Need a Lift? Watch a Doc.

It used to be that, when real life got a little too real, folks would head to the movies for a little escape.

Hollywood was in its heyday during the Great Depression. Clark Gable smoldered, Shirley Temple twinkled and Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers danced and danced and danced. The Cold War featured Doris Day, sprawling epics and Alfred Hitchcock in his prime. The tense 1980s were filled with Arnold Schwarzenegger action flicks and John Hughes movies.

You might think, in these shrill and fractious times, entertainment would again be a nice escape for us.

If only.

The first wave of Oscarbait flicks are hitting theaters now, and most so far seem to be pretty dark stories of self-destruction. The comedies tend to be dark one, the teen actioners are almost always set in bleak dystopias. Even superhero movies—normally a reliable source for light, inspirational popcorn munching, seem to have taken a turn toward the serious. Avengers: Infinity War gave us a story where the bad guy not only won, but apparently killed off half the universe’s population.

Television offers little relief, either. While it’s arguably as good as it’s ever been, light sitcoms and flyweight action-dramas have given way to dark, bleak serials that, sometimes, can feel like a punishment to watch. No wonder HGTV is so popular.

Where can we turn to for a little inspiration, a little hope in our entertainment? Ironically, I’ve found it in a genre normally dedicated to grim, gritty reality: the documentary.

I’ve already written, here and elsewhere, about the outstanding documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor (now available on video). This feature-length profile of Fred Rogers is one of my favorite movies of the year.

But in the realm of the year’s best documentaries, Neighbor just got a little company in the form of National Geographic’s wonderfully sweet Science Fair.

I saw Science Fair (rolling nationwide over the next few weeks) the day after seeing Assassination Nation, a culturally scathing, rage-filled, near-nihilistic story about four teens and the community that wants to kill them. In a year filled with downer movies, I can’t think of one that depressed me more. It was the story of angry, lost youth drowning in an angry, lost society—and one that, the movie’s makers suggested, was just around the corner (if not already here).

Science Fair offered a much different, and far more hopeful, look at today’s youth. The kids we saw were smart and winsome and showed no signs of the withering despair that so many filmmakers feel that we should feel. These kids believe in a better, brighter future—maybe in part because they’re working, and working hard, to make that future a reality.

These two fact-based films are hardly unique. Many of the docs I have seen have not just made me think, but moved me, sometimes deeply. Far From the Tree is a sometimes difficult but ultimately redemptive look at unusual, challenging families. Crime+Punishment certainly dealt with the difficult issue of race bias in law enforcement, but it showed that, with strength and will, there’s hope the system can be changed. Behold the Earth drills into the serious environmental issues facing us, making a strong assertion that the Christian church could and should be doing more to address them. But the movie doesn’t come across as bleak and critical, but beautiful and inspirational. And Summer in the Forest, about a system of unique homes for the mentally or emotionally impaired, was simply wonderful—and, as I discovered in an interview with director Randall Wright, a timely refutation of our modern, high-motor angst.

We live in an age of rage. Many of us live in a near-constant state of stress. We long—perhaps we need—a little release and relief. Some escape, some hope. And the movies, so long a refuge in our most anxious days, have been less that refuge and more a reminder of how much we could use one. Our fictional movies, anyway.

How unusual that we’d find hope not in our modern, made-up stories, but in the stories of real people in real life. Those people, from Mister Rogers to some smart, talented teens, have made my life a little brighter this year. If you could use a little pick-me-up, as well, you might want to check out the fine films gathered by my colleagues over at Docs/ology. Pretty great stuff there.