We asked: “Are reflexive documentary or cinema vérité films more accurate in faithfully representing reality?” This question can be answered in several ways. An obvious path is to side with reflexivity, because it is honest about cinema's flaws. However, we cannot be so quick to assume that we know what the question is asking. first in order to arrive at a satisfactory answer. First, a simpler way to think of the phrase “accurately representing reality” is “truth.” Reality and truth are synonymous because in asking what is true, we ask what is. Second, classifying films as reflexive or truth is sloppy for the purposes of this question. Any given film will contain elements of multiple modes of film, and therefore attribute it. a mode will unnecessarily correlate the truth of that specific film with the mode assigned to it. In other words, if analysis were to prove that the film High School is the most truthful film of all time, it would be wrong to also say that cinéma vérité is the film vérité. the most truthful mode, because High School is not pure cinema vérité. To illustrate this point, consider the way the gym teacher treats delinquents in the aforementioned film. In one instance, he teaches a student the importance of calling him “sir.” Later, another misbehaving student calls him sir and he is upset by how "untrue" his statement is. The gym teacher contradicts himself and, more importantly, treats the same topic differently on different occasions. The situation is reminiscent of Betty's inconsistent treatment of the same story in Betty Tells Her Story (which is most classified as a reflective film). Therefore, to answer... middle of paper ......s. Moments of truth tell more truth in documentary film. This means that observing reality and making decisions and judgments accordingly is the reality humanity tries to do all the time. The moments of truth in the film allow the viewer to do this, because they assume they are seeing. reality. It may be true that Michael Moore's actions cause a lot of thought about the film's credibility, but watching people being evicted from their homes live using the truth technique allows people to better construct the truth about the world around them. them. It doesn't have to be objective, because that's not what people find in real life either. Works Cited Aufderheide, P. (2007). Documentary film: a very short introduction. New York: Oxford University Press. Nichols, B. (2001). Introduction to the documentary. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.