Top Rated Documentary Movies on Free Services - Page 263

Becoming Frederick Douglass

2022

Becoming Frederick Douglass

2022
6.5
In Becoming Frederick Douglass, acclaimed director Stanley Nelson and co-director Nicole London bring to life the story of an American icon. Using Douglass's own powerful, profound speeches and writing, the story retraces his journey from a man born and raised in slavery to one of the most prominent elder statesmen and inspiring voices for freedom in American history. With additional context and insight provided by historians, scholars and Douglass's descendants, the filmmakers recount the brutality and trauma of his childhood while illuminating his strength of character, defiance against the bonds of slavery and the influences that guided his lifelong quest for freedom. The most celebrated Black man of his era, Douglass's legacy and achievements continue to resonate today. His life and work still inspires activists, educators and citizens in the fight for freedom, equality and a more just American society.
Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom

2021

Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom

2021
8.5
This powerful, nuanced portrait arrives just in time celebrate the bicentennial of American abolitionist and political activist Harriet Tubman. Parts of her story are well known; born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made some 13 missions to rescue approximately 70 enslaved people, including family and friends, using the network of anti-slavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. But the film delves deeper, illuminating her spirit and strength through exploits as a union scout and spy during the Civil War, an activist for women's suffrage and a singular figure who defied categorization at every turn. The foremost chronicler of the Black experience working in nonfiction film today, Stanley Nelson, alongside co-director Nicole London, brings rich, deeply researched historical detail to the story of this remarkable woman.
Into the Weeds

2022

Into the Weeds

2022
5
Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area groundskeeper, suffered from rashes in 2014 and wondered if they were caused by the herbicide he'd been using for the past couple years. As his health deteriorated, Johnson became the face of a David-and-Goliath legal battle to hold a multi-national agrochemical corporation accountable for a product with allegedly misleading labelling.
This Is Not Me

2022

This Is Not Me

2022
6.2
This is Not Me tells the story of unhappy gay men who have had to marry women to hide their sexual orientation in the face of societal and family pressure in Turkey, and their own internal conflicts. The three main characters of the film, Mustafa, Mehmet and Yusuf migrated to Istanbul from small towns and come from conservative families. The film reveals each characters’ world: exhausted from continually playing at social roles and lying about their identity, faltering between their reality and their dreams, frustrated and stuck in their lives. It also looks at the subject from the aspect of women who are the other victims of these marriages. Mehmet and Yusuf, both married to women, act the part of heterosexual males and family men within their own social circles.
Ukraine: 30 Years of Independence - The Everlasting Present

2022

Ukraine: 30 Years of Independence - The Everlasting Present

2022
3.5
Ukraine is a country that was unknown to most citizens of the United States, but it was always known to the political establishment of the USA. But since February 22, 2014, Ukraine quickly came to the attention of Americans, as well as the entire world. Ukraine - 30 Years of Independence explores the competing narratives about country's journey through the eyes of an American filmmaker as it is being told through the words of the men who governed the country.
The Quiet Epidemic

2022

The Quiet Epidemic

2022
9
A diagnosis of Chronic Lyme disease lands patients in the middle of a contentious medical debate and sparks an explosive investigation dating back to 1975 that shockingly reveals why ticks, and the diseases they carry, have been allowed to spread globally.
Relative

2022

Relative

2022
7.5
A filmmaker unearths a pervasive history of multigenerational trauma in her Italian-American family. As decades of secrets, home movies, and long-avoided conversations surface, a family once bound by tradition forges a new path forward.
Cicero - Zwei Leben, eine Bühne

2022

Cicero - Zwei Leben, eine Bühne

2022
5
Eugen and Roger Cicero were father and son, but above all they were extraordinary artists. While Eugen achieved fame as a piano virtuoso in the 1960s and performed with star singers such as Ella Fitzgerald and Shirley Bassey, Roger filled huge concert halls years later as one of Germany's most gifted singers. Their life stories are inextricably interwoven and show fascinating parallels - genius paired with an unparalleled passion, the overcoming of boundaries, the balancing act between commercial success and artistic integrity and ultimately the tragic outcome that still shakes the music world today.
Boom Boom

