The Best Documentaries on Netflix Right Now (October 2023)

In The Deepest Breath, filmmaker Laura McGann captures the dangers and glory of one of the deadliest extreme sports in the water: freediving. The documentary explores the necessary training and undeniable strength needed to compete in the water sport, focusing on an Italian competitor named Alessia Zecchini. Through archive footage of the woman intent on earning the title of deepest woman to free dive, as well as interviews with expert safety diver Stephen Keenan, The Deepest Breath shares the passion and skill required to win in such a demanding arena. – Yael Tygiel

One of the most famous family names in professional baseball, the Veeck family, headed by father Bill, spent years building a legacy in the sport. After his son Mike caused the downfall of his father’s career, he was forced into exile from the only sport he’d ever known and made to find redemption. A documentary keen on examining the wild relationship between the father and son at the center of its story, The Saint of Second Chances is a redemption tale akin to sports movies in the fiction world, with Mike Veeck’s journey certainly inspiring. A no-holds-barred look into the rifts between family and also the relationship the media can play in such an event, The Saint of Second Chances will feel relevant to the lives of any viewer and impact how we all view our loved ones. – Jake Hodges

Take Care of Maya documents the harrowing experience of the Kowalski family from their perspective as they recount the moment that would change their lives forever. The documentary tells the story of Maya Kowalski, who was diagnosed with a rare illness and prescribed Ketamine for her pain. The treatment works for a time, but when her symptoms resurface, her new doctors at Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital force her into state custody for abuse. This kicks off a deeper investigation into the child medical care system that quickly snowballs to expose much bigger cracks in the American child welfare organization.

WHAM! is a nostalgic deep dive that will jitterbug all of the pop duo’s biggest hits into your brain while gripping your heart with the story of their historic rise to fame. The documentary gives insight into the early lives of George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley, the childhood friends who would change the music scene of the 80s before playing their last concert at Wembley Stadium. The band was short-lived, but their legacy remains to this day, from the iconic style and their unique sound to George Michael’s eventual outing that reframed his whole career. Take a walk down memory lane with the help of never-before-seen archival footage and interviews. – Tauri Miller

Directed by Ursula Macfarlane (Untouchable), Anna Nicole Smith: You Don’t Know Me is a deep dive into the tragic story of the bombshell model whose life was constantly dissected and publicized by the media despite them never truly understanding who she was. The documentary seeks to reframe the way people see Anna Nicole Smith’s story with never-before-seen footage and a detailed retelling of her meteoric rise and fall, exploring her humble upbringing, her controversial marriage, and the celebrity culture that ultimately lead to her death. It’s a sad tale that sheds an unflattering light on the way that women are treated by tabloids and the Hollywood machine.

Inspired by Michelle Obama’s 2018 memoir, Becoming is an inspirational documentary from director Nadia Hallgren. An Emmy-nominated chronicling of the former first lady’s book tour for her powerful autobiography, Becoming brings everyday people along for an up-close and unplugged ride. Becoming is a rare and intimate peek behind the curtain of the author and activist’s journey as she meets with communities across the nation to build an authentic connection. Along with students and community leaders, Becoming also features moments and interviews with the Obama family, including former president Barack Obama, along with celebrities and media personalities like Conan O’Brien, Oprah Winfrey, and Gayle King. – Yael Tygiel

Lewis Capaldi quickly proved himself as a brilliant singer and songwriter, but in the documentary Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now, the award-winning rock star is revealing more about his personal life and experiences through a deeply intimate experience. Directed by Joe Pearlman, Lewis Capaldi: How I’m Feeling Now provides viewers with an all-access look at the musician. The documentary explores both musical and personal sides of the man’s life, highlighted by raw and authentic moments, chronicling the journey of an ambitious and scrappy teenager whose viral performance launched him into stardom. – Yael Tygiel

With the potential to go viral always feeling like it’s a few clicks away, many people dream of becoming influencers and basking in internet fame. The American Meme takes viewers behind the curtain to show the crushing loneliness, emotional struggles, and lack of privacy that comes with fame. Director Bert Marcus walks us through the recent history of influencer culture and the way capitalism has created an entire industry that relies on cultivating parasocial relationships that live and die by the like button. Follow some of the biggest personalities whose careers were built through online buzz, like Paris Hilton, DJ Khaled, and Dane Cook. – Tauri Miller

