Best Documentary Movies

The best documentaries out-plot fiction: stranger twists, higher stakes, real consequences. Music docs, true crime, nature epics and portraits of obsessive people doing improbable things, ranked by audience rating. Find where each one streams and build a watchlist of the real world.

The Union: The Business Behind Getting High

2007

The Secret Life of Brian

2007

Michael Jackson's Private Home Movies

2003

Indiana Jones: The Search for the Lost Golden Age

2021

Piece by Piece

2024

Pope Francis: A Man of His Word

2018

78/52

2017

Best of Enemies

2015

Sergio Leone: The Italian Who Invented America

2022

Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

2013

American Nightmare: Becoming Cody Rhodes

2023

The Celluloid Closet

1996

Bye Bye Tiberias

2024

Elvis '68 Comeback Special Edition

2006

Shawshank: The Redeeming Feature

2001

U2: iNNOCENCE + eXPERIENCE Live in Paris

2016

The Show Must Go On: The Queen + Adam Lambert Story

2019

Taylor Swift: VH1 Storytellers

2012

Hype!

1996

Santiago, Italia

2018

Finding Harry: The Craft Behind the Magic

2026

Love, Antosha

2019

Training 'John Wick'

2017

Dragon's World: A Fantasy Made Real

2004

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

2007

That's Entertainment!

1974

Stone Cold Steve Austin: The Bottom Line on the Most Popular Superstar of All Time

2011

The Story Room: The Making of 'Lilo & Stitch'

2004

Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me

2014

One Last Adventure: The Making of Stranger Things 5

2026

The Crystal Calls - Making The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

2019

Marty, Life Is Short

2026

The Most Beautiful Boy in the World

2021

Marriage Story: From the Pages to the Performances

2019

Global Metal

2008

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

2004

ZZ Top - That Little Ol' Band from Texas

2019

Metallica: Quebec Magnetic

2012

Scorsese's GoodFellas

2015

Walt: The Man Behind the Myth

2001

The Concert for Bangladesh

1972

Avatar: The Deep Dive - A Special Edition of 20/20

2022

The Making of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'

2002

A Gorilla Story: Told by David Attenborough

2026

Tig

2015

Jimi Hendrix

1973

You Can See Everything

2026

Ben Platt: Live from Radio City Music Hall

2020

Pretty Sweet

2012

Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi

1983

They'll Love Me When I'm Dead

2018

To Hell and Back: The Kane Hodder Story

2017

Justin Timberlake + The Tennessee Kids

2016

All Things Must Pass

2015

The Decline of Western Civilization

1981

Mission Blue

2014

Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever

1983

King Kong: Peter Jackson's Production Diaries

2005

Julia Sweeney - Letting Go of God

2008

Bowie: A Reality Tour

2004