Michael Galinsky and Suki Hawley spent five years making "Battle for Brooklyn," their film about the controversial Atlantic Yards project. In late 2003, it was announced the state of New York would utilize eminent domain to allow mega-developer Bruce Ratner to build 16 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets. Residents in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights were bought out or dislocated in the process. The film is a rousing indictment of governmental and corporate corruption that gives a human face to the years-long fight. Oscar voters will be rightfully riled up after watching this one, which makes it a serious contender.

With a $1.5 million dollar box office intake and a staggering 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Bill Cunningham New York" is one of the most successful and acclaimed works on the documentary shortlist. Following the renowned New York Times photographer who looks for fashion on the streets rather on the runway, it's fascinating watching Bill Cunningham work. High points come when director Richard Press delves into his subject's person life, getting him to candidly confess things like that he's never had a romantic relationship. While Cunningham's passion for clothing is palpable, but Press has the good sense to go beneath the surface. Oscar voters could easily be as impressed as critics and audiences.

"Buck," an incredibly moving profile of horse whisperer Buck Brannaman, has surprising weight behind it. Despite Buck's calm demeanor and folksy charm, he overcame years of child abuse to become one of the world's foremost horse trainers. When others talk about his hardship, they get genuinely emotional and it's remarkable how he's touched people by taking the opposite approach to life than his violent father did. Director Cindy Meehl treats the subject with sensitivity, but not sentimentality. "Buck" could edge into the race, boosted by a hefty $4 million box office intake.

"Hell and Back Again" plays like a real-life version of "The Hurt Locker" -- to the point where it seems director Danfung Dennis was directly inspired by that Best Picture winner. His documentary transitions between intense battle sequences and one soldier's awkward adjustment to life after war. Documentaries about the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have made a regular showings in this category and this is in the vein of last year's "Restrepo" or 2007's "Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience." There are some upsetting on-screen deaths of soldiers shown, but considering the abundance of works in similar territory it's hard to imagine the disjointed "Hell and Back Again" can go the distance.

Marshall Curry's compelling Oscar-nominated debut "Street Fight" (2005) -- which illuminated the dramatic, unethical practices that drove the 2002 mayoral campaign in Newark, New Jersey -- is a far cry from his latest work "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front." His latest is about Daniel McGowan, a member of the group of extreme environmentalists who destroyed property like lumber mills and slaughterhouses to raise awareness for their causes. Curry takes a sympathetic approach toward an organization whose practices have been described as terrorism. McGowan acts a mouthpiece for the idea that eco-terrorism, because it's about destroying property and not killing people, is not a form of terrorism at all. It prevents Curry from tackling hard questions, even illustrating with images that he personally feelsconstitute terrorism like  9/11 and the Oklahoma City bombing. The narrative, as a result, is&

"Jane's Journey" is a rather dry, dull feature about Jane Goodall, a chimpanzee researcher who has spent years living in the wild with her subjects. Her environmentalism and work with children is focused on, which makes her a likable character. Nevertheless, in a year with "Project Nim" it's hard to see the Oscars favoring this monkey documentary over that one.

"Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" is potent documentary filmmaking about the grave injustice that led to the West Memphis 3's 18-year imprisonment. In 1993, Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin, and Jessie Misskelley were convicted of murdering three 8-year-old boys. This third film in the "Paradise Lost" series introduces the latest evidence in the case. Directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky's engaging work will understandably rile up Oscar voters, who should be further impressed that the power of filmmaking led to their long overdue release from prison in August. Considering some of the lightweight works in contention, snubbing "Paradise Lost 3" would a major disappointment. The deeply moving epilogue alone is enough to warrant an Oscar nomination.

Director Wim Wenders takes a very interesting approach in his semi-biography of choreographer Pina Bausch. This 3D work features a handful of her dancers discussing her work, but for the most part it's her dances being performed. That can be rather entrancing and sets this apart from the rest of the field. Oscar voters favored "Dancemaker" in 1998, a similar documentary about choreographer Paul Taylor. "Pina" is also the German submission for Best Foreign Language Film.

Director James Marsh exploits the novelty of the story of a chimpanzee named Nim as much as possible. Initially raised by humans to see if he could learn sign language, Nim later led a hard life trying to adapt to life in medical testing centers and then a wildlife reserve. The human drama that surrounds him is more interesting, to be sure, and Marsh at least wisely emphasizes that whenever possible. He clearly asks some of the right questions to give a sense of the complicated nature of the relationships between the participants on the project. If Oscar voters are willing to monkey around this year, they'll favor "Project Nim" well ahead of "Jane's Journey."

The subject matter -- that Marines have been poisoned by living on base through their drinking water -- is significant. Amateur filmmaking prevents this from really being one of the better documentaries in the field. Boring where it should be blistering, "Semper Fi" is likely too pedestrian to go the distance.

A nicely edited, reasonably entertaining biography of Harry Belafonte, there are plenty of surprises offered by "Sing Your Song." His work as an activist is given a particular emphasis. With HBO backing the documentary and recently airing it on their network, it has a high profile. Show business documentaries, however, very rarely make the cut in the Best Documentary Feature field.

Better suited for an episode of "American Experience" than theatrical release, this by-the-numbers documentary offers nothing for someone familiar with the Loving v. Virginia case and its historical implication, there's absolutely nothing new brought to the table. Limited to a few talking heads and archival footage, the brief "The Loving Story" is outright dull. Oscar voters will almost certainly honor something with more ambition and scope.

"Undefeated" is one of those documentaries where the material just falls right into the laps of the filmmakers. The high school football team and their coach's story is extraordinarily moving because they buck the odds. The documentarians are present for some profound moments, the most moving of which is when an injured player is rewarded for patiently sitting out the season with a donor fully paying for his college education. We witness in real time his taking in the information. Tears roll freely not jut here, but in multiple moments that pack almost as much of a punch. It's serendipitous that the film comes together like it does, but the directors made an excellent choice in who they profiled in the first place. Oscar voters will surely be moved by this Weinstein Company-released film.

"War Photographer" made the cut in this category back in 2001, but only focused on a single subject. "Under Fire" has several war correspondents, all of whom suffer from PTSD because of their work as reporters in war zones. The interviews resonate, but this many talking heads put together in a row holds the overall film back. "Under Fire" also has the lowest profile of all fifteen documentaries nominated this year, which could prevent it from getting in.

"We Were Here" lets those who survived the AIDS crisis in San Francisco tell their story with perfect proportion. There's a real sense of the fear they felt not only in not knowing what the initial disease was, but its seemingly untreatable nature. That wistfulness and sorrow is palpable and it's only the power behind these talking head interviews that makes the film something special. Stylistically and narratively, it's unremarkable, but the stories director David Weissman lets unfold make this captivating nevertheless. The Oscars not only nominated AIDS documentary "Common Threads" back in 1989, but voted for it for the win.