At some point while watching the newish Hulk Hogan documentary on Netflix, a thought occurred. I was watching two well-muscled figures locked in gymnasial sport and I realized that, as much as I complain that we are in the worst era for movies - dramas are terrible, comedies are dead, the Oscars are a joke - we may be in the Golden Age of The Documentary.
"Hulk Hogan," "The Last Dance," "Downey Wrote That," "From Darkness to Light," "Yacht Rock" - are just some of the most recent excellent documentaries released. Granted, these are not the most important topics in the world, but here I'm using "Golden Age" only in terms of 1) the quality of the production and 2) the entertainment value of the result.
The Documentary genre even has a Youtube minor league system: "The Enduring Mystery of Jack the Ripper", "Codex 9/11" and "Unmasking Satoshi Nakamoto," being a few, again recent, examples. In fact, on Youtube, there are thousands of great videos where the lines between Documentary and "interesting video" blur and breakdown to the point where it becomes hard to distinguish the two.
I almost want to say that making a great Documentary has become a science, that movie studios have unlocked a formula. But "formula" is too dismissive, these movies aren't formulaic. Looking at the extreme amount of work that goes into precisely editing, I think the term "craftsmanship" is accurate. I wonder if the explanation is the rise of Reality TV. Perhaps training artists to craft drama out of existing footage for a generation has yielded a unique era for Documentary film-making.
"Hulk Hogan: Real American" is a 4-part Netflix documentary, obviously about Hulk Hogan. It is expertly made and highly recommended IF you have ever been a wrestling fan. And while I generally believe that "Hulk Hogan" would still be interesting for someone who was never into wrestling, just as I believe "The Last Dance" would be interesting to someone who was never into the Chicago Bulls - because ultimately it's about humanity and humans are interesting - I don't know and can't guarantee anything. All I can say is that I found the documentary to be expertly crafted, eye-opening, fairly emotional and highly entertaining.
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