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Documentary Movies
Build your taste profile and get better suggestions. You've rated 0 of 39 movies. Want more suggestions? Launch Quick Rate- Super Size Me
Starring Morgan SpurlockBridget BennettDr. Lisa Ganjhu
By Morgan Spurlock, 2004.
On the heels of recent lawsuits against McDonald's, director Morgan Spurlock takes a hilarious and often terrifying look at the effects of fast food on the human body, using himself as the proverbial guinea pig. For one month, Spurlock eats nothing but McDonald's, ordering everything on the menu...
- March of the Penguins
Starring Romane BohringerCharles BerlingJules Sitruk
By Luc Jacquet, 2004.
Award-winning photographer Luc Jacquet takes documentary film to new heights -- and depths -- with his first feature film, a stunning insider's look at the life of emperor penguins living in one of the cruelest climates on the planet. The product of more than a year of filming on the Antarctic ice...
- An Inconvenient Truth
Starring Al Gore
By Davis Guggenheim, 2006.
Director-producer Davis Guggenheim (HBO's "Deadwood") captures former Vice President Al Gore in the midst of waging a passionate campaign -- not for the White House, but for the environment. Laying out the facts of global warming without getting political, Gore makes a sobering impression in this...
- Bowling for Columbine
Starring Michael MooreCharlton HestonDick Clark
By Michael Moore, 2002.
Famed filmmaker and left-wing political humorist Michael Moore tackles America's obsession with firearms in this Oscar-winning documentary. Focusing mainly on the Columbine massacre in April 1999, Moore also visits a Michigan bank that gives new customers a free gun, recites statistics for gun...
- Fahrenheit 9/11
Starring Michael MooreDebbie PetrikenGeorge W. Bush
By Michael Moore, 2004.
Michael Moore's hard-hitting documentary addresses the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, outlining the reasons the U.S. has become a target for hatred and terrorism. Criticizing President George W. Bush's response to the attacks and reinforcing his theory that the Bush Administration used...
- Food, Inc.
Starring Michael PollanEric Schlosser
By Robert Kenner, 2008.
Drawing on Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, director Robert Kenner's documentary explores the food industry's detrimental effects on our health and environment. Kenner spotlights the men and women who are working to reform an industry rife with...
- Sicko
Starring Michael Moore
By Michael Moore, 2007.
Michael Moore sets his sights on the plight of the uninsured in this Oscar-nominated documentary that uses Moore's trademark humor and confrontational style to ask the difficult questions and get to the truth behind the health care crisis. In the world's richest country, 45 million people have no...
- The Cove
Starring Richard O'Barry
By Louie Psihoyos, 2009.
This riveting documentary (winner of the Audience Award at Sundance) follows a group of animal activists to a scenic cove in Taijii, Japan, where they use surveillance equipment to capture footage of a secretive and heavily guarded operation run by the world's largest supplier of dolphins.
- Grizzly Man
Starring Timothy TreadwellAmie HuguenardWerner Herzog
By Werner Herzog, 2005.
Renowned nonfiction director Werner Herzog chronicles the tragic and untimely death of outdoorsman Timothy Treadwell, who devoted his life to studying grizzly bears living in the Alaskan wilderness -- only to have one of them maul him to death. Pieced together mainly from Treadwell's own video...
- Man on Wire
Starring Philippe Petit
By James Marsh, 2008.
Philippe Petit captured the world's attention in 1974 when he successfully walked across a high wire between New York's Twin Towers. This Oscar winner for Best Documentary explores the preparations that went into the stunt as well as the event and its aftermath.
- Who Killed the Electric Car?
Starring Martin Sheen
By Chris Paine, 2006.
Who Killed the Electric Car? is a 2006 documentary film that explores the creation, limited commercialization, and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the United States, specifically the General Motors EV1 of the 1990s. The film explores the roles of automobile manufacturers...
- Hoop Dreams
Starring William GatesArthur AgeeEmma Gates
By Steve James, 1994.
This documentary about the aspirations of high-school basketball players from inner city Chicago won awards from the Sundance film festival, the New York Film Critics Circle, and the Academy Award (Oscar) for best editing.
- No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
Starring Bob Dylan
By Martin Scorsese, 2005.
This exhaustive film biography is a moving tribute from one American visionary, acclaimed director Martin Scorsese, to another: iconic rock legend Bob Dylan. The documentary chronicles the influential singer-songwriter's resounding impact on contemporary music through never-before-seen footage...
