Gazing at an image of oneself, whether still or moving, is an uncanny yet often illuminating experience, an opportunity to see oneself as others see you. So it is with recent documentaries made in and about the United States by filmmakers from abroad, and inspired by the turbulent events of the past eight years. Nonfiction filmmakers overseas, particularly in Europe, have been closely observing U.S. influence abroad and the American experience here at home.

Technology and warfare, the strong arms of American power, figure prominently in this series, most especially in Hartmut Bitomsky’s B-52. As with American nonfiction filmmakers, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are a topic of particular interest. Swiss filmmaker Heidi Specogna’s poignant The Short Life of José Antonio Gutierrez offers a strong example of a documentary that recovers and recounts an urgent and powerful story seemingly overlooked in this country. Perhaps the cruel ironies of Gutierrez’ life and death are more readily apparent to someone who can look at them from an outsider’s perspective. At the same time, Jean-Luc Léon’s gently humorous The Lapirovs Go West reminds us that immigration can sometimes be a comic, rather than a tragic, experience.

All of these documentaries are united by the fact that they were funded entirely or in part by ARTE, the Franco-German cable network that has become, in the seventeen years since its founding, as major a force in film production in those two countries as the HBO network in the United States.

Whether they are imaginative history lessons (Bob Swaim’s France Made in USA, William Karels’ Dark Side of the Moon) or darkly poetic ruminations on the American landscape (Chantal Akerman’s South), these disparate documentaries offer the rare cinematic pleasure and insight of allowing us to reflect upon the sight of ourselves as seen from afar.