Feature films often work according to familiar patterns: hero, conflict, climax, resolution. Sometimes it’s exciting, sometimes it’s exhausting. At such moments, documentaries become a real salvation. They reveal the real world – as it is, without special effects and script conventions. But even here, not everything is so simple, since documentaries come in different forms, and the choice depends on what you expect from an evening in front of the screen.
If you already know what you will watch or want to choose documentaries from an extensive catalog, then visit the website https://rtdoc.tv/.
If you want knowledge and new ideas
Popular science films are a quick way to broaden your horizons. Yesterday, all you knew about space was that the Earth was round, and today you already understand how black holes work. One evening with a good documentary on psychology can replace dozens of random articles on the Internet. Such films are good when the rain outside sets you up for a quiet evening at home, and your head is craving something useful and inspiring.
If you are interested in other people's destinies
Biographical documentaries are always about a person. Sometimes these are famous names, sometimes stories of those you have not heard of, but they are the ones that touch you the most. They have a place for struggle, mistakes, small victories and big failures. And this reflects life in its real, human dimension. It is worth watching such films when you want motivation or an understanding that even the “great” go through doubts and crises.
If you need a shake-up and emotions
There are documentary projects that don't let you relax. They are about wars, crises, social injustice. These are heavy films, but they make you emerge from your personal bubble and see the world without filters. After such films, you often don't want to remain silent – you want to discuss, argue, change something in yourself or around you. A suitable choice for those evenings when you have the strength inside to withstand a blow and digest difficult emotions.
If you want lightness and aesthetics
Documentaries can also be therapeutic. Films about nature, culture or travel seem to offer a break. Beautiful landscapes, rare animals, cities that you haven’t been able to reach yet – all this helps you relax and switch off. Unlike feature films, there are no invented plots: only reality, which in itself turns out to be beautiful and inspiring.
If the plot element is important
Well, and a separate genre – documentary series and true crime (watch with caution for the impressionable). This is the very feeling when you turn on “one more episode” because the intrigue does not let go. Facts, interrogations, archival materials are presented in such a way that the story reads like a thriller. Here, reality and drama go hand in hand, and that is why such films are as gripping as artistic blockbusters.
Instead of a conclusion
Documentaries are not boring lectures or dreary chronicles. They are a way to live someone else's experience, look at the world differently, or simply relax with your eyes. It all depends on your mood: sometimes we are drawn to difficult stories, sometimes to inspiring or light ones. Only one thing is important: documentary cinema always works with the present, and this is what makes it better than feature films. It can be different, but it will not leave you indifferent.