- Murderball
Starring Mark ZupanAndy CohnKeith Cavill
By Henry Alex Rubin, 2005.
Rugby-playing quadriplegics compete for the Paralympic gold medal in this documentary about an amazing sport and the strong-willed athletes who play full-contact rugby using specially designed wheelchairs. The film follows the U.S. Quad Rugby Team as they compete in the 2002 World Championships and...
- Spellbound
Starring Ashley WhiteAngela ArenivarHarry Altman
By Jeffrey Blitz, 2002.
This documentary presents the intense, real-life experience of the National Spelling Bee as seen through the eyes of eight young spellers. We share in their private lives as they train for and compete in this ultimate intellectual showdown. Within these stories, we discover not only their...
- A Brief History of Time
Starring Stephen HawkingErrol Morris
By Errol Morris, 1991.
A Brief History of Time is based on cosmologist Stephen Hawking 's 1988 bestseller of the same name.
- Roger and Me
Starring Michael MooreRoger B. SmithPat Boone
By Michael Moore, 1989.
In this blistering, satirical documentary, ex-journalist Michael Moore gives a personal account of the tough times in his hometown of Flint, Mich., after the General Motors plant was closed in the mid-1980s. The film revolves around Moore's dogged attempts to gain an interview with Roger Smith, the...
- Waiting for Superman
Starring Geoffrey CanadaMichelle RheeBill Gates
By Davis Guggenheim, 2010.
Dynamic documentarian Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) weaves together the stories of students, families, educators and reformers to shed light on the failing public school system and its consequences on the future of the United States. With no easy answers available, Guggenheim deftly...
- Grey Gardens
Starring Edith Bouvier BealeEdie Beale
By Albert Maysles, 1975.
Documentary pioneers the Maysles brothers (Gimme Shelter) capture poignant moments in the lives of Edith Bouvier Beale (Big Edie) and her middle-aged daughter, Little Edie -- relatives of Jackie O -- at their decaying estate, Grey Gardens. The ladies shut out their bleak present by recalling richer...
- American Movie
Starring Mark BorchardtMike SchankMatt Weisman
By Chris Smith, 1999.
On the northwest side of Milwaukee, Mark Borchardt dreams the American dream: for him, it's making movies. Using relatives, local theater talent, slacker friends, his Mastercard, and $3,000 from his Uncle Bill, Mark strives over three years to finish "Covan," a short horror film.
- Don't Look Back
Starring Bob DylanJoan BaezDonovan
By D.A. Pennebaker, 1967.
In 1965, filmmaker D.A. Pennebaker accompanied Bob Dylan to England to make a film about the singer/songwriter's British tour. At the time, no one could have known how fortuitous Pennebaker's timing would prove to be.
- The Fog of War
Starring Robert McNamara
By Errol Morris, 2003.
Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara worked for both Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, playing a key role in shaping both administrations' approaches to the Vietnam War. This Oscar-winning documentary directed by Errol Morris traces McNamara's career from government to the...
- Gimme Shelter
Starring Albert MayslesDavid MayslesCharlotte Mitchell Zwerin
By Albert Maysles, 1970.
In December of 1969, four months after Woodstock, the Rolling Stones and Jefferson Airplane gave a free concert in Northern California, east of Oakland at Altamont Speedway. About 300,000 people came, and the organizers put Hell's Angels in charge of security around the stage. Armed with pool cues...
- The Thin Blue Line
Starring Errol Morris
By Errol Morris, 1988.
Not many filmmakers can claim to have freed a convicted murderer from jail, but Errol Morris accomplished that feat with his stunning documentary about Randall Dale Adams.
- Baraka
Starring A movie star
By Ron Fricke, 1992.
The relationship between humans and their environment is the subject of this mesmerizing visual study from Ron Fricke, the cinematographer and editor of Koyaanisqatsi. The images -- which Fricke gathered from 24 countries -- range from the daily devotions of Tibetan monks and whirling dervishes to...
- For All Mankind
Starring Neil ArmstrongJim LovellAlan LaVern Bean
By Al Reinert, 1989.
Director-journalist Al Reinert sifted through 6 million feet of film and 80 hours of interviews with astronauts to deliver a dazzling, Oscar-nominated documentary chronicling the American space program and its rush to put a man on the moon. With Brian Eno's atmospheric score, the film uncovers...
