The 74 Best Documentaries on Netflix Will Change How You See the World
The 74 Best Documentaries on Netflix Will Change How You See the World
Remarkably, of all forms of film, the documentary genre provides a story more bizarre than fiction. And if any streamer knows that, it's Netflix. The platform has really leaned into the genre of late, serving up some of the strangest, most compelling, and complex deep dives on fascinating real-life stories.
The best of Netflix's slate of documentaries provide crucial perspectives on our weird world. Though if we're being honest, it can be hard to parse through the annals of Netlfix's infamous algorithm to find which films are worth your time. Is it finally time to watch Seaspiracy (and maybe swear off fish from your diet) or is it time to rev your metaphorical engine and cue up the Formula 1-focused Schumacher? Perhaps it's time to scale the highest mountains of the world, all from the comfort of your couch.
To help you out, we've narrowed down the list of the best documentaries on Netflix, no matter if you’re looking to expand your mind or your true crime trivia knowledge.
Formula 1: Drive to Survive
Here at Esquire, we've finally converted to the cult, fandom, mass obsession, bandwagon—whatever you want to call it—of Formula 1. Featuring the likes of Lewis Hamilton and Lando Norris, the series captures honesty, beef, and emotion in a way we'll never see from our ultra-guarded athletes stateside.
White Hot: The Rise & Fall of Abercrombie & Fitch
The saga of the once-exclusive retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch, is so captivating that you'll swear you smell the inside of the store while you watch it. (Or is that Hollister?)
Our Father
Our Father is a Netflix-branded true crime batshittery at its best. Or worst, really. In the film, a woman takes an at-home DNA test and finds out that she has multiple half-siblings. The story unravels with a scheming fertility doctor at the end of it all.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King
The Internet is ripe with scams and Netflix is determined to catch every single one. In Trust No One, a Canadian crypto founder mysteriously dies, leaving $215 million of his customer's cash lost and unreturned. The story gets even more complicated when conspiracy theorists and Internet sleuths begin to believe that he faked his own death and ran away with the stash.
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
The Boeing 737 MAX incidents shook the nation back in 2019, when two massive planes crashed due to component failures and killed roughly 346 people. News reports about faulty autopilot software and corporate corruption ended in Boeing's heavily sullied reputation, but not its demise.
BLACKPINK: Light Up the Sky
BLACKPINK, the global female K-pop sensation, tell their story in this inside look at the group's four stars—Rosé, Jennie, Jisoo, and Lisa. What's revealed in their tales of success and superstardom, however, is a peek into the closed-door bootcamps that ready young hopefuls through vigorously restrictive training during some of the most formative years of their lives.
Dancing with the Birds
Deep in exotic forests around the planet, Birds of Paradise dance, shake their feathers, and collect the prettiest rocks they can get their little beaks on just to attract a mate. Dancing with the Birds, produced by the creators of Our Planet, gets up close to capture some of the most beautiful performances from some of nature's most bizarrely captivating creatures.
The Sparks Brothers
They're a band and they're brothers. That's how Ron (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals) describe themselves in the opening of The Sparks Brothers, a documentary about the quirky Los Angeles pop/rock duo. Spanning over 50 years and 25 studio albums, Sparks developed a cult following in the U.S. and recently made a big resurgence after they wrote the score to the (polarizing) film Annette.
Return to Space
It may be Elon Musk's dream to go to outer space, but it's SpaceX's mission to figure out how to make it happen. Return to Space, the newest Netflix documentary from the Free Solo filmmakers, looks at the Tesla billionaire with reverence as his team of astronauts and rocket scientists look to the stars.
14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible
Six months and six days. That's how long it took Nims Purja to climb the world's 14 highest mountains, all above 8,000 meters. The journey is brilliantly documented in 14 Peaks: Nothing Is Impossible. After you've watched the film, make sure to read our interview with Purja.
The Tinder Swindler
The Tinder Swindler is absurdist true crime at its best. The film follows the sins of Simon Leviev, who allegedly posed as a billionaire diamond heir on Tinder so he could exhort money from women. Guess what? He's still out there. Somewhere.
Pelé
Early in 2021, we saw the definitive portrait of arguably the greatest footballer of all time: Pelé. The film is both a celebration of the electric Brazlian and an unflinching look at the mistakes he made during his career.
