Documentaries aim to document and report on real events using actual footage or reconstructions, with a narrator occasionally providing context. The term was coined in 1926 to describe creative treatments of reality that use facts to make socially critical arguments and invite audiences to draw their own conclusions, rather than just presenting facts.

2. The purpose of a documentary is to document
i.e report something that has actually
happened.
It can show this by using actuality footage or
reconstructions.
It can use a narrators voiceover to anchor the
meaning or rely on the participants themselves
with the occasional interjection by the narrator

3. The term documentary was coined by film
maker John Grierson in 1926 to describe his life
he defined documentary as the creative
treatment of actuality for reality
Documentaries are not just about facts instead
facts are used to create socially critical
arguments, thereby inviting the audience to
draw conclusions