MOVIES OF THE ‘80s : DOCUMENTARIES : A BIGGER SLICE

Documentaries seem better than ever now--more probing, more incisive, abandoning false objectivity for an up-front commitment. That the documentary continues to evolve suggests that TV, especially public broadcasting, has created a heightened awareness of the form’s possibilities.

Towering over all other achievements in this category--and, indeed, transcending it--is “Shoah,” Claude Lanzmann’s monumental probe of the Nazi death camps; an unrelenting calm, discretion and thoroughness made it unforgettable.

There have been some exceptional studies of literary figures, such as Howard Brookner’s “Burroughs” and John Antonelli’s “Kerouac.” And George Stevens Jr.’s tribute to his father, “George Stevens: A Film-maker’s Journey,” is one of the finest studies of a director ever. Documentarians have done a notable job of illuminating the lives of gays (Robert Epstein and Richard Schmiechen’s Oscar-winning “The Times of Harvey Milk”), and the oppressed peoples of Latin America (Nestor Almendros and Orlando Jimenez’s “Improper Conduct”) and Africa (Mira Hamermesh’s “Maids and Madams”).

Teens were the subject of two films of extraordinary impact, Joel DeMott and Jeff Kreines’ “17” and Martin Bell and Mary Ellen Mark’s “Streetwise.” Also stunning was Michael Apted’s “28-UP,” his record of the growth of a group of Britishers, interviewed by Apted every seven years from the age of seven.