and Harlan doesn't have a "universal message about the human condition"? i reckon you can frame either that way. just as you can frame Anvil as an advertising piece if you want to be dismissive
The line between what I would call art and what I would call journalism is pretty gray. I could say that its in the eye of the beholder but that is a cop-out. There is a definite difference between
Waltz with Bashir and the stuff you usually see on the history channel. I love those WWII documentaries, but they are not art, Bashir is. Same thing with
Grizzly Man vs the stuff on the discovery channel. Again, I love animals and enjoy nature documentaries, but there is a huge difference between what Herzog does and what Steve Erwin did (RIP).
I guess a somewhat crude test would be, is the documentary still interesting if you could care less about the topic? I think
Anvil is still very interesting if you are not into Anvil, heavy metal, or even music in general. I don't think that
Harlan is interesting if you don't care about coal mining, labor relations, or the plight of the poor (not saying I don't).