Fiction can be an escape. Stepping into a fictional world can be a chance to leave the real one behind. But other times, nonfiction can be just as entertaining and transport you to a new world you didn’t know existed.
Here’s a list of some of the best documentaries you won’t be able to look away from.
Free Solo
Before world-renowned rock climber Alex Honnold scaled the Taipei 101 Skyscraper live on Netflix, he attempted an even riskier climb. The Academy-Award winning Documentary Free Solo follows Honnold and his journey to complete the first-ever free solo climb of El Capitan.
Now, if you’re not privy to rock climbing lingo, free soloing is a type of rock climbing that involves no ropes or safety gear. Just the rock climber and the rock. And in Honnold’s case, the “rock” in question was the 3,000-foot El Capitan wall in Yosemite National Park.
Directors Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi captured Honnold’s journey with awe-inspiring dedication and incredible camerawork. The audience truly feels like they’re climbing up El Capitan with Honnold.
Even if you’re not scared of heights, you’ll be holding your breath for the whole documentary. Honnold’s physical and mental preparation, as well as his setbacks and relationship woes, all amount to an impressive feat of human nature. Accompanied by the beautiful nature of Yosemite Park, Free Solo is the type of documentary that will have your eyes glued to the screen, even if you want to look away. It’s a must-watch for anyone looking for a thrilling and stress-inducing way to kill an hour and forty minutes. But after it’s all done, it will leave you inspired by the strength of the human spirit.
IMDb: 8.1/10
Where to Watch: Netflix, Disney+
Three Identical Strangers
Sometimes a story is so unbelievable you can’t understand how it’s real. Three Identical Strangers is one such story.
Imagine this: It’s your first day of college, and everyone is greeting you, like they’ve seen you before. Your name is Bobby, but everyone keeps calling you Eddie.
That’s exactly what happened in 1980 to Bobby Shafran. People started asking if he had been adopted. He said yes, and soon enough, he was reunited with his long-lost twin brother, Eddie Galland, who was already a student at the college. Once the media outlets got hold of the story, news spread, and soon enough, a third identical brother showed up, David Kellman.
This is the unbelievable true story that Tim Wardle explores in his 2018 documentary Three Identical Strangers. The doc is an incredible exploration of psychology, media frenzy, and what it means to be family.
As the triplets launched into fame in the 1980s, they began to realize how much they were alike. Enjoying the same kind of cigarettes, the same taste in women, and more. As they try to understand why they were separated at birth, a twisting mystery unveils itself.
Wardle brings us into the present and explores how this experience united and changed the brothers. It’s a truly incredible story, and the documentary charts the brothers’ journey with so much care that it’s impossible to lose interest.
IMDb: 7.6/10
Where to Watch: Tubi
Grizzly Man
Werner Herzog’s 2005 Grizzly Man tells the journey and tragic deaths of Timothy Treadwell and Amie Huguenard. For years, Treadwell lived among grizzly bears in Alaska, advocating for the protection of the species. Herzog uses the hours and hours of footage Treadwell filmed of himself with the bears throughout the documentary.
The visuals of the Alaskan wilderness and the fear of knowing how it’s all going to end make for a gripping hour and 43-minute viewing
Herzog narrates the majority of the film, and his insight, while invasive at times, brings a fresh perspective. He also tracks down people from Treadwell’s past to provide a nuanced insight into a complex man.
Grizzly Man, while tragic and sad, makes us confront our own morbid curiosity. It’s this draw that keeps people coming back to it 20 years later.
IMDb: 7.7/10
Where to Watch: Tubi
Blackfish
Perhaps one of the most famous documentaries of all time, Blackfish, released in 2013, changed how the world viewed the sea-park industry forever.
The documentary tells the story of Tilikum, a killer whale, who spent nearly his whole life in captivity and was involved in three human deaths. Blackfish dives deep into these events and explores the dangers of using wildlife for entertainment.
Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite uses archival footage of Tilikum and interviews with marine life trainers to paint the picture of pain and unpredictability that comes with keeping wild animals captive. And it had real-life results. Three years later, in 2016, SeaWorld ended its orca breeding program, showing just how impactful nonfiction filmmaking can be.
Blackfish is an authentic portrayal of a heartbreaking truth. Just like Grizzly Man, it makes us question the lines in nature that humans often cross. There is a delicate balance at play, which Blackfish explores so well. It’s this element of self-reflection that has kept Blackfish relevant and has helped elicit real change within the wildlife industry.