2022

Boom Boom

2022
3
I meet Pierrot in the fall of 2018. We demonstrate together in the heart of the Yellow Vests movement. The earth trembles and so do our hearts. Our bodies mingles with thousands of others who express their anger in the street every Saturday.
Esther Newton Made Me Gay

2022

Esther Newton Made Me Gay

2022
1
Esther Newton was drawn to the drag scene as a student in the 1950s. Identifying as both butch lesbian and between genders, she felt a kinship with the queens; what the feminine clothing society expected her to wear felt like a form of drag. Her 1972 book ‘Mother Camp: Female Impersonators in America’ is noted as the first rigorous study of its kind. Now entering her sixth decade writing about queer communities, Newton exudes wisdom and a healthy dose of New York no-nonsense. The film’s amazing archive footage encompasses gay liberation, the feminist sex wars, AIDS activism and life on the safe haven of Fire Island. Her other main passion is dog training, so this illuminating history lesson is peppered with poodles!
Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act

2022

Whoopi Goldberg: The Winning Act

2022
8.5
Whoopi Goldberg is an award-winning comedian actress and human rights advocate. She has achieved amazing success in the entertainment industry. From the streets of New York to the stage of Broadway and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, this is her story.
Worst to First

2022

Worst to First

2022
6
WORST TO FIRST is a feature-length documentary that portrays the against-all-odds inspirational story of the launch of the iconic and most successful radio station in history, New York City's Z100.
Putin: The Return of the Bear in the Dance

2022

Putin: The Return of the Bear in the Dance

2022
6.5
After twenty years in power, Vladimir Putin continues to implement his geopolitical strategy with Russia’s comeback on the big stage of world politics. He already announced his ambitions in 2007 – and still, it seems like the western governments were hit completely unprepared. What is behind this repeat of the Cold War?
Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War

2022

Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War

2022
7
This one-hour documentary takes viewers through an evolution of African American involvement over the course of the Civil War through the stories of some of the most crucial and significant figures of the day including Harriet Tubman, Robert Smalls, Frederick Douglass, the 1st Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry Regiment, and the most celebrated regiment of black soldiers during the Civil War, the famed 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.
Shouting Down Midnight

2022

Shouting Down Midnight

2022
1
Both cautionary tale and rallying cry, Shouting Down Midnight recounts how the Wendy Davis filibuster of 2013 galvanized a new generation of activists and reveals what is at stake for us all in the struggle for reproductive freedom.
Mama Bears

2022

Mama Bears

2022
1
Mama Bears is an intimate exploration of two “mama bears”—conservative, Christian mothers who have become fierce advocates for LGBTQ+ people—and a young lesbian whose struggle for self-acceptance exemplifies why the mama bears are so important.
Sell/Buy/Date

2022

Sell/Buy/Date

2022
8
A hybrid doc/narrative following Tony winning performer and comedian Sarah Jones. As a mixed-race Black woman in America, Sarah, alongside the multicultural characters she's known for, explores her own personal relationship to one of the most relevant issues in our current cultural climate: the sex industry, and the surprisingly diverse range of people whose lives it touches. Through interviews and monologues, this film poses the question: how can we as a society have a healthy relationship to sex, power, race and our economy, without exploitation or stigma? The goal is not to prescribe solutions, but to highlight the human faces and voices at the center of this subject.
Göring's Secret: The Story of Hitler's Marshall

2011

Göring's Secret: The Story of Hitler's Marshall

2011
7
These film reels had vanished for decades and no one knew about the secret passion of Hitler's second man Hermann Goering. This footage from his private collection shows for the first time how he preferred to see himself: at the height of his power, acclaimed by the masses - as in the annexation of Austria in 1938, as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe.
Oyate

2022

Oyate

2022
7.5
In the wake of the Dakota Access Pipeline Protests, Indigenous People across the nation are using their newfound platform to shed light on the wide array of injustices committed against them for centuries in an effort to wake up the world and embark upon the process of decolonization.
Lil Nas X: Unlikely Cowboy

2022

Lil Nas X: Unlikely Cowboy

2022
10
Montero Lamar Hill, also known as Lil Nas X, is an American rapper and songwriter. He rose to fame with the release of his country rap single “Old Town Road”, which went viral on social media in 2019, before climbing music charts internationally and becoming the song of the year. Lil Nas X is now is one of the most visible queer black male singers, and one of the biggest rappers in the world who places his sexuality front and center in his music.