The hype surrounding Britney Spears’ trainwreck retrospective, “For the Record,” is one more example of our fascination with documentaries.

While we’re also enamored with more creative and fictitious media pursuits, there’s something innately powerful about watching films that document the truth and edginess of real life. It’s one thing to watch Britney Spears’ music videos and read tabloid articles about her downfall and subsequent comeback, but this fascination deepens when we hear Britney Spears tell her side of the story.

The documentaries in the cluster below are all provocative in their own way. There are publicized celebrity confessions, like those from Maureen McCormick, Mia Tyler and Britney Spears, as well as more hopeful and inspirational works, like the bevy of Barack Obama documentaries released throughout the 2008 election.