Cocaine Cowboys: The Kings of Miami
Throughout the 1980s, Willie Falcon and Sal Magluta controlled the largest cocaine smuggling organization on the East Coast and one of the biggest in the world, making more than $2 billion in cash by bringing cocaine into the U.S. from Colombia via Miami. Through interviews with their close friends and co-conspirators, this docuseries details everything from the early days of the operation to the various trials, convictions, murders, bribes, and escapes in this notorious case.
Schumacher
This German sports documentary on the life of seven-time Formula 1 champion Michael Schumacher is an inside look at his early years, his rise to prominence, and his current rehabilitation at the family’s home following his 2013 skiing accident.
Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed
When you think of Bob Ross, you probably think calming, joyful brushstrokes, trees and nature, and maybe even of his signature afro. But a new Netflix doc paints a more sinister portrait of the beloved painter’s legacy, examining the complicated legal battles that have ensued over the use of Bob Ross’s name following his 1995 death.
Amy Tan: Unintended Memoir
In 1989, Amy Tan became an overnight success with the publication of The Joy Luck Club, a novel about the tensions between Chinese mothers and their Americanized daughters. The acclaimed author of six novels, two memoirs, and two children's books, Tan is the subject of this fantastic new PBS doc released this past May to celebrate AAPI Heritage Month.
My Octopus Teacher
The 2020 Oscar winner for best documentary, My Octopus Teacher follows one man on his journey to develop a relationship with an octopus off the Cape Town coast. It’s as strange as it sounds, but also a fascinating and utterly unique look at nature.
The Innocence Files
The Innocence Project is a nonprofit legal organization that works to reverse wrongful convictions and exonerate innocent individuals through the use of DNA testing. The Innocence Files is a limited series that tells the stories of these heartbreaking cases, exposing the inequality and deceit embedded deep in the criminal justice system.
Explained
This smart series from Vox spotlights topical issues and questions in short, digestible episodes. Not only did they do an episode in 2019 (!) on the next pandemic, Explained's informative episodes cover everything from K-pop to the gender pay gap.
Seaspiracy
We really, really need to do a better job taking care of the ocean (and the Earth at large). But when one documentarian sets out to prove just how much damage we're doing to the sea, he uncovers much more than he bargained for. Seaspiracy is a damning look at what we've done to the Earth in pursuit of getting what we want.
Why Did You Kill Me?
The murder of Crystal Theobald came with some big consequences for those who committed the crime. When a family uses social media to track down her killers, vindication starts veering into the extreme.
Operation Varsity Blues
The 2019 College Admissions Scandal is very recent history—in fact, the trials and sentencings in the case are still ongoing today. But that didn’t stop Fyre director Chris Smith from documenting the scandal—which is the largest college admissions scheme ever prosecuted—for the world to watch. Operation Varsity Blues refocuses the attention from convicted actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman onto Rick Singer, who was the mastermind behind the whole scheme. It’s a fascinating doc about the specifics of the scheme, but also the broader inequalities and injustices baked into the American college system.
Murder Among the Mormons
Murder Among the Mormons is a comprehensive deep dive into a lesser-known, shocking tale of deceit in the very niche Mormon rare document dealing world in 1985 Salt Lake City. The unprecedented crimes of one man—who murdered two people to try to save his reputation—are traced and explored in this shocking docuseries from directors Tyler Measom and Jared Hess, who both grew up in the Church.
Last Chance U: Basketball
The creators of Last Chance U and Cheer have done it again this season in Last Chance U: Basketball. Heartfelt, dramatic, and funny, too, this docuseries follows the hopeful D1 basketball players at East Los Angeles College, who are some of the best personalities we’ve ever seen in the series.
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel
Crime Scene: The Vanishing at the Cecil Hotel is a gripping look at the infamous Los Angeles landmark: in particular, the history and socioeconomic conditions that have contributed to it’s dark, haunted reputation. Joe Berlinger’s documentary digs into the viral 2013 case of Elisa Lam, who was last seen at the Cecil and found dead in the hotel’s water tank nearly a month after she disappeared. Without purporting to solve the mysteries of the case, the documentary logically and thoroughly follows all possible leads in a case that has inspired many conspiracy theories over the years.
