Top Documentary Movies


The Top Documentary Movies List is calculated by overall movie ratings and members' "Top Documentary List". Lists are calculated daily.

11. March of the Penguins ( marche de l'empereur, La )

Year of Release: 2005
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Luc Jacquet
Actors: Morgan Freeman
Plot: The documentary of Emperor Penguins in Antarctica.

12. Word Wars

Year of Release: 2004
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary/Comedy
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Eric Chaikin, Julian Petrillo
Actors: Mike Birbiglia, Joe Edley, Stefan Fatsis, Matt Graham
Plot: People compete in Scrabble tournaments around the world.

13. Inside Job

Year of Release: 2010
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Charles Ferguson
Actors: Matt Damon, Daniel Alpert, Jonathan Alpert, John Campbell
Plot: Documentary that examines the factors and fault that led to the recent financial meltdown.

14. Richard Pryor ...Here and Now

Year of Release: 1983
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Comedy/Documentary
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Richard Pryor
Actors: Richard Pryor
Plot: A combination stand-up special and documentary that follows Richard Pryor on one of his later tours. Still as foul-mouthed as ever - he never shies away from speaking his mind.

15. Bowling for Columbine

Year of Release: 2002
Overall Rating: 2.9 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Michael Moore
Actors: George W. Bush, Charlton Heston, Dick Clark, Michael Moore
Plot: Gun Violence in America is shown as Michael Moore looks for causes and answers from some of America's top opponents of gun control.

16. Baraka

Year of Release: 1992
Overall Rating: 3.1 out of 4 stars
Language: Other
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Ron Fricke
Actors: Patrick Disanto
Plot: Ron Fricke presents this silent documentary, a collection of expertly photographed scenes from tribal villages to strip mining operations, that carries an environmental theme throughout.

17. I Am Not Your Negro

Year of Release: 2017
Overall Rating: 3.4 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Director: Raoul Peck
Actors: Samuel L. Jackson
Plot: Samuel L. Jackson narrates this documentary in which director Raoul Peck shares the vision of author James Baldwin in a his unfinished novel "Remember This House" about race in America focusing on the lives of three of his friends, all who met with death: Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers and Malcolm X.

18. Jiro Dreams of Sushi

Year of Release: 2011
Overall Rating: 3.2 out of 4 stars
Language: Japanese
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: David Gelb
Actors: Jiro Ono, Yoshikazu Ono
Plot: 85-year-old sushi master Jiro Ono works in the basement of a Tokyo office building, meticulously crafting the perfect pieces to present at his restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro. The documentary explores the relationship between him and his son (and sushi heir) Yoshikazu, as well as his life-long quest to develop the perfect piece of sushi.

19. The Act of Killing

Year of Release: 2013
Overall Rating: 3.3 out of 4 stars
Language: Other
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: NR
Director: Joshua Oppenheimer,Christine Cynn
Actors: Safit Pardede, Anwar Congo, Yapto Soerjosoemarno, Syamsul Arifin
Plot: A group of the Indonesian death squad leaders - who helped purge communists in the violent 1965-1966 Indonesian killings - are given a chance to re-enact their most brutal killings in a Hollywood style of their choosing.

20. Food, Inc.

Year of Release: 2009
Overall Rating: 3.0 out of 4 stars
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
MPAA Rating: PG
Director: Robert Kenner
Actors: Michael Pollan, Eric Schlosser, Richard Lobb, Vince Edwards
Plot: Explores the way a handful of corporations control a vast amount of food Americans eat - and the danger of putting profits ahead of anything else.

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