Two excellent docs from Canadian film makers.
They Chose China was about a group of American soldiers who were taken as POWs by China during the Korean war and chose to settle in China rather than be repatriated. This is a really fascinating story since at the time China was almost completely closed off from Westerners. The doc told the story extremely well.
Raised to Be Heros was the story of a growing group of Israeli reservists who have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories (Palestine) and been sent to jail. The doc also brings out their story extremely well. This was not an easy decision for these men, most of whom, were officers. They declared they would willing die to defend Israel but that the activities in the Occupied Territories is not moral. The doc did an excellent job of exploring this debate while providing context on the needs and expectations of military service in Israel. Both of these docs are highly recommended.
The Beach Boys
From this doc I learnt that Beach Bums around the world sit on the beach, chase women and repeat racial stereotypes. Even in Israel. This doc was made by Honi Hamegal from his 800 hours of footage filming his 'beach friends' in Tel Aviv over 20 years. In my opinion, this doc was really family movies edited together to create a 1.5 hour film. It was edited extremely well but the content is not much beyond family movies. The film producer said that she felt this film portrayed an Israel we are not used to seeing here in North America. True, most representations of Israel we see in North American are highly politicized (see above) but that still did not bring much value to this doc for me. Honi's friends are not that interesting and to see 40 year old men chasing after 20 year old women was painful. Not everyone shares my opinion. This film screened in an Israeli festival and on Israeli television. The women sitting behind me yelled 'Bravo' at the end. So perhaps I don't 'get it'.