Factual films have grown in popularity over the last few years. With our hunger for the truth about what really goes on in the minds and meeting rooms of the leaders and policy makers of the world has come a thirst for answers. Often controversially, the films and film makers detailed below have faced hostile wall’s of silence, dead ends and occasionally danger and the threat of death, to bring to the general public the truth about a plethora of subjects, from climate change to the ‘War on Terror’.

Michael Moore seems to be a particularly important documentary maker about the policies of the Bush administration. ‘Bowling for Columbine’, ‘Fahrenheit 911’ and ‘Sicko’ are three of his more well-known films. These are about gun legislation in the US; the Iraq war and supposed war on terror; and poor sick people in the US today (something you don’t want to be) respectively. Moore is a voice for the true underdog and marginalised of American society. He tells his stories in layman’s terms and makes information accessible to all.

The rise and rise of the developed world’s obesity, and as a result, health problems, have inspired several documentary style films. ‘Fast Food Nation’ is based on the book by the same name by Eric Schlosser and documents the truth behind the fast food industry. Made using the facts Schlosser presents but dramatising the storyline, it has become a shocking revelation for the masses.

Morgan Spurlock’s ‘Super Size Me’ follows his drastic change of diet from healthy vegetarian to eating three fast food meals per day, every day, for 30 days, and the detrimental affect that it has on his health. Spurlock puts on a lot of weight, feels horrendous daily and could have died if he’d continued with the unhealthy diet that millions of Americans eat every day.

Al Gore is probably most well known as the 49th Vice President of the United States. He is also a passionate advocate of climate change issues and environmental activist. ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ is the 2006 film about his campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.

‘An Inconvenient Truth’ premiered at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opened in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24, 2006, it was a critical and box-office success, winning Academy Awards for Best Documentary and Best Original Song. The film also earned $49 million at the box office worldwide, becoming the fifth-highest-grossing documentary film to date in the United States, and promoting Gore’s cause no end.

So, will it only be a matter of time before a factual film is made about the rise and rise of Wikileaks, the online journalistic resource that broadcasts leaks from whistle blowers, often about the war in Iraq and conflict in Afghanistan and to the detriment of the United States. People want the truth and will look for it anywhere, and for a fair and just society the truth should prevail, or should it? But that is another discussion….