Documentaries Have Super Heroes, Too!

This one needs no explanation! Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental activism, and this must-see documentary has brought about a significant change in peoples' attitudes towards global warming and has instigated widespread changes in personal behaviors and habits to prevent impending disaster.

When The Dixie Chicks expressed their opinions about current politics and the Iraq War, conservatives tried to put an end to their careers. They fought back. Defending freedom of speech is super heroic.

Neither Batman nor Iron Man have addressed the issue of genocide in Darfur, but Don Cheadle has. Using his celebrity and personal resources, the actor-turned-activist has raised awareness about the ongoing devastation in Darfur and fought to bring about an end to the killing and inhumane living conditions in that beleaguered country. This film chronicles his efforts.

Jimmy Carter is on a nationwide tour to present his best selling--and highly controversial--book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. Famed filmmaker Jonathan Demme follows the former U.S. President, documenting Carter's discussions and point of view. The two make frequent stops for another Carter mission, Habitat for Humanity, along the way.

While Superman is busy battling the effects of kryptonite, Leo DiCaprio has taken on the potential devastation of global warming. In this film, he takes us to Earth's hot spots, where environmental changes are nearing the point of no return. The field trip is more frightening that any make believe monster. As Leo presses, he presents a convincing argument that we'd best take action before it's too late--for real!

The feisty superstar of New York's Yiddish Theater used all her charms, wiles and determination to keep a cultural tradition alive. She wore a sheitl, not tights--but she kicked butt at the box office and was a supertrooper to the end.

He was as cantankerous, contentious and charming as Iron Man, but his extraordinary wit was his only suit of armor as he stood up against the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee to protect his--and our--constitutional freedoms.

The former talk show host fearlessly bears it all to reveal the agony and ecstasy of the natural birthing of her own child, and to advocate that mother nature's way is an excellent alternative to hospital-charged labor.

A Man Named Pearl is about a self-taught topiary gardener named Pearl Fryar who has transformed his three and a half acre yard in Bishopville, South Carolina, into a wonderland worthy of Alice. He's become a local hero by delighting his neighbors and by attracting tourism to his impoverished community and county.

Having learned that her Rhode Island ancestors, the de Wolf family of Bristol, were America's most active and prosperous slavers, Katrina Browne invited her relatives from around the U.S. to join her in a journey of self-discovery and reconciliation. The gathered kin traveled to Africa, the Caribbean and southern United States, meeting with those whose forebears had been effected by the de Wolf's trade. Throughout the documented journey, Browne and her family courageously confront their inherent feelings of guilt by bloodline, struggle to understand and forgive their wealthy, prominently Episcoplian and long deceased kin and make amends where appropriate and possible.