Documentary top movies
Strictly speaking, documentary films are non-fictional, factual works of art. Originally, the earliest documentaries were either short newsreels, instructional pictures, or travelogues (termed actualities) without any creative story-telling or staging. But they have branched out and taken many forms, and have sometimes become propagandistic and non-objective. Mockumentaries are comedic parodies of documentaries. Some documentaries have been considered propagandistic. — filmsite.org subgenres
- 1 -Check More options
Nuit et brouillard
1955 — a.k.a. Night and Fog - 2 -Check More options
American: The Bill Hicks Story
2009 - 3 -Check More options
Heima
2007 - 4 -Check More options
The Cove
2009 - 5 -Check More options
Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
2008 - 6 -Check More options
Puskás Hungary
2009 - 7 -Check More options
The Two Escobars
2010 - 8 -Check More options
No Direction Home: Bob Dylan
2005 - 9 -Check More options
Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage
2010 - 10 -Check More options
Exit Through the Gift Shop
2010 - 11 -Check More options
Le chagrin et la pitié
1969 — a.k.a. The Sorrow and the Pity - 12 +1Check More options
The Union: The Business Behind Getting High
2007 - 13 +1Check More options
Home
2009 - 14 +1Check More options
My Flesh and Blood
2003 - 15 -3Check More options
Concert for George
2003 - 16 -Check More options
Earthlings
2003 - 17 -Check More options
Hearts and Minds
1974 - 18 -Check More options
The Times of Harvey Milk
1984 - 19 -Check More options
Promises
2001 - 20 -Check More options
Ilha das Flores
1989 — a.k.a. Isle of Flowers - 21 -Check More options
Lake of Fire
2006 - 22 -Check More options
Chelovek s kino-apparatom
1929 — a.k.a. Living Russia, or The Man with a Camera - 23 -Check More options
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a...
2007 - 24 -Check More options
No End in Sight
2007 - 25 +1Check More options
Harlan County U.S.A.
1976 - 26 +1Check More options
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood...
1996 - 27 -2Check More options
Pries parskrendant i zeme
2005 — a.k.a. Before Flying Back to Earth - 28 -Check More options
Nirvana Live! Tonight! Sold Out!!
1994 - 29 -Check More options
Iron Maiden: Flight 666
2009 - 30 -Check More options
Obyknovennyy fashizm
1965 — a.k.a. Triumph Over Violence - 31 -Check More options
The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of...
2003 - 32 -Check More options
Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii
1972 — a.k.a. Echoes: Pink Floyd - 33 -Check More options
The King of Kong
2007 - 34 -Check More options
U2 3D
2007 - 35 +1Check More options
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of...
2007 - 36 -1Check More options
Armadillo
2010 - 37 -Check More options
Sicko
2007 - 38 -Check More options
Chavez: Inside the Coup
2003 — a.k.a. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - 39 -Check More options
Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of...
2004 - 40 -Check More options
Baraka
1992 - 41 -Check More options
American Zeitgeist
2006 - 42 +1Check More options
The Corporation
2003 - 43 -1Check More options
Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who
2007 - 44 +1Check More options
Best Worst Movie
2009 - 45 +1Check More options
Lektionen in Finsternis
1992 - 46 -2Check More options
Le fond de l'air est rouge
1977 — a.k.a. Grin Without a Cat - 47 -Check More options
Bowling for Columbine
2002 - 48 -Check More options
Hôtel Terminus
1988 — a.k.a. Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie - 49 -Check More options
Anne Frank Remembered
1995 - 50 -Check More options
The T.A.M.I. Show
1964 — a.k.a. Teen Age Command Performance
Top lists
- IMDb
- Critics Critics
- Prizes Prizes
- Websites Websites
- Institute Institute
- Miscellaneous Miscellaneous
- Top 250
- Romance
- All-Time Worldwide Box office
- Sci-fi
- Action
- Shorts
- Adventure
- Sport
- Animation
- Thriller
- Biography
- TV Mini-series
- Comedy
- War
- Crime
- Western
- Documentary
- 1910s
- Drama
- 1920s
- Family
- 1930s
- Fantasy
- 1940s
- Film-noir
- 1950s
- History
- 1960s
- Horror
- 1970s
- Independent
- 1980s
- Music
- 1990s
- Musical
- 2000s
- Mystery
Top users for Documentary
- 1 -
Yojimbo
50 checks More options - 2 -
ILoveMovies
48 checks More options - - -
MovieMania
48 checks More options - 4 -
Brueghel
41 checks More options - - -
Capn_Batduck
41 checks More options
See all top users for Documentary
Last updated: Sep 2, 2010; source
16 comments
Do you want to let us know what you think of ? Just login, after which you will be redirected back here and you can leave your comments.
Comments 1 - 5 of 16
crappy list
If I was running IMDB then I'd make a couple of changes to how they do the shorts/documenatry list:
-Include ones that are straight to video/DVD releases. Currently these are all excluded. This means that 'Zeitgeist' and 'Zeitgeist: Addendum' which would easily make this list (because of their ratings/number of votes) can never get on.
-Exclude concerts (for obvious reasons).
One more point-'American Zeitgeist' that is on this list should NOT be on here. It is only on the list because people mistakenly voted for it on IMDB rather than 'Zeitgeist'. 'American Zeitgeist' is NOT the documentary about Christianity, 9/11 etc.
again: they ARE still tooooooooo many silly/boring/stupid concert docu's IN THIS list.
without them this list would be more serious
wow i need to see more documentaries
I wouldn't really call Hitler - A Film from Germany a documentary. But yeah you're right even without the concert this list would not do justice to the documentary genre.
Although flawed, these lists are a better place to start:
http://www.buzzsugar.com/Top-25-Documentaries-All-Time-688773
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academy_Award_for_Best_Documentary_Feature