Top 100 Documentary Movies List

#60 Documentary Movie

Winged Migration (2001) G

Documentary on the migratory patterns of birds, shot over the course of three years on all seven continents.

Director:

Jacques Perrin, Jacques Cluzaud

Writers:

Jean Dorst, Stéphane Durand

Stars:

Jacques Perrin, Philippe Labro

The Decline of Western Civilization movie video dvd

#59 Documentary Movie

The Decline of Western Civilization (1981)

The Los Angeles punk music scene circa 1980 is the focus of this film. With Alice Bag Band, Black Flag, Catholic Discipline, Circle Jerks, Fear, Germs, and X.

Director:

Penelope Spheeris

Writers:

Penelope Spheeris

Stars:

Alice Bag Band, Alice Bag, Claude Bessey

#58 Documentary Movie

Project Nim (2011) PG-13

Tells the story of a chimpanzee taken from its mother at birth and raised like a human child by a family in a brownstone on the upper West Side in the 1970s.

Director:

James Marsh

Writers:

Elizabeth Hess

Stars:

Nim Chimpsky, Stephanie LaFarge, Herbert Terrace

#57 Documentary Movie

Capitalism: A Love Story (2009) R

An examination of the social costs of corporate interests pursuing profits at the expense of the public good.

Director:

Michael Moore

Writers:

Michael Moore

Stars:

Michael Moore, William Black, Jimmy Carter

#56 Documentary Movie

Why We Fight (2015) PG-13

Is American foreign policy dominated by the idea of military supremacy? Has the military become too important in American life? Jarecki's shrewd and intelligent polemic would seem to give an affirmative answer to each of these questions.

Director:

Eugene Jarecki

Writers:

Eugene Jarecki

Stars:

Gore Vidal, John McCain, Ken Adelman

#55 Documentary Movie

A Film Unfinished (2010)

A film about an unfinished film which portrays the people behind and before the camera in the Warsaw Ghetto, exposing the extent of the cinematic manipulation forever changing the way we look at historic images.

Director:

Yael Hersonski

Writers:

Yael Hersonski

Stars:

Alexander Beyer, Rüdiger Vogler, Hanna Avrutzki

#54 Documentary Movie

First Position (2011)

A documentary that follows six young dancers from around the world as they prepare for the Youth America Grand Prix, one of the most prestigious ballet competitions in the world.

Director:

Bess Kargman

Stars:

Aran Bell, Rebecca Houseknecht, Joan Sebastian Zamora

#53 Documentary Movie

An Inconvenient Truth (2006) PG

Director Davis Guggenheim eloquently weaves the science of global warming with Al Gore's personal history and lifelong commitment to reversing the effects of global climate change in the most talked-about documentary at Sundance.

Director:

Davis Guggenheim

Stars:

Al Gore, Billy West, George Bush

#52 Documentary Movie

The Endless Summer (1966) PG

The crown jewel to ten years of Bruce Brown surfing documentaries. Brown follows two young surfers around the world in search of the perfect wave, and ends up finding quite a few in addition to some colorful local characters.

Director:

Bruce Brown

Writers:

Bruce Brown

Stars:

Robert August, Michael Hynson, Lord James Blears

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#51 Documentary Movie

Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief (2015)

An in-depth look at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology.

Director:

Alex Gibney

Writers:

Alex Gibney, Lawrence Wright

Stars:

Paul Haggis, Jason Beghe, Spanky Taylor

#50 Documentary Movie

Deliver Us From Evil (2006)

Documentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.

Director:

Amy Berg

Writers:

Amy Berg

Stars:

Oliver O'Grady, Thomas Doyle, Adam

#49 Documentary Movie

Indie Game: The Movie (2012)

A documentary that follows the journeys of indie game developers as they create games and release those works, and themselves, to the world.

Director:

Lisanne Pajot, James Swirsky

Stars:

Jonathan Blow, Phil Fish, Edmund McMillen

#48 Documentary Movie

Citizenfour (2014) R

A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.

Director:

Laura Poitras

Stars:

Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney

#47 Documentary Movie

Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010) G

Werner Herzog gains exclusive access to film inside the Chauvet caves of Southern France and captures the oldest known pictorial creations of humanity.

Director:

Werner Herzog

Writers:

Werner Herzog

Stars:

Werner Herzog, Jean Clottes, Julien Monney

#46 Documentary Movie

Catfish (2010) PG-13

Young filmmaker documents their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.

Director:

Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman

Stars:

Yaniv Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost

#45 Documentary Movie

Sicko (2007) PG-13

A documentary comparing the highly profitable American health care industry to other nations, and HMO horror stories including shotgun deaths.

Director:

Michael Moore

Writers:

Michael Moore

Stars:

Michael Moore, Tucker Albrizzi, Tony Benn

#44 Documentary Movie

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (2004)

A documentary crew followed Metallica for the better part of 2001-2003, a time of tension and release for the rock band, as they recorded their album St. Anger, fought bitterly, and sought the counsel of their on-call shrink.

Director:

Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

Stars:

James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich

SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back

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#43 Documentary Movie

SPFX: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

A behind-the-scenes look at the creation of the special effects in the second Star Wars installment.

Director:

Robert Guenette

Writers:

Richard Schickel

Stars:

Mark Hamill, Bob Anderson, Jon Berg

#42 Documentary Movie

Jodorowsky's Dune (2013) PG-13

The story of cult film director Alejandro Jodorowsky's ambitious but ultimately doomed film adaptation of the seminal science fiction novel.

Director:

Frank Pavich

Stars:

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Michel Seydoux, H.R. Giger

#41 Documentary Movie

Best Worst Movie (2009)

A look at the making of the film Troll 2 (1990) and its journey from being crowned the "worst film of all time" to a cherished cult classic.

Director:

Michael Stephenson

Stars:

George Hardy, Lily Hardy, Pita Ray

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