Popular Documentary Movies on YouTube - Page 20

Ascension

2021

Ascension

2021
6.8
The absorbingly cinematic Ascension explores the pursuit of the “Chinese Dream.” Driven by mesmerizing—and sometimes humorous—imagery, this observational documentary presents a contemporary vision of China that prioritizes productivity and innovation above all.
The Pearl Button

2015

The Pearl Button

2015
6.9
The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.
Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

2015

Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

2015
6.7
In 1982, three 11 year-olds in Mississippi set out to remake their favorite film: Raiders of the Lost Ark. It took seven turbulent years that tested the limits of their friendship and nearly burned down their mother's house. By the end, they had completed every scene except one... the explosive airplane scene. 30 years later, they attempt to finally realize their childhood dream by building a replica of the 75 foot "Flying Wing" plane from Raiders in a mud pit in the backwoods of Mississippi... and then blow it up! This is the story behind the making of what is known as "the greatest fan film ever made."
Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender

2012

Freddie Mercury: The Great Pretender

2012
7.3
Archive footage of interviews, concerts and personal material bring to light the solo performance work of Mercury, the lead singer of Queen.
Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

2012

Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview

2012
7.2
In a television interview filmed in 1995, Steve Jobs talks frankly about his early life, competition with Microsoft and his vision for the future, while he was running NeXT, the company he founded after leaving Apple.
All That Breathes

2022

All That Breathes

2022
6.9
Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.
Midnight Family

2019

Midnight Family

2019
7
In Mexico City's wealthiest neighborhoods, the Ochoa family runs a for-profit ambulance, competing with other unlicensed EMTs for patients in need of urgent care. In this cutthroat industry, they struggle to keep their financial needs from compromising the people in their care.
Dancer

2016

Dancer

2016
7.3
Sergei Polunin is a breathtaking ballet talent who questions his existence and his commitment to dance just as he is about to become a legend.
Return to Homs

2013

Return to Homs

2013
6.6
Filmed over 3 years in Homs, accompanying 2 outstanding young men from the time they were only dreaming of freedom to the time when they are forced to change course. Basset, the 19yo national football team goalkeeper, who became an outspoken demonstration leader in the city, then an icon revolution singer, till he becomes a fighter... a militia leader. Ossama, his 24yo friend, renowned citizen journalist, cynical pacifist... as his views are forced to change, until he is detained by army secret service. It is the story of a city, of which the world have heard a lot, but never really got closer than news, never really had the chance to experience how a war erupted. a modern times epic of youth in war time.
These Amazing Shadows

2011

These Amazing Shadows

2011
7.4
Tells the history and importance of The National Film Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself.
The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

2009

The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia

2009
6.7
Produced by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine for MTV and Dickhouse Productions, The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia is a documentary about the renowned West Virginia outlaw Jesco White and his eccentric backwoods family. In addition to getting in trouble with the law, the Whites, who live deep within Appalachia, uphold a time-honored dancing style, even as they contend with poverty, drugs and other issues. Alternately humorous and sad, the movie is an unflinching look at life on the criminal margins of rural mountain culture.
Kurt Cobain: About a Son

2007

Kurt Cobain: About a Son

2007
6.9
An intimate and moving meditation on the late musician and artist Kurt Cobain, based on more than 25 hours of previously unheard audiotaped interviews conducted with Cobain by noted music journalist Michael Azerrad for his book "Come As You Are: The Story of Nirvana." In the film, Kurt Cobain recounts his own life - from his childhood and adolescence to his days of musical discovery and later dealings with explosive fame - and offers often piercing insights into his life, music, and times. The conversations heard in the film have never before been made public, and they reveal a highly personal portrait of an artist much discussed but not particularly well understood.
George Carlin: Complaints & Grievances

2001

George Carlin: Complaints & Grievances

2001
7.5
George Carlin performs a hilarious set of never-before released material in "Complaints and Grievances." His 12th HBO special was recorded live at the Beacon Theater in New York City on November 17, 2001. In "Complaints and Grievances," Carlin shamelessly exposes the people and subjects that irritate him the most.
Land of Silence and Darkness

1971

Land of Silence and Darkness

1971
7.4
Through examining Fini Straubinger, an old woman who has been deaf and blind since her teens, and her work on behalf of other deaf-blind people, this film shows how the deaf-blind struggle to understand and accept a world from which they are almost wholly isolated.
JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

2021

JFK Revisited: Through the Looking Glass

2021
7.2
Thirty years after the release of his film JFK (1991), filmmaker Oliver Stone reviews recently declassified evidence related to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, which took place in Dallas on November 22, 1963.
Rewind This!

2013

Rewind This!

2013
6.9
Home video changed the world. The cultural and historical impact of the VHS tape was enormous. This film traces the ripples of that impact by examining the myriad aspects of society that were altered by the creation of videotape.
Born to Be Wild

2011

Born to Be Wild

2011
7
Born to Be Wild observes various orphaned jungle animals and their day-to-day behavioural interactions with the individuals who rescue them and raise them to adulthood. The film unfurls in two separate geographic spheres. Half of it takes place in the rain forests of Borneo, where celebrated primatologist Dr. Birute Galdikas assists baby orangutans; the other half takes place on the arid savannahs of Kenya, where zoologist Dame Daphne Sheldrick works with baby elephant calves.
Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

2009

Nightmares in Red, White and Blue

2009
6.6
An exploration of the appeal of horror films, with interviews of many legendary directors in the genre.
The Age of Stupid

2009

The Age of Stupid

2009
6.4
The Age of Stupid is the new movie from Director Franny Armstrong (McLibel) and producer John Battsek (One Day In September). Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated future world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?
Capital in the Twenty-First Century

2019

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

2019
6.4
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.