CinemaSpin Article

A lot of documentaries have a bias. Sometimes the slant is supported by facts and reasoned argument; other times, the film essentially amounts to a propaganda piece. We’ve watched them all so you don’t have to. Without further ado, here are CinemaSpin’s Top 10 Most Spun Documentaries of All-Time:

  • 10. Food Inc

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    Unless you are unaware that fast food is unhealthy, don’t expect to learn anything from this documentary.

  • 9. The Atomic States of America

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    If you want to subject yourself to a shameless fearmongering campaign against nuclear power, "The Atomic States of America" is just for you. Don't worry Bart, there hasn't been a fatal accident at a U.S. nuclear power plant since 1961. If only we could say the same about wind turbines...

  • 8. GMO OMG

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    The World Health Organization, the FDA, and Britain’s Royal Society of Medicine have all endorsed the safety of GMO foods. However, filmmaker Jeremy Seifert is unconvinced. Seifert attempts to spin the "dangers"of GMO crops by forcing his son dress up in a hazmat suit and run through a corn field. Of course, the dangers of getting lost in a giant corn field far outweigh any risk posed by GMO foods.

  • 7. Plastic Paradise

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    In a classic bait-and-switch, director Angela Sun moves quickly from reasonable concern over ocean pollution to a full-on promotion of sham science. Sun attempts to pass herself off as someone who is credible in the field of science despite the fact that her 9-to-5 job is working as a sports reporter for Yahoo. Her attempts to fabricate and dramatize the dangers of innocuous daily transactions (such as receiving a receipt from a purchase) fall completely flat.

  • 6. Capitalism: A Love Story

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    Michael Moore's lazy, incoherent attempt to indict capitalism relies solely on vignettes. The rambling documentary is incoherent at its best and entirely ignorant at its worst. On the subject of bank bailouts, Moore attempts to point the finger at capitalism for this abuse of taxpayer funds while completely overlooking the fact that is was “Big Government” that actually wrote the check for the bailouts, not the free market.

  • 5. Cowspiracy

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    The film relies on debunked reports in order to push its hippie anti-meat agenda on viewers. In the end, “Cowspiracy” is less of a conversion and more of a demand for others to convert to veganism.

  • 4. An Inconvenient Truth

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    How nice it would be to live in a world where the greatest threat to mankind is temperatures rising 1 degree Celsius. By the way Mr. Gore, what powers your private jet?

  • 3. Gasland

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    Hate to spoil a good hoax, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (no friend of energy production) has studied Gasland's "flaming water" accusations and found them to be entirely meritless. The EPA said they: “[...] reviewed incidents of drinking water well contamination believed to be associated with hydraulic fracturing and found no confirmed cases that are linked to fracturing fluid injection into CBM wells or subsequent underground movement of fracturing fluids.”

  • 2. Blackfish

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    Blackfish gets more wrong than it gets right. Most viewers are unaware of the radical groups that are behind the making of this film, as well as the agenda of the filmmaker. While some positive outcomes have occurred as the result of this film (SeaWorld is now building bigger tanks to house the whales), viewers should avoid swallowing the agenda hook, line, and sinker.

  • 1. Super Size Me

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    Super Size Me wins the grand prize for most spin in a documentary. Super Size Me attempts to shift the blame for America’s obesity rate to anyone but the consumer. The film cloaks itself as an anti-McDonald's hit piece, but Super Size Me is really indicting the American consumer by presuming that they are too dumb to make food choices themselves. The idea that someone would eat fast food for every single meal AND agree to Super Size their order based on their interaction at the cash register is simply ridiculous. While Fast Food may not be healthy, it takes a great deal of spin to make McDonald's the evil boogeyman that Spurlock casts it as.