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Welcome to a new feature where I will be sharing with you some of the best documentaries you need to watch right now on streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and more.
As for what makes me qualified to make these recommendations? I guess it’s because pretty much all I watch are documentaries, having viewed almost 100 of them over the past 12 months. There’s something about a story being non-fiction that really appeals to me.
Now, we know all about viral documentaries like Making A Murderer, The Staircase, Wild Wild Country, and Wormwood (all of which I highly recommend), but there are so many other great docs also online these days.
My last recommendation was a shocking story called Murder Mountain. And now, with the 2019 Dakar Rally having taken place this month, I have another five-star documentary for you: Dakar: Madness in the Desert.
Part of the BBC: The Racing Collection on Amazon Prime Video, Dakar: Madness in the Desert takes a detailed look at how the most insane, dangerous race the world has ever seen came to fruition, and how it came to a dangerous and bizarre end.
The race looks like something straight out of Mad Max, and that’s basically because it is.
BBC
BBC
In 1977, French motorcyclist Thierry Sabine was in serious trouble, lost in the Libyan desert and dying from thirst. Whilst most men would weep and think back over their lives, Thierry thought about coming back – to do a rally across the Sahara Desert. The 9,000km Paris-Dakar rally was born.
The rally became a beacon for eccentric adventurers battling the terrain in customised vehicles, seduced by the romance of the desert and the extreme challenge. It soon became a victim of its own rapid success. Caught up in controversy and with over 60 deaths, in 2008 this incredible event was brought to an end in Africa by terrorism.
Featuring winners Cyril Neveu, Hubert Auriol, Jean-Louis Schlesser, Ari Vatanen, Stephane Peterhansel, Martine de Cortanze, former participant Sir Mark Thatcher and many more, this is the story of the biggest motorsport event the world has ever seen and one of the greatest challenges of human endeavour ever conceived, told by those who took part.
How the west took on a landscape of incredible beauty and scale. And lost.
BBC
That description is merely the tip of the iceberg, however.
Along the way, we also learn about…
• How one year sandstorms caused more than 40 drivers to get lost in the desert.
• How the race ended up meeting its demise after the 2007 rally due to terrorist attacks in Mauritania (the race is now held in South America).
BBC
• The hundreds of motorcycles, quads, cars, buggies, SUVs, and trucks, including semis, that competed. (A record 688 competitors participated in 2005.)
• The domination of the event at various times by Peugeot, Citroën, Mitsubishi, and even Porsche.
• How British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s son went missing for days while competing in the event one year.
BBC
• How the very race Thierry Sabine created ended up killing him, and much, much more.
The best parts of the documentary are, without a doubt, the tales shared by many of the actual participants, painting a sometimes horrifying picture of what competing in the Paris to Dakar Rally was really like back in its early days.
You don’t even have to have the slightest interest in racing to find the stories told in Dakar: Madness in the Desert an amazing look at humanity.
The BBC: The Racing Collection also features three other incredibly fascinating documentaries: Grand Prix – The Killer Years, Rallying – The Killer Years, and Joey: The Man Who Conquered the TT.
If none of that sounds good to you, here are a few other excellent documentaries I also highly recommend…
The Gymkhana Files Amazon
Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon Netflix
Diana: 7 Days That Shook the World Netflix