25 Documentaries That Will Make You a Better, Albeit More Irritating, Person

For that friend of yours who saw "Food Inc." and harassed you about your meal choices for three entire days.

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Complex Original

Image via Complex Original

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Documentaries can be an easy way to take a deeper dive into social issues that impact us. Though scrolling your Twitter feed for the latest updates from the blogosphere is a nice start, it's always good to absorb 90 minutes (or more) on a topic that triggers your interest and compassion.

After spending a couple hours cuddled up with our Netflix accounts, we always hope to emerge an (ever so slightly) better person. When a doc manages to have a profound impact, we often spend the next week fighting the urge to preach our newfound opinions on the film's central issue from bar stools and office chairs.

It's easy to feel like you now have a personal stake in an issue when all you've really done is watched a movie about some people who have a personal stake in an issue. And so here is this list of documentaries that affected us so deeply that we had to annoy our friends with the facts gleaned from their powerful images, sympathetic anecdotes, and commanding voice-over narration (but no bibliographies—damn). Hopefully these thoughtful works will move you as well, but not so much that you move everyone else around you in the opposite direction.

These are 25 Documentaries That Will Make You a Better, Albeit More Irritating, Person.

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Written by Brenden Gallagher (@muddycreekU)

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The Business of Being Born (2008)

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The Cove (2009)

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Gasland (2010)

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War/Dance (2007)

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An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

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Food, Inc. (2008)

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Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price (2005)

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A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash (2006)

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King Corn (2007)

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Born into Brothels (2004)

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Miss Representation (2011)

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Super Size Me (2004)

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Sicko (2007)

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Jesus Camp (2006)

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Who Killed the Electric Car? (2006)

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Waiting for Superman (2010)

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Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism (2004)

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Dying to Get In (2005)

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The Canary Effect (2006)

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Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room (2005)

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God Grew Tired of Us (2006)

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RiP: A Remix Manifesto (2009)

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Half the Sky (2012)

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Taxi to the Dark Side (2007)

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The House I Live In (2012)

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