25 best documentaries of all time
Great documentaries often give access and illumination to stories that would otherwise go untold. The subject of a great documentary can be anything from a single individual's life to a broader political event, and the effect of the films can be anything from uplifting to devastating.
To celebrate the genre, created a ranking of the top 25 documentaries of all time by leveraging data on all documentary movies to create a 麻豆原创 score that serves as a weighted index split evenly between and scores. To qualify, the film had to be listed as a documentary on IMDb, have a Metascore, and have at least 1,000 IMDb user votes. Ties were broken by Metascore and further ties were broken by votes. Documentary TV series were not included.
All great documentaries center around extensive research. The director of the legendary nine-hour documentary "Shoah," which focused on the Holocaust, refused to use any archival footage and only used his own original interviews, which partly explains why the film took 11 years to make.
Some of the films expose stories that have put their filmmakers at risk. "The Act of Killing," which details mass executions that took place in Indonesia in the 1960s, features stories that have been actively covered up by Indonesian government officials. One of the documentary's filmmakers remained anonymous out of fear of reprisals from the government. In another case, an Iranian filmmaker's fear of the government was so intense that he smuggled his documentary to the Cannes Film Festival on a flash drive baked into a birthday cake.
Other documentaries that appear on our list are uplifting and tell stories of some of humanity's greatest achievements, like "Apollo 11," which features footage from the famous space mission that was the first to land humans on the moon.
Keep reading to discover the 25 best documentary films of all time.
#25. The Last Waltz (1978)
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.4
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 117 minutes
"The Last Waltz" looks at the legendary rock group The Band and their farewell concert. The film has been called one of the greatest concert films ever made, but others have critiqued it for largely giving the short shrift to .
#24. Apollo 11 (2019)
- Director: Todd Douglas Miller
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.4
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 93 minutes
"Apollo 11" takes documentary footage鈥攎uch of it previously unreleased鈥攆rom the famous space mission to tell its story. However, not all critics were impressed, with Richard Brody from The New Yorker marveling at how the film given its exciting subject material.
#23. Inside Job (2010)
- Director: Charles Ferguson
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.4
- Metascore: 88
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 109 minutes
"Inside Job" looks at the factors that contributed to the financial meltdown of 2008 that catalyzed the Great Recession. The for having 鈥渢he scourging moral force of a pulpit-shaking sermon鈥 delivered with 鈥渞igor, restraint and good humor.鈥
#22. Sherpa (2015)
- Director: Jennifer Peedom
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.4
- Metascore: 93
- IMDb user rating: 7.7
- Runtime: 96 minutes
"Sherpa" tells the story of a deadly avalanche on Mount Everest through the perspectives of sherpas who were on the mountain that day. The was one of the deadliest Everest disasters.
#21. No End in Sight (2007)
- Director: Charles Ferguson
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.9
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 102 minutes
"No End in Sight" looks at the two years following the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. The New York Times' A.O. Scott praised the film at what it calls the incompetence of the Bush administration in running and perpetuating the war.
#20. Minding the Gap (2018)
- Director: Bing Liu
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.9
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 8.1
- Runtime: 93 minutes
"Minding the Gap" focuses on three young men who escape the harsh realities of their lives in a declining Rust Belt town through skateboarding. The film received rave reviews for commentary on race, class, and politics with a narrative on skate culture.
#19. Waltz with Bashir (2008)
- Director: Ari Folman
- 麻豆原创 score: 91.9
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 90 minutes
This animated Israeli war documentary features interviews with fellow veterans as filmmaker Ari Folman tries to recall memories of his time in service during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. 鈥淲altz with Bashir鈥 was the first animated film nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
#18. My Voyage to Italy (1999)
- Director: Martin Scorsese
- 麻豆原创 score: 92.5
- Metascore: 90
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 246 minutes
"My Voyage to Italy" is a heavily autobiographical documentary about filmmaker Martin Scorsese鈥檚 childhood on the Lower East Side and his major cinematic influences. The loom particularly large.
#17. Tower (2016)
- Director: Keith Maitland
- 麻豆原创 score: 92.5
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 82 minutes
"Tower" is about a sniper that held the University of Texas hostage from a clock tower in 1966. The documentary can be seen as a that happened 50 years before its release and featured interviews with survivors.
#16. The Act of Killing (2012)
- Directors: Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.0
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 117 minutes
"The Act of Killing" exposed the mass executions of exposed communists in Indonesia. Befitting its subversive nature, one of the co-directors .
#15. Crumb (1994)
- Director: Terry Zwigoff
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.0
- Metascore: 93
- IMDb user rating: 8.0
- Runtime: 119 minutes
"Crumb" is a portrayal of the famous cartoonist Robert Crumb by one of his long-time best friends; director Terry Zwigoff reportedly spent nine years creating the documentary. Critic Roger Ebert "unusual in having access to the key players and biographical artifacts of Crumb's entire life."
