My box office numbers obviously refer only to docs. By the way, Grizzly Man was probably third, at close to $4 million. I found it superior to Herzog's The White Diamond, also a 2005 release. I watched a lot of docs that are worth-watching but didn't make my list. These include The Yes Men, La Sierra, Rock School, Lost Boys of Sudan, and others but not Wild Parrots which played less than a mile from my house and somehow I failed to watch it. It's out on dvd so I'll check it out.
My list includes only docs on regular distribution. Otherwise, Patricio Guzman's Salvador Allende would be my second favorite doc of 2005. It's highly unlikely this Chilean doc will get distribution although it has a lot to say about US foreign policy circa 1973.
Hope to post fiction lists in about a week or so. I've been re-watching favorites that have come out on dvd. So far first impressions are solid, with no major changes of opinion either up or down.
Regarding the narration of Penguins, I read somewhere (I think it was the LA Times but not sure) that the original French version gave distinctive human voices to a few of the birds. Even if I hated Freeman's narration I'd still find the story and the stunning images reason enough to list it among the best of the year.
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