The 30 Best Documentaries on Netflix UK That Aren't 'Making a Murderer'

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It’s fair to say that the US government’s ‘war on drugs’ — first declared by Richard Nixon in 1971 — hasn’t been the most successful thing ever. As attitudes to drugs slowly change and cannabis legalisation becomes more commonplace, this heavyweight, in-depth and angry documentary details the damage the heavy-handed approach to drugs has had, with contributions from politicians, dealers, law enforcement and creator of The Wire David Simon.

Graffiti superstar Banksy is a fascinating, mysterious character, definitely worthy of his own documentary. That’s not quite what Exit Through The Gift Shop is though. Instead it follows French artist Thierry Guetta, aka Mr Brainwash, who many or many not just be a creation of Banksy himself. Banksy is clearly playing us, but the film is so entertaining, it doesn’t matter.

The case of Jessie Misskelley, Damien Echols and Jason Baldwin, aka the West Memphis Three, is one of the most famous and most shocking miscarriages of justice in modern history. When the three were just teenagers, they were convicted of the murder of three boys and imprisoned for over 18 years, despite a lack of evidence and mostly just for being into gothy heavy metal stuff. West of Memphis follows their story, the high-profile support they received, and their eventual release.

Louis Theroux is arguably Britain’s greatest documentary maker, and thankfully, nearly all of his films are on Netflix (bar a few of the celebrity encounters held back for legal reasons). His more recent work, dealing with issues like prisons, mental health and crystal are powerful, bleak works, but we’ll also always love his early Weird Weekends, particularly him training to be a WCW wrestler or spitting bars on Dirty South hip-hop station.

Filmed to coincide with the release of the first Spider-Man movie, this is essentially just a 90 minute conversation between Marvel Comics godfather Stan Lee and director (and massive fanboy) Kevin Smith. Stan Lee is someone who has never let a good story get in the way of the truth, and Smith isn’t exactly the toughest interviewer, but it’s a very fun and thorough telling of the creation of Spidey, the X-Men, Fantastic Four and more.

In 1982, Atari almost killed the American videogames industry with their truly terrible game of the movie E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. The game bombed so badly that, as legend has it, millions of unsold cartridges were buried in the New Mexico desert. This great little doc tells both the story of Atari’s downfall, and director Zak Penn's modern day search to find the buried games.

Over twenty years since its first release, Hoop Dreams is generally acknowledged to be one the greatest documentaries ever made. Following two African-American high school students in Chicago who hope to make the NBA one day, it goes way further than just being about basketball, and takes in race, class, education social issue and the American Dream. It does run nearly three hours though, so you may want to break it into chunks.

Before the MTV series, Catfish was a movie. Instead of helping out other catfish victims, host Nev Schulman finds himself in a Facebook relationship with a hot girl he’s never met. Is it too good to be true? What do you think? It’s tricky to say how authentic the story is, as everyone seems to be documenting things normal people would never think of filming, and it’s hard to believe that these computer-savy millennials couldn’t have googled these people before being hoodwinked. But it’s plays out like taunt 21st century Hitchcock thriller, so don’t think about it too much and enjoy the ride.

If any album is worthy of a full length documentary dedicated to it, it’s Nas’ timeless 1994 debut Illmatic. The record is rightly regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time, and this twentieth anniversary documentary includes an all-star cast of talking heads, including Busta Rhymes, Pete Rock, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Q-Tip and Pharrell Williams, alongside Nasty Nas himself.

Aaron Swartz was an internet pioneer. He helped found Reddit, was involved with the creation of RSS, and was a fierce proponent of the freedom of information and Creative Commons. In 2011 he was arrested and face 25 years in jail for downloading academic journals and making them available online. Before he could be prosecuted however, he took his own life, aged just 26. He’s still a controversial figure, and the effects of his work are still being felt online, so it makes this biography of him an essential watch.

Dark Days has a fascinating subject, following the homeless people who live in abandoned Ney York subway tunnels. However, while most documentaries have grainy, shaky-cam, digital video footage, showing how ‘real’ they are, Dark Days is beautifully shot in stark black and white, with a score by DJ Shadow. It’s an incredible looking, unique documentary.

Sadly, none of ESPN’s great 30 For 30 sports docs are on UK Netflix, but this Netflix original could easily slot alongside them. It focuses on the Portland Mavericks, a defunct minor league baseball team in the 70s, who attempted to rival the popularity of the Major League teams, assembling a team of rag-tag also-rans, no-hopers, and refused to play by the rules. Don’t worry if you couldn’t give a fuck about baseball — this is a great story of chancers, underdogs and rule-breakers.

It’s nearly 20 years since the murders of The Notorious B.I.G. and 2Pac, but still they remain unsolved. In 2002, documentary maker Nick Broomfield investigated the killings, and while you might think a white middle aged British guy isn’t exactly the first choice for the job, that’s basically the point. Much like Louis Theroux, his outsider-ness and bumbling nature mean that all these tough guys let their guards down and he can really get them to open up. Plus the finale where he finally gets to speak with Suge Knight is prison will stick with you for days.

Despite being arguably the most famous athlete on the planet, Cristano Ronaldo is still a pretty private person. Outside of the odd bland promoted tweets, we don’t get to see much of the real guy off the field. This official biography gives us an rare insight and look at his life. It’s not the most revealing or in-depth portrait or anything, but it’s definitely worth watching.

