Top Rated Documentary Movies on Kanopy - Page 42

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

2014

Marlon Brando: An Actor Named Desire

2014
7.3
In his early days as an actor, Marlon Brando (1924-2004) was a shy young man with theatrical ambitions, like many others; but his charisma and superb acting skills made him truly unique, so that the doors to the starry sky of Hollywood opened for him. However, his peculiar manners, political commitment and complicated love life always overshadowed his artistic success.
Crazy About Tiffany's

2016

Crazy About Tiffany's

2016
6.9
A provocative and rare glimpse at the most iconic luxury jeweler in the world. From past to present, discovering the behind the scenes creation to those beholden to its charm, Tiffany & Co. is unveiled like never before.
Class Divide

2016

Class Divide

2016
5.9
A look at NYC’s gentrification and growing inequality in a microcosm, Class Divide explores two distinct worlds that share the same Chelsea intersection – 10th Avenue and 26th Street. On one side of the avenue, the Chelsea-Elliot Houses have provided low-income public housing to residents for decades. Their neighbor across the avenue since 2012 is Avenues: The World School, a costly private school. What happens when kids from both of these worlds attempt to cross the divide?
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

2016

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

2016
8
A celebration of Dr. Maya Angelou by weaving her words with rare and intimate archival photographs and videos, which paint hidden moments of her exuberant life during some of America’s most defining civil rights moments. From her upbringing in the Depression-era South to her swinging soirees with Malcolm X in Ghana to her inaugural speech for President Bill Clinton, we are given special access to interviews with Dr. Angelou whose indelible charm and quick wit make it easy to love her.
Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt

2015

Vita Activa: The Spirit of Hannah Arendt

2015
7.4
The life and work of German political philosopher of Jewish descent Hannah Arendt (1906-75), who caused a stir when she coined a subversive concept, the banality of evil, in her 1963 book on the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eichmann (1906-62), held in Israel in 1961, which she covered for the New Yorker magazine.
Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents

2015

Theory of Obscurity: A Film About the Residents

2015
6.7
Theory of Obscurity tells the story of the renegade sound and video collective known as The Residents…a story that spans 40 years and is clouded in mystery. Many details surrounding the group are secret, including the identities of its members. They always perform wearing masks and costumes, which is part of their magic. At its heart, this story is about perseverance and chasing your dream. The Residents never caved to convention. They never compromised. They’ve followed their muse for decades and thousands of fans have hung on for the ride. Along the way they’ve also inspired many people to be weird, take chances and find their own voice.
Mavis!

2015

Mavis!

2015
6.9
A look at the life and music of legendary singer and civil rights activist, Mavis Staples.
Above and Below

2015

Above and Below

2015
6.1
Above and Below is a rough and rhythmic roller coaster ride seating five survivors in their daily hustle through an apocalyptic world. A journey of challenges and beauty in uncomfortable places: Rick & Cindy, Godfather Lalo in the flood channels deep down under the shiny strip of Sin City. Dave in the dry and lonesome Californian desert and April in simulation for a Mars mission in the Utah desert. Through the hustle, the pain and the laughs, we are whisked away to an unfamiliar world, yet quickly discover the souls we encounter are perhaps not that different from our own.
Storm Children, Book One

2014

Storm Children, Book One

2014
7.5
The Philippines is visited by an average of 20~28 strong typhoons and storms every year. It is the most storm-battered country in the world. Last year, Typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan), considered the strongest storm in history, struck the Philipines, leaving in its path apocalyptic devastation.
Picture of Light

1994

Picture of Light

1994
6.7
A documentary of an expedition to Churchill, Manitoba to film the Northern Lights.
The Smell of Burning Ants

1994

The Smell of Burning Ants

1994
5.7
A haunting documentary on the pains of growing up male. It explores the inner and outer cruelties that boys perpetrate and endure. The film provokes the viewer to reflect on how our society can deprive boys of wholeness.
Ukraine Is Not a Brothel

2013

Ukraine Is Not a Brothel

2013
5.8
Ukraine's topless feminist sensation Femen has created a media frenzy across Europe, but before they take the world by storm, these bold and beautiful women must confront the dark and perverse forces that power their organisation.
Mirage Men

2013

Mirage Men

2013
5.9
For over 60 years teams within the US Air Force and Intelligence services exploited and manipulated beliefs about UFOs and ET visitations as part of their counterintelligence programs. In doing so they spawned a mythology so powerful that it captivated and warped many brilliant minds, including several of their own. Now, for the first time, some of those behind these operations, and their victims, speak out, revealing a true story that is part Manchurian Candidate and part Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Web Junkie

2014

Web Junkie

2014
6.6
China is the first country in the world to classify Internet addiction as a clinical disorder. Caught in the Net features a Beijing treatment center where Chinese teenagers are being "deprogrammed," and follows the story of three boys from the day they arrive at the center, to their three-month treatment period, and their long awaited return home. The film provides a microcosm of modern Chinese life and investigates one of the symptoms of the Internet age. It examines inter-generational pressures and the disregard of the human rights of minors who get caught in the net.
Big Men

2014

Big Men

2014
7.3
For her latest industrial exposé, Rachel Boynton (Our Brand Is Crisis) gained unprecedented access to Africa's oil companies. The result is a gripping account of the costly personal tolls levied when American corporate interests pursue oil in places like Ghana and the Niger River Delta. Executive produced by Steven Shainberg and Brad Pitt, Big Men investigates the caustic blend of ambition, corruption and greed that threatens to exacerbate Africa’s resource curse.
Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer

1943

Why We Fight: Divide and Conquer

1943
6.8
The third film of Frank Capra's 'Why We Fight" propaganda film series, dealing with the Nazi conquest of Western Europe in 1940.
Law and Order

1969

Law and Order

1969
6.9
LAW & ORDER surveys the wide range of work the police are asked to perform: enforcing the law, maintaining order, and providing general social services. The incidents shown illustrate how training, community expectations, socio-economic status of the subject, the threat of violence, and discretion affect police behavior.
Near Death

1989

Near Death

1989
7
NEAR DEATH is a film about the Medical Intensive Care Unit at Boston's Beth Israel Hospital. The film is concerned with how people face death. More specifically the film presents the complex interrelationships among patients, families, doctors, nurses, hospital staff and religious advisors as they confront the personal, ethical, medical, psychological, religious and legal issues involved in making decisions about whether or not to give life-sustaining treatment to dying patients.
Come Back, Africa

1959

Come Back, Africa

1959
6.8
Come Back, Africa chronicles the life of Zachariah, a black South African living under the rule of the harsh apartheid government in 1959.
Belfast, Maine

1999

Belfast, Maine

1999
6.9
BELFAST, MAINE is a film about ordinary experience in a beautiful old New England port city. It is a portrait of daily life with particular emphasis on the work and the cultural life of the community. Among the activities shown in the film are the work of lobstermen, tug-boat operators, factory workers, shop owners, city counselors, doctors, judges, policemen, teachers, social workers, nurses and ministers. Cultural activities include choir rehearsal, dance class, music lessons and theatre production.