To give you an idea
The Italian translation of this lesson is available here 
About the infinite possibilities of the documentary, I recommend you a few thi
ngs to watch first:
LIFE OF THE DOCUMENTARY:
Man with a movie camera (1929) of Dziga Vertov
THE TECHNIQUE OF BUILDING A SEQUENCE:
The tuna fishing sequence in Roberto’s Rossellini’s film Stromboli
THE EARLY “CLASSICAL” DOCUMENTARY :
Nanook of the North of Robert J. Flaherty (1922)
THE MODERN “CLASSICAL” DOCUMENTARY:
The marble empire of Folco Quilici
WAR DOCUMENTARIES:
The Italian war – Istituto Luce
Years of the Eagle (reper.2001) Giuliano Montaldo
The Fog Of War (2003) of Errol Morris and Michael Williams
THE NATURALISTIC DOCUMENTARY:
Microcosmos
Genesis of Claude of Nuridsany and Marie Pérennou
DENOUNCING DOCUMENTARIES:
Alain Resnais: Night and Fog
Bowling a Colombine of Michael Moore (2002)
Super Size Me of Morgan Spurlock (2004)
Grizzly hand of Wim Wenders
THE PERFECT MATCH BETWEEN DOCUMENTARY AND TELEVISION:
Etre et avoir of Nicolas Philibert (2002)
Russian Ark (2002) of Alexander Sokurov
SPORT DOCUMENTARY:
Olympia of Leni Riefenstahl
These are obviously just a few titles. If you believe, you can point out others;i should mention that to these films we must add some books too, even if, in cinematography, there’s not an ideal library. The true ideal library for a film artist is to watch films and learn how to make films. The historical analysis, the critical reflection, the artistic evaluation, are not always conclusive.
What is essential to our studies is the technical evolution on the camera, suggestions and intuitions, on the new ideas that some authors have brought to the cinematography through their documentaries.
Chiudi