When You're Strange (2009)

Johnny Depp narrates this short (70 minutes) documentary about the Doors, one of the greatest rock bands of its era, and certainly one of its edgiest under its front man Jim Morrison (1943–1971). In many ways Jim Morrison was the Doors, even though John Densmore, Robby Krieger, and Ray Manzarek have continued to perform long after Morrison's drug death at the age of twenty-seven in Paris. There are some interesting historical gems in this film, besides Morrison's frenetic stage performances, raging alcoholism, and love for poetry (he published a couple of volumes). Morrison couldn't read a note of music and never had any professional training. "Light My Fire" was the first song that Robby Krieger ever wrote. The band stayed together despite Morrison's antics for less than five years, but still sold 80 million records, and even today sells a million a year. The entire film is made from archival film footage, giving viewers a palpable sense of the social turbulence of those decades.