by Theresa Ann White

Created on: December 07, 2010   Last Updated: December 13, 2010

Documentaries are the first of the “reality-based” films now sweeping the airwaves. They exist as a unique genre that can include everything from action, suspense, natural history, biography, whistle blowers, geographical and political portraits, incursions into the unknown and sharp investigative journalism - all with the added feature of reality.

Deciding on the best documentary for your 2010 Christmas list recipients is no easy task. Here’s a rundown of five that have been honored at this year’s Academy Awards and Sundance Film Festival, and are top sellers in the industry.

Life - Narrated by Oprah Winfrey

This four-disc set of DVDs is a top seller at Amazon and presents a magnificent tour of animal and plant life residing on planet Earth. The film uses time-lapse photography, aerial filming and high speed and underwater cameras for intimate looks at crucial moments in the lives of animals and plants. Produced in conjunction with the Discovery Channel, BBC and “The Blue Planet,” the epic nature documentary explores every habitat on the planet in a series of 13 episodes filmed over a four-year period. The content is startling in its beauty as it portrays sailfish hunting sardines, dolphins “netting” fish, a frog eluding a tarantula, flowers unfolding. All of this and more is wrapped up in this spectacular film. Note: another BBC edition is narrated by Sir David Attenborough.

The Cove – 2010 Oscar Winner for Best Feature Documentary

This film is a heartbreaking, behind the scenes look at the slaughter of dolphins and porpoises at a cove located in Taiji, Wakayama, Japan. Filmed by an American crew and directed by a former photographer with National Geographic, the film documents the annual herding and slaughter of thousands of dolphins. Director Louie Psihoyos used high definition cameras and microphones disguised as rocks to accomplish the recording while he and his crew evaded capture by local law enforcement. Highly honored among film industry critics, The Cove won ten awards in 2009 before receiving the Oscar in 2010 and is scheduled to become a TV series on the Animal Planet channel.

Restrepo – Winner of 2010 Sundance Film Festival

This raw film takes viewers to a military outpost in the Afghan Korengal Valley named “Restrepo” in honor of a medic killed in the line of duty. The scenes give a gritty look at life in the field for a platoon of U.S. soldiers. This timely war documentary

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