IMDb: 8.1/10
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Tubi
Paris is Burning
Released in 1990, Paris is Burning peels back the curtain on the 1980s drag scene in New York City. Director Jennie Livingston follows a cast of characters, both new and veteran queens, through their daily lives and as they get ready for drag balls. What follows is an hour and 18 minutes of life, love, and tragedy.
Paris is Burning gave a voice to an underrepresented and often overlooked community. It is a time capsule into this period of queer history. However, beyond its cultural significance, Paris is Burning is informative and full of likable characters, so you won’t want to turn it off.
As a viewer, you are swept up in the glitz and glam of the ball scene, and then forced to understand the reality these drag queens face in their real lives. From racism, to homophobia, and class divisions, Paris is Burning is a raw portrayal of a community that has given so much to our cultural zeitgeist. It’s a roller-coaster of a documentary that leaves you intrigued, but, more importantly, educated.
IMDb: 8.2/10
Honorable Mentions: Short Documentaries
Nai Nai & Wài Pó
A documentary subject doesn’t have to be scaling a mountain or have two long-lasting identical brothers to keep your eyes glued to the screen. Sometimes they’re just endearing enough on their own that you don’t want to look away from their shenanigans. That’s what Sean Wang achieves in his short documentary Nai Nai & Wài Pó. The 17-minute short doc follows Wang’s paternal grandmother, Nai Nai, and maternal grandmother, Wài Pó, during their daily lives.
The two are “soulmates in a way,” says Wang. They live in the same house, share a bed, cook with each other, and spend all day together. The two are heartwarming and tender, and viewers can feel that this documentary was made with a lot of love.
It was also filmed over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic and called attention to the rise of Asian hate crimes during this period. Wang says he wanted to capture the warmth of his grandmother during a difficult time.
“Seeing people like my grandmothers, elderly people in our community being attacked; It was just this extreme juxtaposition of seeing that in the news on my computer and then walking into the same room as them and then lighting me up with a smile”
Sean Wang for NPR
From dancing to exercising to cutting fruit, Nai Nai and Wài Pó are an unstoppable duo. It’s a short documentary, but it’ll surely leave your eyes glued to the screen and a smile on your face.
Where to Watch: Disney+
Nuisance Bear
Nuisance Bear by Jack Weisman and Gabriela Osio Vanden originally came out in 2021 as a short doc for The New Yorker. For nearly 15 minutes, the audience is immersed in a small Canadian town as polar bears migrate through the area. What’s so unique about this documentary is that there’s no talking. No interviews or soundbites. Just the polar bears, the tourists and townspeople trying to get a look at it, and the wildlife officers trying to subdue the chaos that ensues. It has now been made into a feature-length documentary that premiered at Sundance this year, but the original short doc is a masterclass in visual storytelling.
The sound design in this piece is incredible, too. Each crunch of snow or snap of a camera feels jarring because you’re so immersed in the journey of the polar bears. Through long tracking shots, we see the bears traverse the town. They seem so out of place, and yet the viewer can’t help but feel like the humans are impeding on the bears’ territory.
It’s a quiet contemplation on what it means when humans and nature collide. Nuisance Bear asks the questions: who really belongs in nature, and how can we all coexist with each other? The documentary is a short but impactful snapshot into the wilderness and the creatures who inhabit it.
IMDb: 6.8/10
Where to Watch: The New Yorker
The Queen of Basketball
The Queen of Basketball, directed by Ben Proudfoot, tells the largely unknown story of Lusia (Lucy) Harris. She was the first and only woman drafted to the NBA and scored the first-ever basket in Women’s Olympic Basketball history.
From the first minute of this 22-minute doc, the viewer is already entranced by the liveliness of the subject and Proudfoot’s unique narrative devices. What’s so powerful is that she gets to tell her own story.
Harris narrates the whole documentary, and along with archival footage of her childhood and basketball career, her untold story slowly gets uncovered. It feels like you’re sitting down with an older relative for a chat; you can’t help but hang on to every word.
For such a trailblazer in women’s athletics, it’s a shame her story went untold for so long. However, this documentary creates a beautiful chronology of her incredible life. Having won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short, The Queen of Basketball shows just how important it is amplify people’s voices and highlight the incredible stories that are waiting to be told.
Where to Watch: YouTube
The World of Documentary
Whether you’re interested in free solo rock climbing, long-lost siblings, or two grandma best friends, documentaries open up a whole new world of possibilities. They teach us something new about the world around us, and sometimes they’re so good you won’t be able to look away.
