#21. Super Size Me
This film shows a real-life social experiment. Morgan Spurlock is an independent filmmaker who decided to be the subject of his own film. He subjected himself to an experiment, Morgan ate McDonald for thirty straight days, to show the physical and psychological damage fast food can do. Morgan gained 25 pounds and his cholesterol increased, among other things. The film was a success and McDonald seems to has felt attacked and retire their super-sized option, they said it had nothing to do with the film.
#20. Surviving R. Kelly
The singer R. Kelly has been the subject of numerous allegations of sexual abuse and misconduct since the beginning of the 90s. Kelly had an illegal marriage to the late Aaliyah when she was just fifteen years. The documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly was released in 2019 and consisted of eleven episodes. Kelly's ex-wife, brothers, and people who worked with him joined his victims in a string of interviews that showed the abuse and power inflicted by the singer. Musicians who had collaborated with Kelly, like Lady Gaga, Chance The Rapper and Ciara, removed their works with him from streaming services.
#19. Blackfish
Blackfish went viral, the 2013 film delves into an orca called Tilikum, who was held by SeaWorld.There was controversy over the captive killer whales, Tilikum killed three people, including one trainer, Dawn Brancheau. The film remarked that the whales have experienced extreme stress when their children were captured in the wild or when separated after breeding at water parks, SeaWorld claimed that everything in the film was a lie. Slide to see a documentary that saved a life.
#18. Bowling for Columbine
From one of the most recognized documentaries directors, Michael Moore, an Academy Award winner thanks to this film. Bowling for Columbine explores, in what Moore’s eyes are the primary causes for the Columbine High School massacre in 1999 and other repercussions of gun violence. Gun culture is huge in America, and a film like this reminds us of the importance of taking it with caution and responsibility.
#17. Grey Gardens
The ones who used to be upper-class women, became two reclusive mother and daughter that lived in poverty at Grey Gardens. The film followed the lives of Edith Ewing Bouvier Beale, known as, "Big Edie", and her daughter Edith Bouvier Beale, known as "Little Edie", were the aunt and the first cousin, respectively, of former US First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. They lived together at the Grey Gardens estate for decades but it was plagued by fleas, raccoons, filled with garbage and God knows what. They got busted thanks to an article in the National Enquirer and Jackie had to rescued her from having her house evicted.
#16. An Inconvenient Truth
The film talked about the former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to raised public awareness of climate change and put on motion an environmental movement in the United States. Laurie David was so impressed with Gore that after his presentation at a town hall meeting on global warming, she, with producer Lawrence Bender, met with Guggenheim to adapt the presentation into a film. It was a commercial success and won two Academy Awards.
#15. Paris Is Burning
This film really dives into the ball culture of New York City and the African-American, Latino, gay, and transgender communities that participated in it. The director, Jennie Livingston really wanted to explain the LGBTQ+ ball culture as best as she could. The documentary goes deep into prejudice, judgment and the survival of the ones who get criticized by people and media. Next we have a powerful one.
#14. The Hunting Ground
This powerful documentary showed the sexual assault on college campuses in the United States and the incompetence of the University to deal with it. Lady Gaga recorded an original song, "Til It Happens to You," for the film and won an Oscar. The film focuses on Annie E. Clark and Andrea Pino who the school failed to respond to their rapes while enrolled. A very important film that needed to be seen.
#13. Dirty Girls
Michael Lucid was a very likely boy and gained the trust of his peers. They granted him the kind favor of insider access into their lives, therefore, he made a seventeen-minute long school project that went viral. It showed two eighth-graders feminists, Amber and Harper. The Dirty Girls were known in school for bad hygiene, but the idea was to show a post-Cobain Los Angeles in the 1990s from these girls’ perspectives.
#12. The Central Park Five
It is a documentary about the events that unfold on April 19, 1989. Trisha Meili, a female jogger, she was violently assaulted and raped. The cased was very famous, The New York Times described the attack as "one of the most widely publicized crimes of the 1980s.”. The filmmaker wanted to explain how the real criminal should have been a suspect since the very beginning and not have convicted those five, innocents, boys. A huge mistake that was. There is a fiction in Netflix that also portraits this case called When They See Us. Slide to one of the biggest frauds.
#11. Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened
There are two popular documentaries about this major fraud: Fyre Fraud (Hulu) and the Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened (Netflix). Both specials narrate the infamous Fyre Fest and the man behind it: Billy McFarland. Fyre was an attempt at a music festival that has become a massive fraud case. The Netflix film inquired into the planning and the behind-the-scenes of the unfortunate event caused by the Fyre Media company. It also raised awareness about the un-paid employees who built the festival.
