US election 2016: The five documentaries you should watch before 9 November

As America gears up for the US election 2016, the public opinion suggests that they are fretting over the catastrophic dilemma that awaits them this November. While Trump vs. Hillary may appear as a ’lose-lose’ battle, the track record of past US Presidents has not been blemish-less either. Various documentary makers have chronicled the controversies that former Presidents were embroiled in. Here are our picks – the five best documentaries on US Presidents: Fahrenheit 9/11

This 2004 documentary by the Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michael Moore takes an anti-George Bush stand and traces his controversial journey from gaining electoral power through an allegedly rigged election to his indifference, and alleged involvement, in 9/11. It also investigates how Bush exploited the terror attack to further his political agenda with the aid of corporate media houses. Moore admitted that his product was an instrument to polarize the voters and prevent Bush from getting re-elected to power again. Nonetheless, Bush made it to the President’s position months later in the 2004 American presidential election. Watergate

Co-produced by BBC and Discovery, the documentary transports the viewers back to one of the biggest political scandals in American history – Watergate in early 1970s. It effectively recreates the efforts of the then-President Richard Nixon and ‘All the President’s Men’ to cover up their involvement in the break-in at the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington D.C. Oswald’s Ghost

The 2008 documentary film by Robert Stone examines the assassination of former US President John F Kennedy in 1963, the conspiracy theory behind the same, the backstory of the executor Lee Harvey Oswald and the aftermath of the murder that left many Americans shocked. Michael Moore in Trumpland The most recent one of the list, this 2016 documentary film features Moore himself in which he delivers a one-man show to all the Trump supporters before the presidential election and convinces them why not to vote for the blabbermouth. It is a hilarious take on Trump’s regressive and shameless statements.

Obama At War The 2015 documentary film by Frontline veteran Martin Smith brings to the forefront the hard choices that the current American President Barack Obama had to take in order to combat the Isis and the deadly civil war in Syria. The documentary features interviews of men in key diplomatic and military positions as they narrate the unfortunate series of terror attacks in the war-torn country and the measures taken by and inhibitions displayed by Obama in solving the crisis.

The aforementioned documentaries take the audience through a detailed account of the history of America – some aspects that made it to the school textbooks and some that were brushed under the carpet. However, irrespective of the administration’s calculated efforts to conceal the facts, conspiracy theories always made their way to the creative space. Now that the 2016 presidential elections are days away and dirty linen is being washed in the public, this run-up is sure to make for a great watch. We hope that the filmmakers are listening!