This. The reason I chimed in before on the subject of verisimilitude is because I study film theory and technique and it's hugely important for people to understand that films don't just come together by chance and make you feel a certain way, they aim to make you feel a certain way from start to finish. Everything in the frame, every word, shot length, every editing decision is on purpose. None of it is a mistake.

Documentary is, of course, similar -- there are a huge number of decisions that go into documentary construction to the same end, even though it's "raw footage" -- and there are plenty of ways to manipulate footage that you can't completely control to an emotional end. These editing techniques include juxtaposition of similar or dissimilar images, music choices, where and when to cut scenes, what images and phrases to leave in and take out, and chronology (i.e. what scene comes next). All of these decisions have an emotional effect on the audience.

That said, if the documentary filmmaker is good at their job, they will manipulate their work in a way that matches the "feeling" of the subject. They will edit in a way that amplifies the important aspects of the topic and story. While of course, it is constructed, documentary does do its part to help preserve a historical moment, person, or place in a way that can more readily considered "historical" than any fictionalized history in most cases.

This is what every film student in every classroom in the world does. We break down the ways in which directors use film to make us feel or believe different things. So, I just hope you all come out of this thinking more deeply about what you see on screen and how everything you do and do not see is intentional and important.