#10. Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes
We are probably familiar with Ted Bundy, the infamous serial killer of the 70s. Well, Netflix decided to released a series of four episodes, in 2019. Trought the episodes you could see a compilation of interviews, official police evidence, his thoughts about the death row, archival footage, personal photos, and the narrator guiding us through. It is worth watching an extensive inside look of Bundy’s mind and all that went down.
#9. Making a Murderer
Okay, this one is a complicated one. Netflix launched a masterpiece in 2018, people really loved this series. If you haven’t seen it, let me enlighten you. It narrates the details of the life of Steven Avery, who served nearly twenty years in prison for a sexual assault and attempted murder he did not commit, he even had an alibi. He got released, and in 2005 was arrested for a different murder. It also followed Brendan Dassey, who was accused and convicted as an accessory to the murder, based mostly on his confession under interrogation. Next we have another Netflix masterpiece.
#8. 13TH
Netflix is really killing it with their documentaries. In 2016, the film was released, it was named after the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, adopted in 1865, which abolished slavery. The director DuVernay, argues that slavery has been continued through the constant target police have on minorities. It also touches on the suppression of African Americans by disenfranchisement, lynchings, Jim Crow, a war on drugs that concentrates more heavily on minorities and mass incarceration of people of color in the United States. Sadly this is a very current event.
#7. Catfish
If you are thinking “Is this related to the MTV Show?” the answer is yes. Before the very successful show, there was a very successful documentary. In 2010, Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman filmed a young man, Nev, as he builds a romantic relationship with a young woman, called Megan, on Facebook. What can go wrong, right? Well, Megan turned out to be Megan's "mother" Angela, who lied about her life, career, having cancer, etc. She used family pictures and fake audios. Be careful with who you chat online!
#6. Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills was released on 1996, it exhibited the trials of the West Memphis Three, three teenagers accused of the murders and sexual mutilation of three children as some kind of satanic ritual in West Memphis, Arkansas. So many questions were asked and there weren’t many answers, only restricted confessions, and confusingly inconclusive DNA. It’s worthy to watch.
#5. The Invisible War
The 2012 documentary dove into the sexual assaults in the United States military. A very sensitive subject that needed to be addressed. The numbers in 2010 were worrisome — 108,121 veterans were identified as victims of sexual trauma, an estimated 19,000 new assaults occurred, and only 244 perpetrators were convicted. The film showed how poorly the military handles accusations of rape with the victim’s testimonies. Slide to see the most tragic Rollin Stone's concert.
#4. Gimme Shelter
The 1970 documentary recorded chronicling the last weeks of The Rolling Stones' 1969 US tour which climaxed in the unfortunate Altamont Free Concert. The event had security provided by the Hells Angels, after a couple of drinks and other things, the mood turns ugly. Fights break out, Mick Jagger arrived and got punched in the face by an unruly fan while making his way to his trailer. But, the worst thing— Meredith Hunter, attempted to get up in the stage but, was stopped by the Hells Angels guarding the band. Hunter then pulled a revolver but she was killed by at least six stab wounds by Hells Angel’s Alan Passaro. Tragic.
#3. Harlan County, USA
Harlan County, USA was released in 1976. The film covered the "Brookside Strike", in which 180 coal miners and their wives fought with the Duke Power Company. The director let the workers speak for themselves on the film, and that reduce the amount of violence during the fights between the two parties, eventually riots occurred. It won the Oscar for Best Documentary and had an amazing response from the audience.
#2. The Thin Blue Line
The filmmaker Errol Morris, released The Thin Blue Line in 1988. The movie depicted the story of Randall Dale Adams, who was sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Because of the film, the investigation, and the research that went through, the case was review. Admas was freed from prison after 12 years, it was around a year after the film's release. Sometimes a movie can really save a life. Don't miss our No. 1
#1. Leaving Neverland
Nobody is safe from the law, no matter if you are a big shot, a regular folk or the King of Pop. Last year a very longed-for documentary, with the controversial allegations of the victims of Michel Jackson, was released. The singer's fans did not appreciate this film and opposed to the screening of the documentary in festivals. Whatever your opinion on the subject is, people reacted to it. DJ's stopped using Jackson music, even Drake withdraw MJ samples of his tour. This film is conversation starter for sure.
