Popular Documentary Movies on The Roku Channel - Page 5

Jodorowsky's Dune

2013

Jodorowsky's Dune

2013
7.8
In 1974, Chilean-French director Alejandro Jodorowsky embarked on the quixotic project of adapting Frank Herbert's influential novel Dune (1969) for the big screen. After investing two years, and millions of dollars, the gigantic project ended in failure; but the artists Jodorowsky brought together to carry it out continued to work together, and ended up laying the foundations for modern science fiction cinema.
Buena Vista Social Club: Adios

2017

Buena Vista Social Club: Adios

2017
7.4
In 1996, Cuban bandleader Juan de Marcos Gonzalez, British producer Nick Gold, and American guitarist Ry Cooder convened in Havana to produce a Cuban-Malian collaboration. When the Malians couldn’t get visas, the team turned their attention to reviving a forgotten generation of legendary son cubano musicians and formed an on-the-fly ensemble: the Buena Vista Social Club. Two decades since that fateful first session, we catch up to these master musicians, as they reflect on the magical unfolding of their lives—from humble origins to the evolution and surprising revival of their careers, all against the backdrop of Cuba’s dramatic history. Brimming with unseen concert, rehearsal, and archival footage, this film is an emotional, shimmering celebration of music’s power to transcend age, ideologies, and class, and to connect us to each other through our souls.
Soros

2019

Soros

2019
5.4
Billionaire activist George Soros is one of the most influential and controversial figures of our time. He is maligned by ideologues on both the left and the right for daring to tackle the world’s problems. With unprecedented access to the man and his inner circle, director Jesse Dylan follows Soros and pulls back the curtain on his personal history, private wealth, and public activism.
Who Will Write Our History?

2018

Who Will Write Our History?

2018
7.3
Documentary about a group of Jews, who collected and hid a lot of stories and documents about everyday jewish life in the Warsaw Ghetto.
Us Kids

2020

Us Kids

2020
9.5
Determined to turn unfathomable tragedy into action, the teenage survivors of Parkland, Florida catalyze a powerful, unprecedented youth movement that spreads with lightning speed across the country, as a generation of mobilized youth take back democracy in this powerful coming-of-age story.
Faster

2003

Faster

2003
7.8
Faster is an electrifying tribute to the white-knuckle world of MotoGP™ — the fastest sport on two wheels — where the world’s top riders go wheel to wheel at over 200mph and crash at over 100mph. Narrated by Ewan McGregor, Faster chases two seasons’ worth of the world championship, featuring revealing interviews with riders, mechanics, doctors, commentators and fans. If you want high octane, adrenaline fuelled thrills, Faster will take you on a nerve shredding journey through the most exciting sport on the planet!
The Aristocrats

2005

The Aristocrats

2005
5.9
One hundred superstar comedians tell the same very, VERY dirty, filthy joke--one shared privately by comics since Vaudeville.
Valiant

2019

Valiant

2019
7.3
The powerful story of the Vegas Golden Knights in their very first year of existence, when they healed and unified their home city after the worst mass shooting in U.S. history and took an unprecedented run for the Stanley Cup.
Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

2003

Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

2003
6.7
British documentarian Nick Broomfield creates a follow-up piece to his 1992 documentary of the serial killer Aileen Wuornos, a highway prostitute who was convicted of killing six men in Florida between 1989 and 1990. Interviewing an increasingly mentally unstable Wuornos, Broomfield captures the distorted mind of a murderer whom the state of Florida deems of sound mind -- and therefore fit to execute. Throughout the film, Broomfield includes footage of his testimony at Wuornos' trial.
Tread

2020

Tread

2020
6.6
Pushed to his breaking point, a master welder in a small town at the foot of the Rocky Mountains quietly fortifies a bulldozer with 30 tons of concrete and steel and seeks to destroy those he believes have wronged him.
GoldenEra

2023

GoldenEra

2023
GoldenEra is a documentary that tells the story of the creation and legacy of the video game GoldenEye 007 (1997) for the Nintendo 64.
Killer Bees

2018

Killer Bees

2018
8
A championship high school basketball team provides pride, tradition and hope for an African American community struggling to survive in the middle of one of the wealthiest communities in America - The Hamptons.
We Could Be King

2014

We Could Be King

2014
6.3
Germantown and Martin Luther King High Schools were bitter rivals for over 40 years. This past year, a budget crisis caused Philadelphia to lay off over 4000 employees and close 37 schools, including Germantown High. Now Germantown must merge with their former rival, King. Against overwhelming odds, a 27-year old first time head coach and a new principal fight to inspire young men from difficult circumstances to come together and lift each other toward a better future.
Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

2007

Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten

2007
7.2
As the front man of the Clash from 1977 onwards, Joe Strummer changed people's lives forever. Four years after his death, his influence reaches out around the world, more strongly now than ever before. In "The Future Is Unwritten", from British film director Julien Temple, Joe Strummer is revealed not just as a legend or musician, but as a true communicator of our times. Drawing on both a shared punk history and the close personal friendship which developed over the last years of Joe's life, Julien Temple's film is a celebration of Joe Strummer - before, during and after the Clash.
That Click

2019

That Click

2019
8.8
A man at the cutting edge of fashion, photojournalism and portraiture, photographer to the stars Douglas Kirkland has portrayed over sixty years of pop culture. This fascinating feature takes a closer look into the career of one of the most important photographers of the last century. His subjects, who are some of the biggest stars of Hollywood and the fashion world, provide testimonials.
The Summit

2013

The Summit

2013
6.8
The Summit is a 2012 documentary film about the 2008 K2 disaster directed by Nick Ryan. It combines documentary footage with dramatized recreations of the events of the 2008 K2 disaster. On the way to and from the summit, eleven climbers died during a short time span creating one of the worst catastophes in climbing history. Much of the documentary footage was captured by Swedish mountaineer Fredrik Sträng. Sträng was planning to do a Documentary which was aborted due to the fact that he did not reach the summit. The footage was still valuable to help solving what really did happen since all the climbers had different stories about what happened.
Forgotten Warriors

1997

Forgotten Warriors

1997
This documentary introduces us to thousands of Indigenous Canadians who enlisted and fought alongside their countrymen and women during World War II, even though they could not be conscripted. Ironically, while they fought for the freedom of others, they were being denied equality in their own country and returned home to find their land seized.
Higher Love

2020

Higher Love

2020
6
A blue collar worker tries to rescue his pregnant, heroin-addicted girlfriend from the notorious streets of Camden, NJ and her close-knit group of drug users. Once their son is born, he forces her to choose between her life with her drug "family" and one with him and their child.
Sunset Strip

2012

Sunset Strip

2012
7.3
A documentary on the famous Los Angeles street.
Surviving Progress

2011

Surviving Progress

2011
7.3
Humanity’s ascent is often measured by the speed of progress. But what if progress is actually spiraling us downwards, towards collapse? Ronald Wright, whose best-seller, “A Short History Of Progress” inspired “Surviving Progress”, shows how past civilizations were destroyed by “progress traps”—alluring technologies and belief systems that serve immediate needs, but ransom the future. As pressure on the world’s resources accelerates and financial elites bankrupt nations, can our globally-entwined civilization escape a final, catastrophic progress trap? With potent images and illuminating insights from thinkers who have probed our genes, our brains, and our social behaviour, this requiem to progress-as-usual also poses a challenge: to prove that making apes smarter isn’t an evolutionary dead-end.