Pamela: A Love Story is a raw exploration of actress and cultural icon Pamela Anderson, told in her own words. With assistance from director Ryan White, Pamela: A Love Story plainly reveals the harsh realities of fame, life-changing trauma, and tabloid scandals. Highlighting Anderson’s stories are personal diaries, home videos, and hours of previously unreleased footage, as well as interviews with Gregory Butler and Rob Bowman. Crafted in the wake of Hulu’s critically acclaimed scripted series Pam and Tommy, the Canadian-born model ultimately took matters into her own hands, deciding to provide viewers with an unfiltered glimpse into her true life. – Yael Tygiel

Sr. is an honest and personal homage to the late filmmaker and father of one of Hollywood’s biggest stars, Robert Downey Sr. Produced by his son Robert Downey Jr. (Avengers: Endgame), with the assistance of director Chris Smith, Sr. explores the unencumbered career of the progressive director. Through the eyes of an audacious son, Sr. is often touching without hiding harsher realities, allowing friends and colleagues like Alan Arkin (The Kominsky Method) and Norman Lear (One Day at a Time) to share true and sometimes risqué tributes to the visionary who ushered in the comedic counterculture of the 60s and 70s. – Yael Tygiel

Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich reveals the truth behind heinous crimes committed by Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s confidante and co-conspirator who is only now being confronted with criminal charges for her involvement in his years of abuse. Directors Maiken Baird and Lisa Bryant feature interviews with Epstein’s victims, highlighted by archive footage of Maxwell, Epstein, and other powerful people, exploring just how deeply involved Maxwell was in the trafficking of young women. Ghislaine Maxwell: Filthy Rich spends nearly two hours unfolding the case against the woman at the center of these tragedies, exposing the monster that she is. – Yael Tygiel

One of the most influential country singers of all time, Shania Twain’s impact on music is undeniable. While there’s a good chance you know at least a few of Twain’s songs – “That Don’t Impress Me Much,” “From This Moment On,” and “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” are just a few of her long list of hits – you may not know how many obstacles she faced reaching the success she did. From the sexism she encountered as a female in the industry to her parents’ tragic deaths, an ugly divorce to a bout with Lyme disease, things haven’t always been easy. Twain, however, has never given up, making the documentary a riveting and inspiring tale that both reflects on her challenging, trailblazing past as well as looks toward her bright future. – Taylor Gates

Stay on Board: The Leo Baker Story is an unexpected journey into an often overlooked sport, following Leo Baker as he ascends to the elite heights of professional skateboarding. Directors Nicola Marsh and Giovanni Reda explore the competitive nature of skate culture, which grew from the neighborhood skate park to the world stage, quickly becoming an exclusive inner circle. Through the documentary, Marsh and Reda allow Leo Baker to reveal how his skills took him to the top, forging a path for others to follow while building an inclusive space for the LGBTQ+ community. – Yael Tygiel

Dive into the drama of a peak trend from the late 90s and early aughts with White Hot: The Rise and Fall of Abercrombie and Fitch, a prolific documentary exploring the store’s rollercoaster ride within American culture. Directed by Alison Klayman (Jagged), White Hot unpacks the all-American brand, which built clout based on the exclusion of race, class, and just about anything else it could. White Hot examines the pop culture phenomenon, dissecting every decision the brand made that allowed it to soar before everything came crashing down. White Hot is a fast-paced, thorough documentary that will appeal to every millennial mall rat whether they wore the brand or not. – Yael Tygiel

Shocking, creepy, and – at times – just plain strange, Our Father is a documentary that proves sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction. The film exposes former Indianapolis fertility doctor Donald Cline, who used his sperm to impregnate dozens of his patients – all of which had no knowledge of him doing so. There are jaw-dropping moments galore as we see one woman’s at-home DNA test spiral into something bigger and more sinister than anyone ever could have imagined. – Taylor Gates

Sparks is your favorite band’s favorite band, and yet they’ve flown underneath the radar for pretty much all of the 50 years they’ve been making music, which includes 25 albums. Director Edgar Wright looks to remedy that with the terrific The Sparks Brothers, a look at the entire history of Ron and Russell Mael’s pop-rock duo. Unlike other music documentaries that try to examine the personal lives of its subjects, Wright keeps his focus solely on the music (and at two-and-half-hours, there’s not much room for anything else given the band’s vast discography), and the result is that at the end of the film you’ll like love Sparks as much as he does. It’s a gift of music appreciation. – Matt Goldberg

This one is a must-see for anyone who considers themselves a fan of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but it’s also a good meditation on what it means to be a fan and how we show reverence to the art that has shaped our lives. The climax of Sergio Leone’s seminal western takes place at the Sad Hill Cemetery, but over the years the cemetery became overgrown and resembled nothing of the climactic setting. A group of fans took it upon themselves to restore the cemetery to its former glory, and in doing so created what could only be described as a labor of love. While there are other documentaries that focus on fandoms, this one, which is really based on one scene from one movie (as opposed to the entire Man with No Name trilogy) shows how much even a little bit of an artwork can impact our lives. – Matt Goldberg

