

 

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Free Solo' (2018) -

As a free solo climber, Honnold relies entirely on his body to scale enormous cliff faces, without any ropes or safety equipment. The subject of the Oscar-winning documentary was his preparation and attempt to complete a climb that was considered physically impossible. Honnold managed to climb the face of the notorious El Capitan, a 3,000-foot (about 915 m) granite wall, in three hours and 56 minutes. Jimmy Chin was dangling from the cliff right alongside him to capture every moment. The most exceptional thing about this documentary is that no one died!

 

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'Citizenfour' (2014) -

Laura Poitras was the first journalist that whistleblower Edward Snowden reached out to. He chose her, along with journalist Glenn Greenwald, to help him tell his story.

 

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'Citizenfour' (2014) -

Snowden blew up his life when he leaked highly classified CIA documents. The documents exposed widespread global surveillance programs that many believe to be unconstitutional. He was wanted for espionage and theft in the US. Poitras and Greenwald both worked with him to share his experiences, despite risks to their own liberty and safety.

 

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'Burma VJ' (2008) -

In 2007, thousands of people took to the streets of Myanmar (previously known as Burma) to protest the country's oppressive regime. There was a government crackdown on the media, but several brave journalists and average people took great risks to record the terrible events that took place.

 

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'Burma VJ' (2008) -

The movement was known as the Saffron Revolution. Thousands of Buddhist monks, students, and supporters carried out peaceful protests for more than a month until the military cracked down and began to use excessive force. There was tear gas, beatings, and an unconfirmed number of deaths. The footage taken was smuggled out of the country at real risk of death so the documentary could be made.

 

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'Virunga' (2014) -

The acclaimed Netflix documentary 'Virunga' follows a desperate conflict in Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The park is home to the world's last remaining mountain gorillas. It's also plagued with poachers, armed militia, and outside influences that want to harvest the region's rich natural resources.

 

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'Virunga' (2014) -

The filmmakers spent time with the caretakers who were desperately trying to save the gorillas from extinction while a local militia group declared war. The danger was very real for all involved.