It’s Louis Theroux’s birthday, with the documentary filmmaker having turned 46. Although he is 18 years removed from his initial Louis Therous’s Weird Weekends series, he continues to put out distinctly compelling films for the BBC, with him most recently placing a spotlight upon home-grown issues in the UK.
But while his documentary style may have changed over the years, Louis remains the unfaltering, unimposing figure at the center of all of them, steadily earning his place as a national treasure for a newer generation. With that being said, here are the best Louis Theroux documentaries ever made:
When Louis Met… Jimmy Savile
A documentary that’s far more interesting in hindsight, Louis Theroux’s meeting with Jimmy Savile provided rare insight into the bizarre private life of the late TV personality, long before his monstrous secrets were unearthed.
Theroux struggled with Savile more than any of his other interview subjects, exhibiting great difficulty in getting to know the man behind the tremendous ego, though there
Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids
Louis Theroux started his career as a documentary filmmaker by visiting oddballs from around the globe, catching them off guard with his ineffectual demeanor and getting them to reveal more of their strange world to the viewer. However, modern Louis Theroux documentaries are far more concerned with tackling sensitive subjects that, while prominent issues, aren’t commonly addressed in wider society. One such documentary was Louis Theroux: Transgender Kids, released in 2015 as the spotlight edged closer towards transgenderism following Caitlyn Jenner’s public transition, which followed a group of children as they underwent hormone therapy and took puberty blockers, readying themselves for their eventual genital surgery.
Like so many of Louis Theroux’s documentaries, Transgender Kids never jumps to conclusions regarding such a difficult issue, instead opening a window into a world the vast majority of us will never see first-hand, leaving us to form our own opinions. Though some of the children were clearly more confident about their decision to transition than others, the strength and compassion shown by the families surrounding them was the real highlight of this story, showing parents who acknowledged the desires of their children and encouraged them instead of admonishing them. While in some instances it could be argued that a little more parental guidance was required, it was impossible to not feel empathetic towards everyone involved, providing an enlightening look at the process of transitioning on a far more personal level.
The Most Hated Family in America
One of the most well-known Louis Theroux documentaries, his exploration into the heart of right-wing cult Westboro Baptist Church presented a variety of shocking moments, all provided from directly inside the Westboro camp. With Louis being offered an unprecedented level of access into the church, all he need do was point the camera at them and record their abhorrent behaviour. However, he inevitably goes much deeper than that and not only shines an even brighter light on the bigotry running throughout the cult, but also provides a far more human angle in regards to its enlisting of its younger members.
Presenting larger-than-life characters in the form of the hate-filled and deluded Shirley Phelps-Roper, along with the Church’s manipulative and arguably sociopathic late leader Fred Phelps, The Most Hated Family in America has proven to be one of Louis’ most popular documentaries. His return to the Phelps family in order to discuss the young members who had abandoned the Church was also an interesting follow-up documentary, showing how the families prioritized Westboro over their own children, delving into how the cult’s figureheads had manipulated its followers to the point where they’d swiftly abandon their loved ones over the Church’s ideals.
Louis Theroux: Behind Bars
Louis Theroux’s distinct interview style sees him rarely flustered even when faced with the most intimidating personalities, but his time spent in the notorious San Quentin prison for Louis Theroux: Behind Bars revealed how even the typically unflappable Theroux may have been a little in over his head.
But even though most of Louis’ documentaries are made inherently more watchable by his dorky charm, Behind Bars‘ complete focus upon the San Quentin inmates and their stories stands to be an interesting deviation from the Theroux family, with the documentary maker having to do little else other than point the camera at them and let them tell their stories. With the inmates, many locked up for truly abhorrent crimes, being surprisingly articulate and exhibiting a keenness to talk about themselves, the documentary is a fascinating look into the American prison system and the troubled people who reside within it.
Louis Theroux: A Place For Paedophiles
An unflinching and incredibly uncomfortable film, Louis’ visit to Coalinga State Hospital, a mental hospital for pedophiles, marked the first time the establishment had opened its doors to a documentary crew. What followed was not only a look at the psychology of those contained within its walls, but also at the nature of the sexual disorder and the professionals trying to cure the patients diagnosed with it.
A Place For Paedophiles was a documentary in which it was difficult to feel sympathy for anyone involved, regardless of their claims that they had changed since being admitted to the hospital. Even though these men, each found guilty of the sexual abuse of minors, were depicted at their most vulnerable, Louis was unafraid to get them to directly confront their crimes in front of the camera. An understandably difficult task for Louis, he openly discusses his internal conflict in regards to forming relationships with these men during the interview process, while asking the same questions of those who are tasked with treating them.
Louis and the Brothel
A documentary that doesn’t get as much love as some of Louis Theroux’s more noteworthy films, Louis and the Brothel may not be as compelling a story as some of his other work, but the women Louis meets and forms relationships with them during his time at Nevada’s Wild Horse Adult Resort & Spa makes for a more mellow and humourous character study.
Though it dives into the inner conflict experienced by some of the brothel’s employees, the documentary mostly focuses upon the odd friendships Louis strikes up with the Wild Horse’s sex workers, particularly the warm and immediately likable Hayley. Slower paced and less eventful than most of Louis’ other documentaries, Louis and the Brothel is distinctive as it places the filmmaker at the center of the show, with his own thoughts and feelings on sex being brought into question, too.
Louis Theroux and the Nazis
While Louis Theroux’s documentary with the Westboro Baptist Church was a look at the more cartoonish – if still incredibly hate-filled – portion of the far-right, Louis Theroux and the Nazis saw him mingling with the dangerous and far more intimidating racists residing in California.
His time spent with the neo-Nazis saw him meeting Prussian Blue, the child pop duo coerced by their abhorrent parents into singing wildly anti-Semitic songs, all while being named after a by-product of the poisonous gas used to kill the millions of Jews in the holocaust, along with experiencing one of his scariest moments as a filmmaker after a drunk neo-Nazi began to suspect that he was Jewish. Although not a Jewish man, Louis refrained from divulging this information and instead stood up to the aggressor by not surrendering to his bigotry, leading to a tense confrontation that marks one of very few volatile situations Louis hasn’t been able to diffuse.