#14. We Were Here (2011)
- Directors: David Weissman, Bill Weber
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.0
- Metascore: 94
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 90 minutes
"We Were Here" memorializes the gay men and women who lost their lives in the AIDS epidemic in San Francisco. The , having first moved to the city in the 1970s when Harvey Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (making him the first openly gay elected official in California history).
#13. Faces Places (2017)
- Directors: JR, Agn猫s Varda
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.0
- Metascore: 94
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 94 minutes
"Faces Places" is a collaboration by directors JR and Agn猫s Varda as they travel through rural France and explore their unlikely friendship. The film was beloved by critics, including Amy Taubin, who called it 鈥渁n exploration of the arts .鈥 It was Varda鈥檚 last film.
#12. For Sama (2019)
- Directors: Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.5
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 8.5
- Runtime: 100 minutes
"For Sama" is a look at the experience of war through female eyes, with a focus on the Syrian Civil War. The film made history when it was nominated for four BAFTAs鈥.
#11. They Shall Not Grow Old (2018)
- Director: Peter Jackson
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.5
- Metascore: 91
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 99 minutes
Using state-of-the-art technology, "They Shall Not Grow Old" tells the story of World War I through the men who fought in it. The documentary uses archival footage from the Imperial War Museum's archives, which was old upon the film's release.
#10. I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
- Director: Raoul Peck
- 麻豆原创 score: 93.5
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 7.9
- Runtime: 93 minutes
"I Am Not Your Negro" is an imagined version of a book never finished. It was combined with Baldwin鈥檚 voice recordings and notes on his unfinished work.
#9. Stop Making Sense (1984)
- Director: Jonathan Demme
- 麻豆原创 score: 94.1
- Metascore: 89
- IMDb user rating: 8.6
- Runtime: 88 minutes
"Stop Making Sense" is a concert documentary about the Talking Heads. The film received a very positive critical reception, with from its focus on frontman David Byrne, who provides much of the film鈥檚 energy.
#8. One More Time with Feeling (2016)
- Director: Andrew Dominik
- 麻豆原创 score: 94.1
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 113 minutes
"One More Time with Feeling" chronicles Nick Cave鈥檚 recording of an album following the death of his 15-year-old son. As befits the raw, urgent nature of the material, the entire film was shot over seven days with a crew of only seven people.
#7. The Look of Silence (2014)
- Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
- 麻豆原创 score: 94.1
- Metascore: 92
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 103 minutes
鈥淭he Look of Silence鈥 focuses on the intersection of an optometrist's life and the Indonesian mass killings of the 1960s. It is a companion film to the earlier documentary, 鈥淭he Act of Killing,鈥 which also focuses on the executions.
#6. David Byrne's American Utopia (2020)
- Director: Spike Lee
- 麻豆原创 score: 94.6
- Metascore: 93
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 105 minutes
Based on Talking Heads frontman David Byrne's 2019 Broadway show, "American Utopia" started out as a solo album by Byrne and grew. The show is to Broadway for another run in September 2021.
#5. Virunga (2014)
- Director: Orlando von Einsiedel
- 麻豆原创 score: 95.2
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 100 minutes
"Virunga" is about a team of people working to protect endangered gorillas in a Congolese national park. Two days before the film鈥檚 release, unidentified gunmen shot . He survived and championed the film and its release.
#4. Woodstock (1970)
- Director: Michael Wadleigh
- 麻豆原创 score: 95.2
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 8.2
- Runtime: 184 minutes
This portrait of the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s and early 1970s has reached cult classic status. It captured the epic three-day rock and roll concert that featured including folk singing legend Joan Baez, British rock band The Who, and guitar god Jimi Hendrix.
#3. Collective (2019)
- Director: Alexander Nanau
- 麻豆原创 score: 96.2
- Metascore: 95
- IMDb user rating: 8.4
- Runtime: 109 minutes
The film follows investigative journalists as they expose the political corruption and scandal behind seemingly unrelated events around a nightclub fire in Bucharest. It made the 2021 for Best Documentary Feature.
#2. Hoop Dreams (1994)
- Director: Steve James
- 麻豆原创 score: 97.3
- Metascore: 98
- IMDb user rating: 8.3
- Runtime: 170 minutes
鈥淗oop Dreams鈥 was shot over five years and showcased two inner-city boys who bused into a predominantly white high school that excelled in basketball. This acclaimed documentary was originally only intended to be a 30-minute television series.
#1. Shoah (1985)
- Director: Claude Lanzmann
- 麻豆原创 score: 100.0
- Metascore: 99
- IMDb user rating: 8.7
- Runtime: 566 minutes
Director Claude Lanzmann spent 11 years making "Shoah," using his own interviews and refusing to use any archival material. Lanzmann has said his filmmaking is motivated by an effort to prove and record the history of the Holocaust against any denials it happened.
