I’m a sucker for documentaries. This should come as no surprise if you’ve seen my ‘about me’ section here on the Odyssey, in which I state that I’m “slowly getting through every documentary on Netflix." This should also come as no surprise if you know me in real life - I’m sure my friends can attest to my (slightly worrisome) devotion to watching food documentaries. However, I’ve recently branched out, and while I still greatly enjoy watching people eat on screen, I’ve decided it’s time I explored more categories.

Considering most of us college students are currently on summer break, this is an ideal time to check out good movies on Netflix/your movie-streaming website of choice! These are just some (this list could be a lot longer, but there's a word limit here that have to keep in mind) of the documentaries I've found and liked - a list of recommendations for a warm summer night's Netflix session, from me to you.

1. The Hunting Ground

In light of what is currently happening with the case of Stanford rapist Brock Turner, this is a good choice for diving more into the issue that is campus rape. Turner's is by no means an isolated crime. I hate to break it to you if you’re not already aware, but campus rape happens all the time. However, I can’t really blame you if you are unaware because, as The Hunting Ground shows, schools don’t really want you to know about this. The frequent occurrence of rape incidents on college campuses is very “hush-hush,” and the movie focuses on the two University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill students who want to change that. These UNC women demand justice for what happened both to them and thousands of other victims in schools across the US, as they uncover a deeply flawed system in need of serious change.

2. Code Black

Code Black takes you into the very chaotic routine of what is dubbed "the busiest Emergency Room in America," or the infamous “C booth” of the L.A. County Hospital. There, doctors deal with hordes of patients, taking in everybody, regardless of their health insurance status, and prioritizing those with the most severe injuries.

A group of doctors tell the story of the "C booth" and how it motivated them to choose the precise line of work that they are in, as they explain what it means (and what it takes) to be an ER doctor.

3. The Imposter

The tale of the 30-something Frenchman who successfully steals the identity of an American is so bizarre that it’s at times very hard to believe. The “imposter” in question is Frederic Bourdin, a life-long identity thief, who in his “career” has assumed the identities of more than 500 people. This movie documents what must be one of his more ambitious undertakings, as he impersonates a Texas boy gone missing 3 years prior. It follows him as he manages to dupe this boy’s entire family.

He convinces them all, the mother and the father of the missing boy included, that he is the missing family member they've been looking for. It is very interesting and concerning to see how the family, wanting to believe so desperately in the imposter’s story, convince themselves that their son/sibling is back. It is their persistent denial of all the signs pointing to the fraud (the imposter physically bears little resemblance to the missing child, and he speaks English with a clear French accent!) that allows Bourdin to takes it as far as he does.

4. Miss Representation

This is a movie about the representation (and what is largely the UNDERrepresentation and, as the title suggests, MISrepresentation) of women in the media. It stresses the importance of girls seeing people like them (i.e. women) in leadership roles and addresses the lack of role models for girls in the media. Accordingly, the movie’s catchphrase is “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Miss Representation's topic definitely appeals to my feminist side, and I appreciate the important issues it brings up.

5. Fed Up

It would feel unnatural to me if I didn’t include at least one "food documentary" in this list. As I’ve mentioned above, I apparently love watching people eat - however, it is more what they are eating, why they are eating it, and where that food came from that I’m interested in. Fed Up is one of those movies that exposes just how messed up the food industry is. It deals with sugar, and how sugar is in everything, how it affects the body, and how the sugar industry shamelessly promotes its interests regardless of sugar’s harmful consequences. At large, Fed Up (which is what we as consumers should be after seeing the movie) addresses processed foods, and how ubiquitous they've become and why, despite being clearly bad for our health.

6. How to Survive a Plague

How to Survive a Plague is a 2012 documentary made up mostly of footage from the late-80s to early-90s period of the AIDS epidemic. It follows activists in New York City as they fight for improvement of AIDS treatment, and deal with the governments failure to "develop a plan of action" for fighting AIDS. It includes interviews with members and founders of activist groups (ACT UP and TAG), original footage of protests, and present-day interviews with those who lived to tell the story.

It reminds me of Philadelphia and The Normal Heart, two other movies that depict the beginning of the AIDS epidemic in the US. Philadelphia stars Tom Hanks as a lawyer who is fired from his firm after developing AIDS, and in The Normal Heart Mark Ruffalo plays an activist fighting for awareness of the AIDS crisis. Another documentary on this topic that I haven't but want to see is We Were Here.