Remember the late 90s/early 00s golden era of teen movies, that gave us the likes of American Pie, Bring It On, Mena Girls and Scream? This unique documentary, narrated by The Craft’s Fairuza Baulk and with a lush score by indie pop group Summer Camp, doesn’t so much detail the history of the genre but instead explain the themes and moods of the movies. It’s hard to describe, but it works really well.

In 1980s Communist Romania, Western media was banned, but the likes of Chuck Norris and Jean Claude Van Damme became cult heroes. This was through a smuggling ring sneaking VHS tapes, in which every film was dubbed by the same young female translator (which meant that the likes of Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger all had the voice of a young girl). This documentary looks at how the tapes were imported, and how the films subtly helped change public opinion in the face of Communist propaganda.

Before Arnold Schwarzenegger was an actor, politician and mobile game salesman, he was a bodybuilder. The greatest bodybuilder in the world actually. This classic doc focuses on the 1975 Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia contests, and the rivalry between Arnold and his greatest foe Lou Ferrigno (the 1970s Incredible Hulk). 70s bodybuilding was a strange, unintentionally hilarious world, and Arnie totally hams it up every time he’s on screen, including one infamous scene where he compares weight lifting to ejaculating. 

Hopefully you’re aware of Nina Simone’s work and legacy, but if somehow you only know her from the sample on Kanye’s ‘Blood On The Leaves’, you need to hit up this biography and get educated. It mixes up unreleased audio with interviews with Simone’s daughter and friends to form a definitive portrait of the singer. 

Dan Harmon is the genius behind Community and Rick & Morty. He is also, by most reports, kind of a tricky guy to work with. After he was fired from Community, he focused on his comedy podcast Harmontown, and in 2013 he took the show on tour. This documentary of the same name captured their life on the road, and Harmon in all his difficult glory.

There’s been several documentaries about Kurt Cobain over the years, of varying quality, but Montage Of Heck aims to be the official one, with his family on-board, and the most definitive. It’s made up of personal archieval materials, like voice recordings and home movies, so it’s almost as if Kurt himself is narrating the film.

Biggie & Tupac wasn’t the first time Nick Broomfield had investigated a high profile celebrity death. Since Kurt Cobain took his own life in 1994, rumours have persisted that he was actually murdered by Courtney Love. Unsurprisingly Love wasn’t very happy about the film, refusing to be interviewed or allow Nirvana’s music to be used. Broomfield’s investigation doesn’t discover any damning evidence, but the film does reveal an engaging web of weirdos and hangers-on.

Nick Broomfield has made films about themes as diverse as rock stars, sex clubs and racists, but one of his most iconic subjects was serial killer Aileen Wuornos, who he met in 1992’s The Selling of a Serial Killer (and was played by Charlie Theron in Monster). Broomfield returned to Wuornos’ story as she faced the death penalty. Obviously, it’s a difficult watch, but it’s a powerful story about the ethics of capital punishment as her mental state declines.

There’s been quite a few food shows popping up on Netflix recently, but Cooked  is easily the most ambitious. The four part series is presented by food writer Michael Pollan (based on this book of the same name), and tracks the history of human evolution through food — how developments from the discovery of fire to the creation of process foods have effected society.

In 2012, Snoop Dogg travelled to Jamaica, where he converted to Rastafarianism, changed his name to ‘Snoop Lion’, and went on to release a reggae album. The new moniker and musical direction didn’t stick, but it’s an entertaining journey. 

Allen Iverson has always cut an interesting figure in the NBA and this documentary offers a hard and honest look into the career of one the most gifted and charismatic athletes to grace the hardwood. Director Zatella Beatty really delivered on the raw and unfiltered authenticity in Iverson as the documentary pulls no punches, everything from The Answer's various achievements to his off-court controversies is up for discussion in this tell-all documentary. Whether you're a fan of the sport or not, this documentary on the recent NBA hall-of-fame inductee is essential viewing.

Remember Super Size Me, where filmmaker Morgan Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald’s for a month? In Super High Me comedian Doug Benson, as you might guess from the title, does a similar thing and gets stoned every day for 30 days. While there are investigations to the effects of the drug on is health and the medical marijuana movement in there, it’s really just something for Benson to hang his stoner comedy around — which is absolutely fine, as it’s really f*cking funny.

The ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011 has been the subject of plenty of documentaries, but this Oscar nominated film is arguably the greatest. It focuses around the protests in Egypt, and the fall of president Hosni Mubarak. As the situation in the country remained on-going, director Jehane Noujaim continued to add to the film, and the version you can see on Netflix has been updated to include further events.

Want to feel bad about going to see animals in captivity? Blackfish focuses on a killer whale named Tilikum who is held at SeaWorld in Orlando, and has been involved in the deaths of three different people, including a trainer. SeaWorld refused to take part in the project, and film's success has led to increased pressure for whales not to be imprisoned for our amusement.

In Dior And I, filmmakers were given unprecedented access behind the scenes at the fashion house. That would be interesting enough, but their time filming coincides with Raf Simons' arrival as creative director in 2012, as he has just eight weeks to produce his first couture collection for Dior. The race against time is a thrilling story, even if you don’t care about high fashion.

In 1989, 28 year old Trisha Meili was attacked and raped whilst jogging in Central Park. Five young men — four black, the other Hispanic — were wrongly convicted of the crime, and all served long jail sentences. The case was one of the most high-profile crimes of the 80s, and the documentary follows the media frenzy that followed it, including Donlald Trump rearing his ugly head and calling for the death penalty.