The French term for documentary is cinéma vérité, a fancy-sounding term that means truthful cinema. No matter what language a film is presented in, truthful cinema is an integral goal of the documentary-making craft. Through time, the art of the documentary has grown more sophisticated, and yet, the most interesting films are those that simply offer viewers a glimpse of something real, something true.
Not every documentary is interesting, though. Some, in fact, are downright boring. Unfortunately, many filmmakers ignore this fact. They drone on and on about a sterile topic that interests a narrow audience. At the other extreme, many films that capture viewers’ attention are nothing short of propaganda. These films are not even documentaries. Instead, they examine social issues for political purposes, stretching facts and figures along the way.
The best documentaries have a certain zest for capturing audiences’ imaginations in order to illustrate something true. A few of these films skillfully showcase the travels of people who encounter new places that change their perspectives. These films are something more than documentaries, however. They are epics of adventure, heart and friendship, revealing much about a person’s psyche, his relationship to nature and his interactions with the people who cross his path and irrevocably change him.
The Grey Whale Sessions, a Woodshed documentary, is about the journey of a few surfing buddies who travel the length of the Baja Peninsula in a bus, stopping to enjoy the surf along the way. The film emphasizes the importance of self-discovery, the art of the journey, the thrill of nature and the camaraderie of friends. Above all, the documentary shows that the average, consumer-driven life is not a universal truth. In its place, a different reality exists, one that holds to its own truth that spurning the ho-hum drudgery of ordinary life is a reality for a few and a possibility for all.