Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 11

Mountain

2017

Mountain

2017
6.9
An epic cinematic and musical collaboration between SHERPA filmmaker Jennifer Peedom and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, that explores humankind's fascination with high places.
Risk

2017

Risk

2017
6.6
Capturing the story of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with unprecedented access, director Laura Poitras finds herself caught between the motives and contradictions of Assange and his inner circle in a documentary portrait of power, betrayal, truth and sacrifice.
To Be Takei

2014

To Be Takei

2014
7.3
Over seven decades, actor and activist George Takei journeyed from a World War II internment camp to the helm of the Starship Enterprise, and then to the daily news feeds of five million Facebook fans. Join George and his husband, Brad, on a wacky and profound trek for life, liberty, and love.
Whores' Glory

2011

Whores' Glory

2011
6.8
In Bangkok, Thailand, women punch a clock and wait for clients in a brightly lit glass box; in the red-light district of Faridpur, Bangladesh, a madam haggles over the price of a teenage girl; and in the border town of Reynosa, Mexico, crack-addicted women pray to a deity named Lady Death.
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005

Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price

2005
6.2
This documentary takes the viewer on a deeply personal journey into the everyday lives of families struggling to fight Goliath. From a family business owner in the Midwest to a preacher in California, from workers in Florida to a poet in Mexico, dozens of film crews on three continents bring the intensely personal stories of an assault on families and American values.
Capital in the Twenty-First Century

2019

Capital in the Twenty-First Century

2019
6.5
Film adaptation of French economist Thomas Piketty's ground-breaking global bestseller of the same name: an eye-opening journey through wealth and power.
The Meerkats

2008

The Meerkats

2008
6.7
A coming of age story following a young meerkat pup, Kolo, growing up in the Kalahari desert; and an inspiring look at how one family's connection to each other and their surroundings is a model of resilience and fortitude for us all. Shot using ground-breaking techniques, this dramatised documentary is a one-of-a-kind presentation from The Weinstein Company and the BBC, featuring narration by Paul Newman.
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.
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.
Food Choices

2016

Food Choices

2016
7.2
This documentary explores the impact that food choices have on people's health, the health of our planet and on the lives of other living species. And also discusses several misconceptions about food and diet.
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.
Human Flow

2017

Human Flow

2017
6.9
More than 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war, the greatest displacement since World War II. Filmmaker Ai Weiwei examines the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Over the course of one year in 23 countries, Weiwei follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretch across the globe, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany and Iraq.
Raiders!: The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made

2015

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

2015
6.6
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."
Nas: Time Is Illmatic

2014

Nas: Time Is Illmatic

2014
6.9
Time Is Illmatic is a feature length documentary film that delves deep into the making of Nas' 1994 debut album, Illmatic, and the social conditions that influenced its creation.
Return to Homs

2013

Return to Homs

2013
6.7
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.
Sacro GRA

2013

Sacro GRA

2013
6
After the India of Varanasi’s boatmen, the American desert of the dropouts, and the Mexico of the killers of drugtrade, Gianfranco Rosi has decided to tell the tale of a part of his own country, roaming and filming for over two years in a minivan on Rome’s giant ring road—the Grande Raccordo Anulare, or GRA—to discover the invisible worlds and possible futures harbored in this area of constant turmoil. Elusive characters and fleeting apparitions emerge from the background of the winding zone: a nobleman from the Piemonte region and his college student daughter sharing a one-room efficiency in a modern apartment building along the GRA.
Land of Silence and Darkness

1973

Land of Silence and Darkness

1973
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.
Why We Fight: Prelude to War

1942

Why We Fight: Prelude to War

1942
6.4
Prelude to War was the first film of Frank Capra's Why We Fight propaganda film series, commissioned by the Pentagon and George C. Marshall. It was made to convince American troops of the necessity of combating the Axis Powers during World War II. This film examines the differences between democratic and fascist states.
War Photographer

2001

War Photographer

2001
7.4
Documentary about war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever.
Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

2018

Anthropocene: The Human Epoch

2018
6.9
Documentary on psychedelic potash mines, expansive concrete seawalls, mammoth industrial machines, and other examples of humanity’s massive, destructive reengineering of the planet.