The Ripper
This doc is not about the infamous Jack, but another British murderer. The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter William Sutcliffe, terrorized Northern England through the '70s and '80s, evading capture for years largely due to the sexism and classism of the police at the time.
Surviving Death
This truly wild documentary is a journey exploring the possibility of life after death—from near death experiences, to mediums, to reincarnation. It's a spooky, ghost-filled series with a fascinating cast of characters, but whether you leave convinced is up to you.
Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer
Night Stalker: The Hunt For a Serial Killer chronicles the crimes of notorious California killer Richard Ramirez in the '80s. Told primarily from the perspectives of the homicide detectives on the case, this doc focuses on the frustrating investigation that dragged on for months before Ramirez was finally captured.
Pretend It's a City
Explore New York City with the wit and humor of legendary writer Fran Lebowitz, who charms in a series of conversations with Martin Scorsese.
American Murder: The Family Next Door
In case you’re one of the few who does not know about the Watt family murders (Don’t feel bad! You’re not alone), this 90ish minute documentary uses found footage to unravel the devastating deaths of Shannan Watt and her two daughters. What starts out as a heartbreaking disappearance quickly takes an even more gruesome turn, especially when you consider that it’s Shannan’s social media videos that narrate a large part of the documentary.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet
Just that name alone should sell this film. Attenborough has been doing environmentally-focused documentary work for years, and in a time where we really could be paying more attention to our environment, his Netflix documentary is a must watch. Not only does it offer some keen perspective on Attenborough’s life, but it highlights just how much nature has changed since the natural historian has been alive.
The Speed Cubers
If you’re looking for something more lighthearted, The Speed Cubers will open you up to the wonderful world of competitive Rubix cubing. You might even get a new hobby out of it, too!
The Last Dance
The 10-part Michael Jordan docuseries united the quarantined world in ways few other things have. But if you missed the weekly cultural moments (and memes), binge it all now in one go.
Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer
Deeply disturbing and incredibly wild, Don’t F**k With Cats: Hunting An Internet Killer tells a tale that begins when a video of a cat murder is posted online. While the sleuths of the internet set out to find the killer, the attention he receives leads him to post even more gruesome videos. It’s a dark and twisted binge.
The Staircase
Practically every true crime podcast has covered the legendary, haunting case of Kathleen Peterson, but if you aren’t a junkie yet and you’re looking to get into true crime, The Staircase is the place to start.
Fear City: New York vs. The Mafia
This new three-part documentary dives into the underground New York of the mob in the '70s and '80s, and the FBI agents who infiltrated the crime organization. It's gory, suspenseful, and enlightening. And here’s some light reading about the current president for when you’re finished.
Unsolved Mysteries
Who doesn’t like falling down the rabbit hole of a cold case? This July, Netflix rebooted the long-running network TV staple, which was the zenith of the true crime, interviews-and-re-enactments genre. Netflix’s Unsolved Mysteries was a huge success, having fans playing couchside detective all over again.
Athlete A
Over 500 women have accused Larry Nassar, a former trainer for USA Gymnastics, of assault. In Athlete A, directors Bonni Cohen and Jon Shenk seek justice for those women. The documentary hones in on the story of Maggie Nichols, who came forward about Nassar’s abuse in 2015—as well as the local newspaper reporters who made Nassar’s crimes a national story.
Bill Nye: Science Guy
If you’re a ’90s kid, you probably have foggy memories of Bill Nye quipping and science-experimenting on PBS. (Whether or not you retained any of the actual lessons, TBD.) If you don’t know much more about Nye, watch the 2017 PBS documentary, Bill Nye: Science Guy, where the scientist grapples with—and schools, of course—the climate change deniers of the world.
Ugly Delicious
Here’s a general rule of thumb: If culinary legend David Chang digs a restaurant, chef, or anything edible, really—best to put it on your radar. Follow Chang’s adventures in Ugly Delicious, where he adds some Food World 101 lessons along with visits with his favorite chefs and trips to out-of-the-way spots. (Plus one excursion at Outback Steakhouse.)
Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich
There were few 2019 news stories bigger than the arrest and suicide of Jeffrey Epstein, one-time high-society financier and convicted sexual offender. And while this four-part docuseries includes interviews with Epstein’s former colleagues and associates—and particularly chilling deposition footage of Epstein himself—director Lisa Bryant focuses on the stories of the survivors, women who were drawn into Epstein’s circle and are brave enough to share their accounts with the world. --Gabrielle Bruney
Becoming
Michelle Obama turned her life into a bestselling memoir back in 2017, and in 2020 Netflix released a documentary following the former First Lady on her book tour. The film shows glimpses of the tour, as well as moments from Obama’s life detailed in the book, such as her Chicago childhood, campaigning with her husband, and life in the White House.
A Secret Love
In 1947, two women fell in love and began a relationship that would last seven decades, which they kept a secret throughout the vast majority of their lives.
American Factory
This Oscar-winning film profiles an abandoned Ohio plant reopened as a factory by a Chinese billionaire. What begins as hope and optimism soon turns to culture clashes between high-tech China and working-class America.
Murder to Mercy: The Cyntoia Brown Story
As a sixteen-year-old, Cyntoia Brown was charged with murder and robbery, tried as an adult, found guilty, and sent to prison for life. However, her case proved to be more complicated than that.
Abstract: The Art of Design
Eight artists and designers, ranging from architectures to footwear designers, show a window into their problem-solving worlds through this docuseries.
Hot Girls Wanted
This film earned the 2015 Sundance breakout documentary selection and inspired a miniseries from Netflix. The doc follows eighteen and nineteen-year-old girls into the amateur porn industry while showing how damaging the career can be.
Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness
Hey all you cool cats and kittens, you think you're about to watch a documentary about the treatment of animals? Not so fast. What starts out as a documentary looking into America's roadside zoos turns into an absurd tale of polygamy, feuds, and a murder-for-hire plot. There's a reason 34 million people watched Tiger King in its first 10 days on Netflix.
Crip Camp
Crip Camp takes a look into a summer camp that revolutionized the disability movement. Focusing on a group of teens attending the camp, the deeply affecting documentary explores an era when disability rights were tragically ignored.
Salt Fat Acid Heat
American chef Samin Nosrat travels the world to explore and drive home the importance of the four basic tenants of cooking. As interesting as it is relaxing, come for the complexity of culinary science, stay for Samin's intoxicating personality.
The Keepers
This is a docuseries that follows the story of Cathy Cesnik, a nun and Catholic teacher who went missing and was later discovered murdered.
Sex, Explained
This docuseries chronicles the history and science of sex, reproduction, and sexuality. Janelle Monáe’s smooth narration voice is far more interesting than your middle school sex-ed teacher’s monotonous lesson plan.
Cheer
Even if you have no interest in cheerleading, this docuseries will take hold of your heart and never let go. It follows the story of the Navarro College competitive cheer squad as they go through the emotional highs and lows of being part of a longstanding legacy. Here's to hoping you make it on mat.
Miss Americana
Taylor Swift’s long anticipated documentary shows the Grammy winner behind the scenes. Bonus: it also contains proof that she has one of those cat backpacks that make them look like astronauts in a tiny rocket.
Dirty Money
This docu-series is about corporate greed and corruption; in other words, it’s about America.
Killer Inside: The Mind of Aaron Hernandez
The Netflix docuseries covers the downfall and conviction of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez, but it also goes into some unexpected places, including speculation of his mental health and sexuality. The documentary features interviews with friends, NFL players, and insiders that tell the story of how a football player turned into a deadly criminal.
The Disappearance of Madeleine McCann
Often regarded as the British counterpart to America's Jon Benet Ramsey, the documentary limited series traces over the baffling disappearance of 3-year-old Madeleine McCann, who went missing while on vacation in Portugal with her family. Unlike Ramsey though, McCann was never found, prompting an onslaught of theories that targeted everyone in the area, all the way down to McCann's parents.
Evil Genius
If you've ever heard rumblings about a bank heist that resulted in a pizza guy being blown up with a collar bomb, Evil Genius tells the full, insane story about what happened back in 2003. If you haven't heard about this case, process that first sentence and read on. Evil Genius is the four-part documentary that unwraps all the mystery behind the murder of Brian Wells and the string of events that led him to become involved in a deadly Pennsylvania bank robbery that made headlines across the nation.
