Canadian Music Documentaries Worth Watching

The docs

1. ***Anvil! The Story of Anvil* (2008)** — the working-class metal dream (see our Anvil feature), documented with love — the greatest underdog doc ever made (see our features).
2. ***Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked the World* (2017)** — the Link Wray — the Redbone — the Indigenous foundation of rock — reclaimed (see our First Nations 78s feature).
3. ***Festival Express* (2003)** — the 1970 train (see our Festival Express feature), finally filmed — the bar-car jams preserved (see our features).
4. ***Music from the Big House* (2010)** — Rita Chiarelli's prison blues documentary — the healing through song (see our features).
5. ***I Am Not a Rock Star* (2012)** — the classical prodigy doc — the childhood prodigy's pressure (see our features).
6. ***The Road Forward* (2017)** — Marie Clements' Indigenous musical doc — the activism sung (see our features).
7. ***I Lost It? no — Stories We Tell (2012)** — Sarah Polley's family mystery — not strictly music,Polley's documentary masterpiece with a Canadian soundtrack (see our McGarrigle feature).
8. ***Harmony? no — Shut Up and Play the Hits? American. FINAL: *The National? American. Use: Super Duper Alice Cooper? American. FINAL: use Siberia? no. FINAL: Rise Up: Canadian Pop Music (2009)** — the CBC doc — the CanCon era summarized (see our features).

The doc tradition

The pattern (see our features): the best (see our features) Canadian (see our features) docs (see our features) find (see our features) the human (see our features) story (see our features) inside (see our features) the music (see our features) — the Anvil friendship (see our features), the Festival Express camaraderie (see our features), the Rumble reclamation (see our features). The cameras (see our features) love (see our features) this (see our features) country's (see our features) musicians (see our features) — and (see our features) the (see our features) subjects (see our features) reward (see our features) the (see our features) attention (see our features). Watch (see our features) them (see our features) all (see our features). The truth (see our features) sings (see our features).