Explore
 Lists  Reviews  Images  Update feed
Categories
MoviesTV ShowsMusicBooksGamesDVDs/Blu-RayPeopleArt & DesignPlacesWeb TV & PodcastsToys & CollectiblesComic Book SeriesBeautyAnimals   View more categories »
Listal logo
Avatar
Added by Mr. Saturn on 17 Mar 2012 01:50
7709 Views 6 Comments
77
vote

best documentaries

Sort by: Showing 1-50 of 216
Decade: Rating: List Type:
Add items to section

Series and Long Documentaries

around 5+ hour documentaries
People who added this item 21 Average listal rating (13 ratings) 8.9 IMDB Rating 0
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 47 Average listal rating (30 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 8.1
The "Up" documentaries, they're called. Every seven years, the British director Michael Apted revisits a group of people whose lives he has been chronicling since they were children. As he chats with them about how things are going, his films penetrate to the central mystery of life, asking the same questions that Wim Wenders poses in "Wings of Desire" Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? - Roger Ebert
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 13 Average listal rating (19 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 7.9
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 29 Average listal rating (19 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 8.2
21 Up (1977)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 36 Average listal rating (19 ratings) 8.5 IMDB Rating 8.3
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 33 Average listal rating (20 ratings) 8.6 IMDB Rating 8.3
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 30 Average listal rating (18 ratings) 8.3 IMDB Rating 8.3
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 32 Average listal rating (16 ratings) 8.6 IMDB Rating 8.2
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 10 Average listal rating (1 ratings) 9 IMDB Rating 7.9
56 Up (2012)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 239 Average listal rating (81 ratings) 8.5 IMDB Rating 8.7
Mr. Saturn's rating:
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 19 Average listal rating (9 ratings) 8.3 IMDB Rating 0
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 18 Average listal rating (9 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 8.6
People who added this item 98 Average listal rating (32 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 8.2
People who added this item 708 Average listal rating (429 ratings) 8.7 IMDB Rating 9.4
People who added this item 140 Average listal rating (81 ratings) 8.7 IMDB Rating 9
People who added this item 154 Average listal rating (77 ratings) 8.6 IMDB Rating 9.3
Cosmos (1980)
People who added this item 6 Average listal rating (2 ratings) 7 IMDB Rating 7.9
Diary (1983)
Add items to section

Films and Specials

Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 424 Average listal rating (221 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 8.6

The effective war film is often the one in which the action begins after the war, when there is nothing but ruins and desolation everywhere: Rossellini’s Germany Year Zero (1947) and, above all, Alain Resnais’ Nuit et brouillard, the greatest film ever made. - François Truffaut
Mr. Saturn's rating:
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 261 Average listal rating (136 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 7.8
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 567 Average listal rating (314 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 8.3
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 320 Average listal rating (190 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 8.2
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 307 Average listal rating (173 ratings) 7.7 IMDB Rating 7.8
F for Fake (1973)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 7 Average listal rating (5 ratings) 9.2 IMDB Rating 8.7
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 13 Average listal rating (6 ratings) 9.5 IMDB Rating 9.2
Mr. Saturn's rating:
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 23 Average listal rating (10 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 8
Stevie (2002)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 310 Average listal rating (129 ratings) 7.7 IMDB Rating 8.5
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 158 Average listal rating (84 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 7.9
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 54 Average listal rating (23 ratings) 8.5 IMDB Rating 8.9
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 34 Average listal rating (15 ratings) 8.4 IMDB Rating 8
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 117 Average listal rating (58 ratings) 8.1 IMDB Rating 8.3
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 333 Average listal rating (171 ratings) 7.8 IMDB Rating 8
Crumb (1994)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 49 Average listal rating (18 ratings) 6.9 IMDB Rating 7.2
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 81 Average listal rating (34 ratings) 7.6 IMDB Rating 8.1
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 127 Average listal rating (61 ratings) 8.2 IMDB Rating 8
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 109 Average listal rating (68 ratings) 7.9 IMDB Rating 7.4
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 50 Average listal rating (30 ratings) 8 IMDB Rating 7.6
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 200 Average listal rating (108 ratings) 7.3 IMDB Rating 7.8
Bus 174 (2003)
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 259 Average listal rating (144 ratings) 7.5 IMDB Rating 7.7
Mr. Saturn's rating:
People who added this item 19 Average listal rating (13 ratings) 7.7 IMDB Rating 7.8
Mr. Saturn's rating:
Load more items (166 more in this list)

Voters of this movie list - View all
Pirates and Historyragedansjfdlm4000buttercup95Darth BrutusKyle EllisStehako
My favorite documentaries and my wish-list. Recommendations are appreciated.