Homecoming: A Film By Beyoncé
A behind-the-scenes look at Beyoncé's 2018 Coachella performance, which was written, directed and executive produced by Beyoncé herself.
The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson
Dubbed “the Rosa Parks of the LGBT movement,” trans icon Marsha P. Johnson was a New York City fixture whose life was cut tragically short in 1992 when her body was discovered in the Hudson River. Though police deemed her death a suicide, this outstanding documentary argues otherwise, following Anti-Violence Project activist Victoria Cruz as she reopens Johnson’s cold case.
Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened
In 2019, there were two documentaries released about the disaster that was the Fyre Festival. The Netflix version looks at the fallout for mastermind Billy McFarland and the effect this festival had on the people in the Bahamas who helped put it all together. In one of the more memorable moments, McFarland's business partner, Andy King, explains how he offered to go far and beyond the call of duty to get some boxes of Evian water bottles past customs.
Jim & Andy: The Great Beyond
Chris Smith directs this behind-the-scenes look at Milos Forman's 1999 biopic Man on the Moon, for which Jim Carrey won a Golden Globe for playing celebrated entertainer Andy Kaufman. The doc looks at Carrey's process, a sometimes laborious Method Acting effort to capture Kaufman's spirit in his performance.
Wild Wild Country
A look at the Rajneeshpuram community that was started in the Oregon desert by guru Bhagwan Shree and his right-hand Ma Anand Sheela. While Shree died in 1990, Sheela sits for riveting interviews with the filmmakers.
Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
Before creating Zac Efron's portrayal of serial killer Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, filmmaker Joe Berlinger interviewed journalist Stephen Michaud about his revealing conversations with Bundy while he was in prison.
They'll Love Me When I'm Dead
The famed director Orson Welles changed cinema forever with his prestigious career, but his final film—The Other Side of the Wind—was unfinished and unseen for decades. Here's the behind-the-scenes story of one of the most infamous movies in film history.
Get Me Roger Stone
Before he was indicted in the Mueller Probe, Roger Stone had a long career as a right-wing dirty trickster, dating back to his work with Richard Nixon. “I live a pretty Machiavellian life and I’m a skeptic. I tend to believe the worst of people because I understand human nature,” Stone says in the doc. “That’s why one of Stone’s Rules is that ‘Hate is a stronger motivator than love.’”
Icarus
Director Bryan Fogel intended to experiment with doping in order to win a cycling competition—only his investigations into the practice opened up a bigger, more sinister scandal in this Oscar-winning doc.
Period. End of Sentence.
In this award-winning 2018 short film, a group of women in India fight the stigma against menstruation and champion the making low-cost sanitary pads.
Knock Down the House
An award-winning, behind-the-scenes view of the campaigns of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, Cori Bush, and Paula Jean Swearengin—four women with no political experience or corporate money.
What Happened, Miss Simone?
This film examines the career of Nina Simone, the acclaimed singer, songwriter, and activist whose tumultuous life influenced her fierce and dynamic artistry—but, at times, proved too intense for Simone herself.
I Called Him Morgan
The turbulent relationship between jazz saxophonist Lee Morgan and his wife Helen is the subject of this fiery documentary. Told through Helen's own narration from an interview before her death in 1996, the film is a somber recollection of an artist whose career was cut short in a tragic act of violence.
Quincy
Rashida Jones produced this look at her father, the renown musician, composer, and producer Quincy Jones, which reveals the personal side of the music icon.
Joan Didion: The Center Will Not Hold
Actor-director Griffin Dunne turns his camera lens to his very famous aunt, journalist and novelist Joan Didion. This biographical documentary examines the woman whose voice captured the complicated and messy collective American identity in the '60s and '70s.
The Black Godfather
Clarence Avant grew up in the segregated south and went on to become a hugely influential behind-the-scenes figure in the entertainment industry. Director Reginald Hudlin interviewed more than 75 people over three years, including Quincy Jones, Kamala Harris, Bill Clinton, Bill Withers, and Barack Obama.
From Oscar-winning and -nominated works of journalism, to rock docs and pop-culture biographies, to emotional and thrilling examinations of society, these are the best documentaries on Netflix in 2022.