Bob Dylan as an artist has always walked the line of fiction and non-fiction with his persona, and it’s this line that Martin Scorsese explores in his documentary Rolling Thunder Revue, chronicling Dylan’s 1975 concert tour. With Rolling Thunder Revue, Scorsese blends fact and fiction, leaving the audience to try and decipher what is truth and what is fabricated. Yet amongst all this playing with the audience is fantastic concert footage of Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez, and many others on this tour that feels at times more like a circus than a concert. As Scorsese has shown with his other music documentaries, he knows how to get deep down into what makes an artist so intriguing and can play it up into tremendous films. – Ross Bonaime

Imagine you were a wealthy art collector. You know the names that are famous, but could you spot a fake? Probably not on sight, but that’s why you leave it to dealers and galleries to verify the authenticity of paintings. But what happens when the gallery may be a willing participant in the fraud? That’s the case of Made You Look: A True Story About Fake Art in which the largest art fraud in history was perpetrated through the famous and reputable Knoedler & Company. The question becomes how much did those employed by Knoedler know–were they duped like their clientele or did they willingly look the other way because they had become complicit in a profitable scheme? Director Barry Avrich draws us along in this captivating con-artist documentary where it’s low stakes for the viewer (after all, we’re not wealthy art collectors or dealers) and high-stakes for those involved. – Matt Goldberg

While you may want to go for the latest technology when it comes to getting a new cell phone or video game console, you should be more circumspect when it comes to what you put in your body. In their 2018 documentary writer-director Kirby Dick and producers Amy Ziering and Amy Herdy examine the medical device industry and discover (shocker) that capitalism has inserted its tentacles into the regulatory agency, the FDA, that should be overseeing the devices that doctors are implanting into patients. With a strong mix of personal stories and pulling back to explore the larger issues, The Bleeding Edge will change the way you interact with your doctor next time you need to have some kind of invasive procedure. While it is wrong that this burden has been pushed onto patients, at least this documentary arms you with the knowledge you need to so that you can avoid some horrific outcomes. – Matt Goldberg

The first thing to know about the Bob Ross documentary on Netflix is it does not reveal that this beloved figure was a bad man. But it does uncover the disturbing truth behind the business of Bob Ross Inc., and specifically what happened after Ross’ untimely death. Featuring interviews with Ross’ son and best friend, as well as others who knew him, Bob Ross: Happy Accidents, Betrayal & Greed chronicles how he became a pop culture icon by accident, and covers his philosophy of painting. It also gets a bit into his personal life, showing us the man behind the canvas. But the main thrust of the movie is the business dealings that took advantage of Ross, and the fallout from his death. It’s an intriguing film, especially at only 90 minutes in length. – Adam Chitwood

David Attenborough is easily one of the most recognizable figures in the world of conservation. The English natural historian and author is practically a household name due to his extensive work on natural history documentaries, delivered in his iconic narration style. He’s so respected both among the general public and the scientific community that there have been over 20 species named after him. And in David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, he gives an account of his long career, reflecting on how much the planet has changed over the 90-odd years of his life. Mixed with footage from his previous work, Attenborough describes the documentary as his “witness statement.”

He also presents what he believes could be the end result if humanity continues to abuse nature the way we do now. Without going into too much detail, it involves the disappearance of entire ecosystems and drastic changes to the climate, all culminating in a mass extinction event. But Attenborough also suggests that this future could be avoided and details the steps that we need to take to reverse the damage we’ve done to the natural world. It’s a thought-provoking documentary that offers just as much hope as it does criticism. Whether you’re interested in matters of ecology or not, this documentary is an educational experience that everyone ought to have. – Remus Noronha

Would you question someone who claimed to be a Holocaust survivor even if their story was completely outlandish? That’s the question at the heart of Sam Hobkinson’s captivating documentary Misha and the Wolves. The film is about a woman, Misha Defonseca, who claimed that her parents were arrested by the Nazis when she was seven years old, and so she ran away towards Germany to find her missing parents, and during her trek she joined a pack of wolves. This memoir became a worldwide best-seller, but its credibility became the center of a lawsuit between Misha and her publisher, Jane Daniel. The larger exploration here isn’t simply a matter of a stranger-than-fiction tale, but why we go looking for uplifting narratives at the expense of hard realities that may not comfort us. – Matt Goldberg