Documentary backdrop

Documentary movies

Fascinating real-life stories, historical accounts, and educational deep dives that reveal the truth about our world.

Subgenres include: True Crime Documentary, Biographical Documentary, Social & Political Documentary.

Val

1. Val

Documentary Biographical Documentary
7.5
20211h 49min

Overview

For over 40 years Val Kilmer, one of Hollywood’s most mercurial and/or misunderstood actors has been documenting his own life and craft through film and video. He has amassed thousands of hours of footage, from 16mm home movies made with his brothers, to time spent in iconic roles for blockbuster movies like Top Gun, The Doors, Tombstone, and Batman Forever. This raw, wildly original and unflinching documentary reveals a life lived to extremes and a heart-filled, sometimes hilarious look at what it means to be an artist and a complex man.

Themes

Home movie footage, Biography through archive footage, Family photo, Struggling actor perspective, Cancer victim experience, Amateur footage intimacy

Available on

Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video Free with Ads
Amazon Prime Video with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

2. Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain

Documentary
7.7
20211h 59min

Overview

An intimate, behind-the-scenes look at how an anonymous chef became a world-renowned cultural icon. This unflinching look at Anthony Bourdain reverberates with his presence, in his own voice and in the way he indelibly impacted the world around him.


Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

3. Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)

Music Documentary History
8.8
20211h 57min

Overview

During the same summer as Woodstock, over 300,000 people attended the Harlem Cultural Festival, celebrating African American music and culture, and promoting Black pride and unity. The footage from the festival sat in a basement, unseen for over 50 years, keeping this incredible event in America's history lost — until now.


Overview

Recounted mostly through animation to protect his identity, Amin looks back over his past as a child refugee from Afghanistan as he grapples with a secret he’s kept hidden for 20 years.

Themes

Trauma and memory, Displacement and belonging, Secrecy and disclosure, Sexuality and acceptance, Perilous migration, Family duty and absence

Available on

Amazon Video
Apple TV
Google Play Movies
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

5. Breaking Boundaries: The Science of Our Planet

Documentary
7.7
20211h 13min

Overview

David Attenborough and scientist Johan Rockström examine Earth's biodiversity collapse and how this crisis can still be averted.


Gunda

6. Gunda

Documentary
7.1
20211h 33min

Overview

A glimpse into the raw and simple power of nature through encounters with farm animals: the eponymous Gunda, a mother pig; two cows, and a one-legged chicken.


Seaspiracy

7. Seaspiracy

Documentary Crime Social & Political Documentary
8.1
20211h 29min

Overview

Passionate about ocean life, a filmmaker sets out to document the harm that humans do to marine species — and uncovers an alarming global conspiracy.

Themes

Fishing net governance failures, Worker exploitation ethics, Deep sea fishing regulation, Environmental crisis governance, Political corruption accountability, Environmental destruction accountability

Available on

Netflix
Netflix Standard with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

kid 90

8. kid 90

Documentary
6.9
20211h 11min

Overview

As a teenager in the '90s, Soleil Moon Frye carried a video camera everywhere she went. She documented hundreds of hours of footage and then locked it away for over 20 years.


Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry

9. Billie Eilish: The World's a Little Blurry

Documentary Music Biographical Documentary Backstage & Showbiz Music
7.7
20212h 20min

Overview

This documentary offers a deeply intimate look at extraordinary teenager Billie Eilish. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler follows her journey on the road, onstage, and at home with her family as the writing and recording of her debut album changes her life.

Themes

Identity through art, Family dynamics under pressure, Creative autonomy vs guidance, Health challenges and resilience, Public scrutiny and privacy, Early career pressures

Available on

Apple TV
Amazon Video
Apple TV
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.

Pelé

10. Pelé

Documentary Biographical Documentary
7.0
20211h 48min

Overview

Against the backdrop of a turbulent era in Brazil, this documentary captures Pelé's extraordinary path from breakthrough talent to national hero. Mixing rare archival footage and exclusive interviews, this documentary celebrates the legendary Brazilian footballer who personified football as art.

Themes

Memory through archives, Political interference in sports, Talent versus era constraints, Sport as national identity, Public interviews shaping narrative, Biography as public record

Available on

Netflix
Netflix Standard with Ads
Data provided by JustWatch.Availability may vary by region.