- No End in Sight
Starring Campbell Scott
By Charles Ferguson, 2007.
This in-depth, Oscar-nominated documentary from filmmaker (and former Brookings Institution fellow) Charles Ferguson examines the decisions that led to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the handling of the subsequent occupation by President George W.
- Nanook of the North
Starring Allakariallak, Nyla, Cunayou
By Robert J. Flaherty, 1922.
In what's considered the first documentary ever made, director Robert Flaherty's landmark film grippingly chronicles the often-brutal relationship between humans and nature's unforgiving elements. Over the course of a year, the movie's subjects -- Inuit Nanook and his family -- must hunt, fish and...
- Harlan County, USA
Starring Norman Yarborough, Houston Elmore, Phil Sparks
By Barbara Kopple, 1976.
Director Barbara Kopple 's look at a 13-month coal miners' strike that took place between 1973 and 1974 in Harlan County, KY, is one of the great films about labor troubles, though not for a sense of objectivity.
- Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter Jr.
Starring David IrvingFred A. Leuchter Jr.James Roth
By Errol Morris, 1999.
Oscar-winning director Errol Morris' riveting documentary explores the life of Fred A. Leuchter Jr., the execution specialist who worked with prisons to make capital punishment more humane. Hired by a revisionist historian to disprove the holocaust, Leuchter traveled to Auschwitz -- while on his...
- Gates of Heaven
Starring Lucille BillingsleyCal HarbertsZella Graham
By Errol Morris, 1978.
Iconoclastic indie documentarian Errol Morris trains his lens on obsessive pet owners and the zeitgeist that supports them, including pet cemetery owners and embalmers. Pet owners talk quite candidly about their deep, deep affection for their dear, departed pets and the challenges they must face...
- Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson
Starring Keith DavidStanley CrouchSamuel L. Jackson
By Ken Burns, 2004.
Long before Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, boxer Jack Johnson became the first African-American to obtain the world heavyweight title. This documentary tracks the life of the trailblazing boxer, from his early days as the son of former slaves to his rise through the ranks of a...
- Wheel of Time
Starring Dalai Lama
By Werner Herzog, 2003.
German filmmaker Werner Herzog captures the faith of thousands on an annual pilgrimage to Bhod Gaya, the Indian village in which Buddha is thought to have attained enlightenment. Structuring his documentary around the Kalachakra initiation -- a fascinating 12-day ordainment process for Buddhist...
- Hearts and Minds
Starring Georges Bidault, Clark Clifford, George Coker
By Peter Davis, 1974.
An Academy Award-winning documentary that casts a sharp eye toward the U.S. government's costly -- in terms of lives, budget and honor -- all-out effort during the Vietnam War. Director Peter Davis uses his own war footage, newsreels, presidential speeches and interviews with the likes of Robert...
- Salesman
Starring Paul BrennanAlbert MayslesDavid Maysles
By Albert Maysles, 1968.
One of the most well respected of the cinema verite documentaries of the 1960's, this non-fiction film follows a group of real-life Bible salesmen for the Mid-American Bible Company as they ply their wares.
- Burden of Dreams
Starring Claudia CardinaleJason RobardsMick Jagger
By Les Blank, 1982.
This feature-length documentary from filmmaker Les Blank paints a riveting portrait of megalomaniacal German director Werner Herzog as he worked against almost insurmountable odds in the Amazon jungle to craft his epic movie Fitzcarraldo. Besides capturing the seemingly hexed production's myriad...
- My Voyage to Italy
Starring Martin Scorsese
By Martin Scorsese, 1999.
Director Martin Scorsese acquired his love for film as the son of Italian immigrants who watched movie after movie as a child in New York City. As host of this special documentary, Scorsese provides a glimpse into his personal affection for Italian films, with favorite clips and thoughts on the...
- Best Boy
Starring Philip Wohl, Zero Mostel, Christine O'Connor
By Ira Wohl, 1979.
Best Boy is a 1979 documentary made by Ira Wohl . The film achieved high critical acclaim, and won many awards including the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 1979.
- The Gleaners and I
Starring Agnès Varda
By Agnès Varda, 2000.
This warm, funny, inventive documentary is both a diary and a kind of extended essay on poverty, thrift and the curious place of scavenging in French history and culture.
