IMDb's Documentary Top 50

As seen by mi-16evil

You are viewing mi-16evil's version of this list. You can view your version too.

IMDb's Documentary Top 50's icon

An official iCheckMovies list.

Favorited 148 times, disliked 15 times, added to 249 watchlists.

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.

Remove ads

Pssst, want to check out the IMDb's Documentary Top 50 list in our new look?

Filter

  1. 1 -

    David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet

    2020, in 2 top lists
    Check
  2. 2 -

    O.J.: Made in America

    2016, in 6 top lists Check
  3. 3 -

    Stop Making Sense

    1984, in 9 top lists Check
  4. 4 -

    Shoah

    1985, in 18 top lists Check
  5. 5 -

    Earthlings

    2005, in 1 top list Check
  6. 6 +1

    Alone in the Wilderness

    2004, in 3 top lists Check
  7. 7 -1

    Nuit et brouillard

    1956 — a.k.a. Night and Fog, in 17 top lists Check
  8. 8 -

    Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii

    1972, in 1 top list Check
  9. 9 -

    Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers: Runnin' Down a...

    2007, in 1 top list Check
  10. 10 -

    Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father

    2008, in 2 top lists Check
  11. 11 -

    Baraka

    1992, in 5 top lists Check
  12. 12 -

    Senna

    2010, in 4 top lists Check
  13. 13 -

    For Sama

    2019, in 3 top lists
    Check
  14. 14 +1

    Home

    2009, in 1 top list Check
  15. 15 -1

    9/11

    2002, in 2 top lists Check
  16. 16 -

    Ilha das Flores

    1989 — a.k.a. Isle of Flowers, in 3 top lists Check
  17. 17 -

    Samsara

    2011, in 3 top lists Check
  18. 18 -

    The Cove

    2009, in 2 top lists Check
  19. 19 -

    The Salt of the Earth

    2014, in 5 top lists Check
  20. 20 -

    Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage

    2010, in 1 top list Check
  21. 21 -

    Sigur Rós: Heima

    2007, in 3 top lists Check
  22. 22 -

    U2 3D

    2007, in 1 top list Check
  23. 23 +1

    Hoop Dreams

    1994, in 15 top lists Check
  24. 24 -1

    Chelovek s kino-apparatom

    1929 — a.k.a. Man with a Movie Camera, in 24 top lists Check
  25. 25 +1

    Won't You Be My Neighbor?

    2018, in 2 top lists
    Check
  26. 26 +1

    The Look of Silence

    2014, in 3 top lists Check
  27. 27 -2

    Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom

    2015, in 1 top list Check
  28. 28 -

    Iron Maiden: Flight 666

    2009, in 1 top list Check
  29. 29 -

    Chavez: Inside the Coup

    2003 — a.k.a. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, in 1 top list Check
  30. 30 -

    The Act of Killing

    2012, in 9 top lists Check
  31. 31 -

    Inside Job

    2010, in 4 top lists Check
  32. 32 -

    They Shall Not Grow Old

    2018, in 1 top list
    Check
  33. 33 -

    Koyaanisqatsi

    1982, in 12 top lists Check
  34. 34 -

    Searching for Sugar Man

    2012, in 5 top lists Check
  35. 35 +2

    Paris Is Burning

    1990, in 12 top lists Check
  36. 36 -

    13th

    2016, in 3 top lists Check
  37. 37 -2

    Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood...

    1996, in 2 top lists Check
  38. 38 -

    Before the Flood

    2016, in 1 top list Check
  39. 39 +1

    American Utopia

    2020 — a.k.a. David Byrne's American Utopia, in 3 top lists
    Check
  40. 40 -1

    HyperNormalisation

    2016, in 1 top list Check
  41. 41 -

    Il mio viaggio in Italia

    1999 — a.k.a. My Voyage to Italy, in 2 top lists Check
  42. 42 -

    Virunga

    2014, in 1 top list Check
  43. 43 +3

    Hearts and Minds

    1974, in 7 top lists Check
  44. 44 -1

    Harlan County U.S.A.

    1976, in 11 top lists Check
  45. 45 -

    The Art of Flight

    2011, in 1 top list Check
  46. 46 -2

    Le chagrin et la pitié

    1969 — a.k.a. The Sorrow and the Pity, in 11 top lists Check
  47. 47 -

    Lake of Fire

    2006, in 1 top list Check
  48. 48 new

    The Times of Harvey Milk

    1984, in 7 top lists Check
  49. 49 +1

    28 Up

    1984, in 5 top lists Check
  50. 50 new

    No End in Sight

    2007, in 1 top list Check
Remove ads

Last updated on Dec 7, 2023; source