Foreign Documentaries on Netflix
Last updated April 23, 2024
Usain Bolt: The Fastest Man Alive
2012 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsGet an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at Usain St. Leo Bolt, the Jamaican sprinter who's widely regarded as the fastest man in the world and became a legend at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
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Happy People: A Year in the Taiga
2010 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsVenerated documentarian Werner Herzog teams with director Dmitry Vasyukov for this observant look at life along the River Yenisei in northern Russia, where the industrious inhabitants of a rural village truly live off the land.
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The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975
2011 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsFrom 1967 to '75, a film crew aimed cameras at major figures in the Black Power movement, creating hours of footage that remained unreleased for decades. In clips, Stokely Carmichael, Huey P. Newton and Angela Davis discuss the movement's evolution.
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Gerhard Richter Painting
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsRenowned painter Gerhard Richter reveals both his fascinating creative process and his famously grumpy personality in this documentary. Richter's unique method includes using both modified squeegees and brushes to create his abstract masterpieces.
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A Mother's Courage: Talking Back to Autism
2009 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsMargrét Dagmar Ericsdóttir embarks on a quest to find answers about autism, which renders her 11-year-old son, Keli, unable to communicate. Across the United States and Europe, Ericsdóttir encounters autism experts exploring promising new methods.
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The Mexican Suitcase
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsThis film tells the story of the recovery of 4,500 negatives taken by photographers Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour during the Spanish Civil War. The film follows the journey of these negatives to Mexico and their recovery 70 years later.
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The Queen and I
2008 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsNahid Persson Sarvestani's thought-provoking documentary about her friendship with Queen Farah, the Shah of Iran's wife, demonstrates how even those at odds can find middle ground and understanding as the conversation becomes political and personal.
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Pina
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsWim Wenders directs to arresting effect in this performance documentary about Pina Bausch's Tanztheater Wuppertal dance company. Performing alfresco in Wuppertal, Germany, the troupe's pieces include "The Rite of Spring."
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L'Amour Fou
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsYves Saint-Laurent -- synonymous with Le Smoking suit, the safari jacket and Studio 54 -- met Pierre Bergé in 1958. This intimate documentary pays tribute to their love affair, business partnership and extraordinary 50-year friendship.
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Three Stars
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsFocusing on nine Michelin-starred chefs from three continents, filmmaker Lutz Hachmeister reveals the real business of cooking on the highest level by crosscutting between the maestros' various kitchen routines, tastes and culinary philosophies.
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Babies
2010 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsDocumentary filmmaker Thomas Balmes charts the simultaneous early development of four babies from different parts of the world, illustrating what makes human life unique, similar and precious wherever it occurs. Training his camera on newborns Hattie from San Francisco, Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia and Mari from Tokyo, Balmes captures everything from first screaming breaths to first steps.
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Dutch Influence
2013 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThe beat starts to rise, a sea of hands fills the air, the crowd surges....Welcome to the world's most dynamic new music scene. Buckle up for an energetic ride as Armin van Buuren, Tiesto and Afrojack, leaders of the Dutch House movement, invite us into their lives. Recognised by no one in Holland, but at Miami Music Week they're superstars, rapidly redefining a genre and taking over the globe's hottest clubs. A slick, pulsating party of a doc.
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La Camioneta: The Journey of One American School Bus
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThis quirky documentary follows the journey of a decommissioned school bus from the United States to Guatemala, where it's renovated and resurrected as a brightly colored vehicle that transports Guatemalans to work each day.
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The Raw and the Cooked
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsThis sumptuous doc explores Taiwan's diverse culinary culture, drawn from both ethnic Chinese and myriad outside influences. The menu includes upscale urban restaurants, dumplings, edible flowers, organic farms and a burgeoning local foods movement.
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Precious Life
2010 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsMohammad Abu Mustafa, a 4-month-old Palestinian boy living in the barricaded Gaza Strip, was born without an immune system and faces certain death if he does not receive a bone marrow transplant at an Israeli hospital -- an unlikely prospect.
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Thieves by Law
2010 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsFormer heads of the Russian Mafia who have shrewdly transformed themselves into reputable businessmen reveal their past experiences influencing their nation's economy, building up immense wealth and strictly adhering to a private code of thieves. Granted unprecedented access and cooperation, director Alexander Gentelev presents an intriguing documentary that exposes a chilling chapter of Russia's hidden history.
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Bananas!*
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsNicaraguan laborers are paying a high price to get cheap bananas onto the world's tables, and Southern California personal injury lawyer Juan Dominguez has decided to do something about it. This film tells his story. Director Fredrik Gertten follows Dominguez as he takes on corporate giants Dole Food and Dow Chemical on behalf of 10,000 banana workers made ill by a pesticide used in Nicaraguan plantations years after it was banned in the States.
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Sins of My Father
2009 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsNicolas Entel's searing documentary tells the story of Pablo Escobar -- Colombian drug kingpin, murderer and family man -- through the eyes of his son, Sebastian, as well as the sons of two of Escobar's most prominent victims.
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The Game of Death
2010 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsIn this study of obedience and authority, documentarian Thomas Bornot pushes reality TV to the bone-chilling limit: He stages a game show in which contestants submit to electric shocks of increasing intensity for a chance to win a million euros. Viewers look on and a hostess presides as participants quiz the contestant and administer punishment for incorrect answers, resulting in a disturbing display of compliance and, in some cases, resistance.
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Sound of Mumbai: A Musical
2010 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsIn this heartwarming musical documentary, a group of children from the slums of Mumbai, India, are given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform "The Sound of Music" with a classical orchestra.
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Cocalero
2007 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis 2007 Sundance Film Festival competition entry from director Alejandro Landes documents Aymara Indian Evo Morales's grassroots political campaign to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Morales, former president of the Chapare coca growers union, solicited a groundswell of native political support during the 2002 elections, a telling response to the incumbent administration's attempts to eradicate the crop.
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Let's Make Money
2008 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWith an eye toward exposing the policies and practices that affect the global economy, director Erwin Wagenhofer traverses the planet in a heroic effort to trace money as it passes through the international finance system. Making stops in First World countries and developing nations alike, the film reveals the far-reaching consequences of relaxed credit, deregulation and privatization as well as shocking examples of greed and ruthlessness.
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Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony
2012 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis documentary produced by Javier Bardem follows the plight of the Sahrawi, refugees living in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara who have suffered countless human rights abuses.
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Iran: A Cinematographic Revolution
2007 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsDespite political turmoil and cultural isolation -- and sometimes even because of them -- Iran has served as fertile ground for filmmakers for more than seven decades, as witnessed by this tribute to Persian cinema from Nader Takmil Homayoun. From escapism to social realism, the new wave of the 1970s and the more poetic films of recent years, this homage traces the history of Iranian filmmaking through a fascinating array of clips and interviews.
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Tomorrow Will Be Better
2012 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsWith camera in hand, Czech rider Libor Podmol charts his own journey from unknown hopeful to Freestyle MX world champion, uniquely documenting the ups and downs of making it in the sport.
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