Two can’t-miss documentaries on Netflix, for different reasons. #StreamTeam

We’re part of the Stream Team for Netflix and were compensated for this post. All thoughts are our own. My wife and I binge watch. We’ll find a show that both of us agree on and watch every episode. It’s the TV equivalent of a box of doughnuts. As a way to shake things up I took a moment to scroll through categories that are rarely visited from us and found two incredible films. Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made and Chuck Norris vs. Communism. Both are documentaries on Netflix, but are engaging enough to cast a wide net of entertainment that’ll grip anyone with memories of the 80’s.

Chuck Norris vs. Communism is ironically, a film with very little Chuck Norris. Without knowing what it was about and only using the meme creator inside my head I thought it was an epic takedown of oppressive governments in Eastern Europe. And that is part of the story, but this is a documentary about the illegal VHS trade in 1980’s Romania.

Irina Nistor was the official translator for Romanian television during that time. She was hired by Toader Zamfir, a black-market VHS provider who dubbed tapes into Romanian. It was these VHS tapes that many Romanians used for entertainment in that time period. The communist regime only aired two hours of programming a day and controlled everything that went out over the airwaves.

The documentary interviews dozens of people who grew up in that era who share their story. It turns out that Irina was a hugely popular, but enigmatic figure. Nobody knew what she looked like, but they all depended on her to provide translations, insight and commentary to their life. She would dub her English immediately after the spoken Romanian. She also did the voices to all of the characters, men, women and children. During her time she dubbed over 3,000 films and the VHS operation experienced the direct effects of communism, including blackmail, bribery, threats of violence and more.

Chuck Norris vs. Communism is one of the most engaging documentaries we’ve seen in years. At times it plays like a hunt for Kaiser Soze, until finally, near the end of the film we meet the two main characters of the film who are referenced or heard, but never seen.

The overthrow of the regime is referenced and the western films that had permeated the country are listed as a possible reason. Viewers see citizens who thought things were normal, until they see how others lived. Year after year of that happening could indeed lead to a revolution. It’s a fascinating story that is backed up to some degree in the film’s IMBD page.

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made is a legend. It’s a fan made film, done by three 12 -year olds and filmed over a six-year period starting in 1981. That plot description is enough to have kids, parents and film geeks jumping out of their chairs in excitement.

However, this is not that film. Raiders!: The Story Behind the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made is just that, it’s the story behind that film and how they finished the one scene that was left un-shot. That scene was the plane scene, it’s an intricate, six minute thrill that has lots of fights, stunt blocking, explosions and a real plane, something that is challenging for any adult, much less a super resourceful teen.

It turns out the story behind the film is even better. We catch up with the now adults who are trying to finish the scene. It needs financial backing, but they all have jobs, families and time has driven a wedge between some of them. Along the way we see interviews with their family, who explain how the filming of this back in the 80’s happened and what breaks points almost shut the entire thing down.

Once the boys went to college a VHS copy of the fan made film was produced and the legend started. Eventually Eli Roth obtained a copy of it and screened it for a film festival where it was the breakout hit, despite not being on the schedule and simply being added in as filler.

Movie fans, especially those that like Raiders of the Lost Ark will get chills at parts of this film. It’s very well done and encapsulates the story from 1981 until the final shots of the airplane scene. Ultimately Raiders! is the story about family, friends and a dream. You want them to succeed, you root for them along the way, cheer, cry and will want to see this again.