Best Documentary Feature Film: Ranking Every 96th Academy Award Nominee
Written by Andreas Babiolakis
This article is a part of the Academy Awards Project, where Andreas Babiolakis from Films Fatale ranks every Oscar nominee from worst to best, and goes through every category once a day five days a week.
It’s the final week of Academy Award nominee rankings, and we’ve got all of the feature-length film awards. Essentially, all of the categories this week — outside of Best Director — honour feature films themselves and not specific components about them. I’m going to go in the same order that I ranked the nominated short films last week, so we’re kicking things off with Best Documentary Feature Film. I’ve had my gripes about this category in the past not because I detest documentary films (oh, far from it), but because I find that this category is usually the most susceptible to awful snubbing (either via what doesn’t get nominated or what doesn’t win). Last year’s five nominees were actually quite great (in fact, this was the best batch since I started ranking nominees on Films Fatale) and, while this year’s not quite as strong in this department, the Academy has chosen quite wisely again. Maybe things are changing for this category? Nonetheless. I’m looking at the documentary feature films that get their point across the best, are the best made, and either introduce me to new information or go about the documentary medium in inventive ways.
Here are your nominees for Best Documentary Feature Film ranked from worst to best.
Biggest Snub: Beyond Utopia
It’s safe to say that at least three of the expected nominees weren’t selected, whether it was the safe hopeful American Symphony (which was previously theorized by many to actually win this category) or Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie (which was quite great). However, the clearest snub in my eyes is Beyond Utopia: a thrilling, shocking documentary about how one would escape North Korea should they ever want to leave. It is equal parts mind-blowing and devastating, and I found this documentary brilliantly paced and strongly assembled chronologically. I’d actually state that this is one of the biggest snubs of the year, even though the category feels quite strong in quality even without it; Beyond Utopia is still stronger than a couple of these nominees.
5. Bobi Wine: The People's President
One of the two biggest surprises of this category (more on the other later) is this little documentary that could known as Bobi Wine: The People’s President. Championed as an underdog documentary merely weeks before the nominations came out, this film about a musician-turned-politician started getting recommended by major names left, right, and centre. The documentary is quite good as it showcases the corruption within the Ugandan government (particularly surrounding dictator Yoweri Museveni) and Wine’s fight for freedom and political justice, but I also feel like the film settles for safeness (when the subject matter is anything but). I feel like Wine’s charisma and efforts would have won us over on their own, and the documentary didn’t need to dial things back or up the emotional elements in post-production. Overall, this is quite a good documentary that is only last place because the year is pretty strong in quality.
4. The Eternal Memory
How do you help a loved one whose mind is slowly fading away? The Eternal Memory dives into this curse where Chilean journalist Augusto Góngora’s Alzheimer’s disease is taking hold of his life more and more every day, while his wife, actor Paulina Urrutia, tries to be there by his side every step of the way (even if there’s a possibility that he will no longer recognize her). Director Maite Alberdi’s film is so much stronger than her previous Oscar-nominated effort (The Mole Agent) because it allows its subjects and themes to do the majority of the talking and showcasing. One of the most emotional watches you’ll have from 2023, The Eternal Memory is a challenging affair with moments of exquisite beauty and hope sprinkled throughout.
3. To Kill a Tiger
The other big surprise of this category is this humble NFB release known as To Kill a Tiger: a documentary that will have your blood boiling and your eyes tearing up for the majority of the film’s runtime. As we follow an Indian father on his quest to seek vengeance for the sexual abuse of his daughter (who is now being told by society that she was in the wrong), we learn so much about the sexist laws that blame women at each and every turn in Jharkhand. To Kill a Tiger is as visceral as it is educational, and my biggest takeaway is how raw this film is. It never feels produced with the intention of evoking a certain emotion or idea out of its viewers. It exists as plainly as can be because it knows that what it is revealing is enough for us to react to (given the shocking subject matter, this is a given). To Kill a Tiger may be the least known nominee of the entire 96th Academy Awards, but I’m hoping this nomination will have cinephiles worldwide watching this highly important documentary.
2. 20 Days in Mariupol
I find it so difficult to discuss 20 Days in Mariupol because part of me equates this devastating documentary with the likes of thrilling cinema: we’re watching a team trying to escape Mariupol, Ukraine, during Russia’s initial besiege of the area. This is real life we’re talking about, though. What we’re seeing isn’t heightened for the sake of our entertainment. The twists and turns aren’t designed by storytellers. These are actual people fighting for their lives, and 20 Days in Mariupol captures it in great detail. A titanic documentary that has had many paying attention to it all award season long, 20 Days in Mariupol is investigative reporting at its most vulnerable. In terms of the more straight forward documentary practices, this is the best film of the category.
1. Four Daughters
I’m a champion for new ideas and concepts when done well, and Four Daughters takes a simple-yet-bleak premise (a mother of four whose two eldest daughters have been kidnapped by Islamic extremists) and turns it into an experiment that questions the validity and promotes the authorial thumbprints of documentary filmmaking (actors are hired to stand-in for the missing daughters). This blurring of fiction and reality is impeccably handled by director Kaouther Ben Hania, and I find that this highly risky concept pays off brilliantly in this film about memories, perspectives, nostalgia, and truthfulness. This was my favourite documentary of last year next to 32 Sounds (20 Days in Mariupol and Beyond Utopia fit in nicely right behind them as well), and I had a bad feeling it wouldn’t have been selected in the final five nominees. I’m pleasantly surprised to find it here, especially since I’m used to this category letting me down so frequently (I’ll never forget The Act of Killing losing, for starters).
Who I Want To Win: I’d love it if Four Daughters won just because I love inventive takes on old mediums, but 20 Days in Mariupol is also a film I’d be rooting for (in reality, I’d be okay with any of these five nominees winning; they all feel honest and like the results of hard work and major risks being taken).
Who I Think Will Win: Currently, it looks like 20 Days in Mariupol is unstoppable, but this category is infamous for surprises. I can even see something like Bobi Wine: The People’s President winning just because of its slowly growing popularity and National Graphic affiliation, so it’s wise to keep a close eye on this category until literal days before the Oscar ceremony (and, even then, it’s tough to be certain). Having said that, 20 Days in Mariupol was always one of the top contenders even before the nominations came out (second to American Symphony, which, clearly, didn’t make the final cut), so I really wouldn’t bet on anything else at this point.
The Academy Awards Project will continue tomorrow with another category. We’re going to rank every single nominee in every single category, Monday through Friday. You don’t want to miss it!
Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.