7 May 2020
6 stranger-than-fiction documentaries to watch online
The crazier the story, the more likely it is to be true. Gorge on these stranger-than-fiction doccies streaming on Netflix, DStv and Showmax.
6
Shirkers (2018)
This movie documentary is intense. And it will leave you feeling uneasy. And it will make you question how someone can just disappear, vanish into thin air and not leave a trace. It tells the story of Sandi Tan, who in 1992 made an indie roadtrip movie with two friends in Singapore. They were under the tutelage of a film director named Georges Cardona.
When they wrapped filming, Georges disappeared. Gone into thin air with their movie and film footage and with no discernible need to disappear. Something inexplicable must have happened. Almost 20 years later, Sandi got a call from Georges’ widow who revealed that she had the footage but that it was incomplete – the audio was missing. Who knows why? Because Sandi and her friends are clueless to this mystery to this very day.
Stream it on Netflix.
5
Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (2019)
The Fyre Festival event made news in 2017 for all the celebrities linked to it – the Kardashians, rappers, movie stars and more. But as this doccie reveals, it was one big lie. Everything was part of a scam. What started out as an actual party with a venue and performances and food and sleeping facilities turned into a money pit.
And despite the people organising the Fyre Festival knowing full well that it was going to be an absolute flop, they still took in bookings, flighted ads and let the people go to the festival site… to discover that the Kardashians, rapper JaRule and even the food service company were no-shows. No tents, no beds, no stages, no music – shattered dreams. And still the bosses refuse to acknowledge that it was a fraud.
Stream it on Netflix.
4
Louis Theroux: Selling Sex (2020)
The sex industry is worth billions each year. Everything from aids to fetish gear. One part of the industry that gets a bad name is prostitution, because it’s always connected to sinning. Investigative journalist Louis Theroux is trying to find out more about the sex-work industry in Britain and Nevada, where it is legal to work as a prostitute as long as there is no coercion or exploitation.
It’s a documentary that’s meant to inform and educate rather than cause shock and scandal. These aren’t women who should be looked down upon. They are doing something that they feel they can do and are able to do to survive. They are not dumb bimbos with nothing better going for them. Some are businesswomen by day who are living another life – for themselves.
It’s a well thought-out and executed documentary about a topic we still avoid talking about.
3
McMillion$ S1
Six episodes spanning 12 years and $24 million gone missing. And it’s all to do with the McDonald’s Monopoly game. Not a monopoly in the business sense, but the actual boardgame Monopoly. Each menu item was accompanied by a corresponding token that would be used on a McDonald’s Monopoly board. Get a specific combination, win a prize.
Seems simple enough, but a bunch of crooks at the company contracted by the food giant to administer the game were secretly pocketing the most important tokens.
And since they were running the whole shebang, no one – from customers to the McDonald’s bigwigs – was any the wiser that not a single winner claiming prizes from cars to the $1 million was legitimate.
2
Screwball (2018)
Baseball is a multi-billion-dollar sport. From sponsorships, to TV ratings, to superstars that fans around the world idolise, it’s one of the world’s biggest sports. And it’s one that has been haunted by stories of doping and steroid abuse for decades.
So what happens when the man behind it all comes clean? Anthony Bosch reveals how he went from running Miami anti-ageing clinic BioGenesis to selling performance enhancing drugs to baseball’s biggest stars and made millions doing it. Destroying sports idols has never looked so slick ever.
Stream it on Netflix.
1
The murder of mining boss and politically aligned businessman Brett Kebble sent shockwaves through SA in 2005. What first appeared to be a simple armed hijacking-gone-wrong in Joburg’s northern suburbs ended up being a crime so well planned that it would sit perfectly in a million different Hollywood scripts.
Brett was involved with South Africa’s underworld. Everything from embezzlement to paying off Police Commissioner Jackie Selebi, billions in company shares going missing, hitmen and drugs… you name it, Brett was involved. And his murder was allegedly orchestrated by the man himself.
He roped in three criminal friends, they planned the hit and did it. To get away with the murder, the trio of hitmen turned state witness, claimed it was assisted suicide and walked away scot-free, leaving Brett Kebble’s legacy covered in bloodstains.