Film Documentaries


Listal's top rated documentaries

Note: Abbas Kiarostami in Close-up and Robert J. Flaherty in his documentaries had the people act out the story of their lives, instead of filming their lives as they happen.

Great Documentaries Not on Listal

★★★★ (Great)
The Flaming Lips - The Soft Bulletin - Pitchfork Classic

Documentaries I didn't like as much as most people (unranked)

★★★☆ (Pretty Good)
The Pervert's Guide to Cinema - an interesting documentary applying psychoanalysis to cinema.
Cinemania - a documentary about New York film buffs who see about 2 or 3 films a day.
Little Dieter Needs to Fly - Werner Herzog
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
Classic Albums: U2 - The Joshua Tree
I Met the Walrus
An Inconvenient Truth
Death in Gaza
The Most Hated Family in America - this film is about bigots
Outrage - a documentary about closeted bigoted politicians.
Religulous
The Celluloid Closet - the history of gay cinema
Chicago 10, a trial recording of key members of the Chicago democratic presidential convention riots
Stranded: I've Come from a Plane that Crashed on the Mountains - people who crashed in the mountains and had to eat the bodies of their dead friends and families.
The War on Democracy - the history of US intervention and puppet governments in Latin America
The War Room - a documentary following Bill Clinton's successful campaign to be elected President.

I didn't add mockumentaries.

Highly rated documentaries I didn't add

Sports

When We Were Kings (Boxer Muhammad Ali)
Baseball
Beyond the Mat
Music

Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (Progressive Rock)
Anvil! The Story of Anvil (Metal)
Concerts - I don't want to add to many to the list

Pink Floyd Live at Pompeii (Progressive Rock)
The T.A.M.I. Show (Classic Rock)
Pearl Jam Twenty (Alternative Rock)
Music Documentaries

Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (Jazz)
Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt (Folk)
Dig! (Rock)
Let's Get Lost (Jazz)
Scratch (DJ)
Hype! - (90's Grunge in Seattle)
Comedy

Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
Richard Pryor Live in Concert

Added to

21 votes
Favorite Lists (58 lists)
list by SpG
Published 11 years, 10 months ago 2 comments
15 votes
My Favorite Lists (57 lists)
list by jeffpsych
Published 10 years, 11 months ago 1 comment
48 votes
Movie lists from other users that I serve as refer (55 lists)
list by Rath
Published 9 years, 9 months ago 2 comments
7 votes
Favorite Movie Lists* (20 lists)
list by Rath
Published 11 years, 12 months ago 1 comment
13 votes
Film and TV Genres (86 lists)
list by Mr. Saturn
Published 11 years, 7 months ago 1 comment
11 votes
My Favorite Genres (22 lists)
list by Mr. Saturn
Published 12 years ago 1 comment



Related lists

Grammy Awards 2017
68 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
12 votes 1 comment
Grammy Awards 2016
94 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
13 votes 1 comment
Grammy Awards 2015
72 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
12 votes 2 comments
Critics' Choice Movie/TV Awards 2016
104 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
9 votes 1 comment
Critics Choice Movie/TV Awards 2017
90 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
8 votes 1 comment
MTV EMA's 2015
25 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
4 votes 1 comment
MTV EMA's 2016
26 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
8 votes 1 comment
Critics' Choice Movie Awards 2015
54 item list by IsabellaSilentRose
9 votes 1 comment
Oscars Part II - Movies of 2015
49 item list by nathan
2 votes 1 comment
Oscars Part II - Movies of 2014
37 item list by nathan
2 votes 1 comment

View more top voted lists