Documentary...what is it anymore?

My brother and I got into a friendly discussion the other day after my mom and I saw the new Michael Moore documentary, Sicko.

I guess my brother had never heard of the movie, but he was quick to point out, "Well, you've got to kind of take what he says with a grain of salt."

I responded with, "Well, I've read a lot of the critiques and it seems to me that many mistake opinion and/or wisecrack as fact."

He replied with, "True, but opinions aren't supposed to take place in a documentary."

I came back with, "Well, it's a pretty common theme in contemporary documentaries."

That's where the discussion ended. So, I thought I'd look the word up at dictionary.com.

1. Also, doc·u·men·tal /ˌdɒkyəˈmɛntl/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[dok-yuh-men-tl] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation. pertaining to, consisting of, or derived from documents: a documentary history of France.
2. Movies, Television. based on or re-creating an actual event, era, life story, etc., that purports to be factually accurate and contains no fictional elements: a documentary life of Gandhi. –noun
3. Movies, Television. a documentary film, radio or television program, etc.

Consisting of, concerning, or based on documents.
Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film.
n. pl. doc·u·men·ta·ries A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration.

adjective
1. relating to or consisting of or derived from documents
2. emphasizing or expressing things as perceived without distortion of personal feelings, insertion of fictional matter, or interpretation; "objective art" [syn: objective]
noun
1. a film or TV program presenting the facts about a person or event.

Alright, so, a documentary, according to dictionary.com, is "A work, such as a film or television program, presenting political, social, or historical subject matter in a factual and informative manner and often consisting of actual news films or interviews accompanied by narration."

BUT, another definition states, "Presenting facts objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter, as in a book or film."

One mentions editorializing and the other does not. Again, even the definition of "documentary" isn't black-and-white.

So, what exactly is a documentary? Has the definition altered in the past ten years or so? If factual information is brought to light throughout a documentary, can the information be used in attempt to persuade the audience in one manner or another? Can the film still be construed as a "documentary"?

I honestly don't have an answer to those questions, but think that it makes for an interesting debate. Who would've thought, a gray area in defining "documentary"?

But, if we look at it further, while many modern documentaries contain a certain level of subjective opinions, if we look at the documentaries of yester-year, while there wasn't as much subjectivity, there were just as many, if not more falsities. Documentaries of the religious, political, psychological, historical, or even scientific variety might hold statements from legitimate sources that may be seen as factual at the time of the production, but a year or two down the road, those "facts" have been proven to be false. Heck, there's even a book being sold (with some girth to it) that goes in to detail regarding all the lies our history books (documented information) have told us through the years. So, what is a documentary? Do they even exist? Just as my brother says opinions don't belong in there, one may have to let their opinion be known in regard to answering these questions.