The Best Documentaries To Watch On Netflix

Babies

From first breath to first steps, this docuseries explores a decade of science that reveals the emotional and astounding story of a baby's first year of life. Filmed over the course of three years, the series examines the journey every person embarks on, from helpless new-born to independent toddler. Following 15 international families and featuring the latest research from eminent scientists who share their personal journeys of discovery into the infant mind, the series is filled with the exciting uncertainty of parenting, exploring each major milestone of development like never before. Fascinating, regardless of whether or not you’re a parent.

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Cheer

From the team behind brilliant American football series Last Chance U, Cheer follows the competitive cheerleaders of Navarro College in Corsicana, Texas. Led by Monica Aldama, the small junior college has won 14 National Championships since 2000. The stakes on the mat are high, but for these athletes, the only thing more brutal than their workouts and more exceptional than their performances are the stories of adversity and triumph behind the team members themselves. Over the course of six episodes, viewers join the Navarro College cheerleaders as they face injuries, sacrifice, personal setbacks and triumphs, all leading up to one nail-biting final competition.

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American Factory

This acclaimed film takes a deep dive into a post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in the shell of an abandoned General Motors plant and hires 2,000 blue-collar Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America. American Factory is the first film to be backed by the Obamas’ company Higher Ground Productions – and it went on to take home the award for best documentary feature at this year’s Oscars. Definitely one to watch.

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Don't F*** with Cats

When a video is posted online of a mysterious figure in a dark green hoodie killing two kittens, the internet goes crazy – and a group of amateur online sleuths assemble to track him down. In a dangerous game of cat and mouse, every click encourages the perpetrator to post even more disturbing videos, until a final video is uploaded. This time, the victim is human. From the producers of The Imposter and Silk Road, this is the horrifying true story of a killer so consumed with achieving fame that he breaks the first rule of the internet: Don’t f*** with cats.

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Miss Americana

Miss Americana is a raw and emotionally revealing look at Taylor Swift, one of the most well-loved artists of our time, during a transformational period in her life. The film follows Swift as she navigates the difference between who the world wants her to be, and who she wants to be. Director Lana Wilson offers a multifaceted window into a global superstar learning to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.

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Night On Earth

Fans of David Attenborough will find much to love here, in Netflix’s first nature docuseries. When the sun goes down, a new world awakes. In this series, new technology reveals the wonders of the planet in a completely new light. Across the globe we discover a hidden side to the world's greatest landscapes and animals, from lions on the hunt to bats on the wing.

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Explained

This enlightening series from Vox digs into a wide range of topics such as the rise of cryptocurrency, why diets fail and the wild world of K-pop. Last year saw five-part series The Mind, Explained, where producers examined how our minds work, including memory, anxiety, dreams, mindfulness and psychedelics. This was followed up by Cults, Explained which looks at how cults lure people in and exert control. Its newest is Sex, Explained, which takes a deep-dive on everything from attraction and sexual fantasies to fertility and childbirth.

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Formula 1: Drive To Survive

Only 20 drivers get to compete in Formula 1 and with some of the sport’s top names racing for new teams, 2019 proved to be a season of broken alliances and renewed rivalries. This year for the first time, all ten teams, including Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team and Scuderia Ferrari, gave Netflix insider access as they battled it out for victory in the greatest racing series in the world. The series goes behind the scenes with the drivers, team principals and owners, to gain a unique and raw perspective on their lives, both on and off the track, and the tension and glamour of the sport.

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McQueen

This documentary about renowned fashion designer Alexander McQueen takes a bold approach to create an authentic celebration and a richly detailed portrait of his life, legacy and influence. Mixing archive footage, photographs and audio recordings with scenes recreated just for the film, it takes a deep-dive into the world of the late designer – from East End lad to four-time winner of the British Designer of the Year award and Chief of Design at both Givenchy and Gucci.

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Inside The Mind Of Aaron Hernandez

As a gifted young football athlete from Bristol, Connecticut, Aaron Hernandez had capitalised rapidly on his promise, playing for a top tier college program before being drafted into the National Football League at the age of 20. But in 2013, fresh from signing a five-year, $40m contract with the New England Patriots, Hernandez became a household name for the most infamous murder case involving an American athlete since OJ Simpson. Hernandez’s trials for the brutal killing of Odin Lloyd and two Boston-area men yielded a Pandora’s box of secrets. This three-part documentary series features exclusive courtroom footage, Hernandez’s phone calls from prison, and interviews with those who knew both Hernandez and Lloyd.

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The Great Hack

Data has now surpassed oil as the world’s most valuable asset – and people everywhere are in a battle for control of our most intimate personal details. From award-winning filmmakers Karim Amer and Jehane Noujaim, this documentary uncovers the dark world of data exploitation with access to the personal journeys of key players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data scandal. The Great Hack forces us to question the origin of the information we consume daily. What do we give up when we tap that phone or keyboard and share ourselves in the digital age?

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The Pharmacist

In 1999, after losing his son in a drug-related shooting in New Orleans and lacking answers from police, a small-town pharmacist – Dan Schneider – beat the odds when he embarked on a dogged pursuit to find and bring his son's killer to justice. But months later, the ripple effects of his son’s addiction and tragic death found him again when a troubling number of young, seemingly healthy people begin visiting Dan’s pharmacy with high dose prescriptions for OxyContin. Sensing a crisis long before the opioid epidemic had gained nationwide attention, Dan stakes a mission: save the lives of other sons and daughters within his community, then take the fight to Big Pharma itself.

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