Social & Cultural Documentaries on Netflix
Last updated May 04, 2025
Paul McCartney Really Is Dead: The Last Testament of George Harrison
2010 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn 2005, two audio tapes labeled The Last Testament of George Harrison mysteriously turned up at an office in Hollywood. On them, a voice claiming to be George claimed that fellow Beatle Paul McCartney had died in 1966 and been replaced by a double.
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St-Henri, The 26th of August
2011 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsA collaborative work made in the spirit of cinéma-vérité, this engrossing documentary chronicles an ordinary day -- August 26th -- in the lives of a hair stylist, a boxer, a retired couple and other citizens residing in a Montreal neighborhood.
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Decoding Deepak
2012 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn this documentary, filmmaker and journalist Gotham Chopra embarks on a year-long road trip with his father, Deepak Chopra, to reconcile the spiritual icon with the real man known to his family.
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G-Dog
2012 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsThis documentary highlights the work of Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who created Homeboy Industries -- a revolutionary program for at-risk youth which has become the most successful gang intervention program in the U.S.
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Keep the River on Your Right: A Modern Cannibal Tale
2000 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsIn 1955, Tobias Schneebaum disappeared into the Peruvian Amazon and emerged a year later as a modern-day cannibal. Now, follow the stranger-than-fiction tale of Schneebaum's return to the jungle in 1999, 45 years after his original visit.
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A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and the Warhol Factory
2006 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsIn this Tribeca Film Festival selection, director Esther Robinson paints an affecting portrait of her uncle, Danny Williams -- a talented young artist and former lover of pop-culture icon Andy Warhol -- who inexplicably vanished at age 27. Highlights include footage from Williams' 16mm films and interviews with colorful Factory personalities such as Brigid Berlin, John Cale, Gerard Malanga, Paul Morrissey and Billy Name.
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Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show
2006 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsRide along with actor-comedian Vince Vaughn as he drives his Wild West Comedy Show -- a 30-day stand-up tour featuring comedians Ahmed Ahmed, John Caparulo, Bret Ernst and Sebastian Maniscalco -- more than 6,000 miles across the country. This chronicle of each performance also includes interviews, behind-the-scenes antics and interludes with Vaughn and special guests Jon Favreau, Justin Long and Peter Billingsley.
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A Jihad for Love
2007 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsDocumenting the quandary of gay Muslims via the perspective of subjects from countries such as India, Iran and Turkey, director Parvez Sharma chronicles their struggles to square their sexual orientation with their faith, which forbids homosexuality. Relating their compelling tales to the camera, the subjects (most expatriates) cling to their Islamic ideals in the face of a sharia interpretation that imposes the death penalty for homosexual acts.
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A Sea Change
2009 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsAward-winning filmmaker Barbara Ettinger puts a human face on the realities of global warming and ocean acidification in this eye-opening document of one man's quest to learn more about his generation's environmental legacy. Although he's an environmentalist, native Norwegian Sven Huseby is a grandfather, too. And he's increasingly concerned about the kind of world his 5-year-old grandson, Elias, will inherit.
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Grace, Milly, Lucy ... Child Soldiers
2010 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsIn this sobering documentary, filmmaker Raymonde Provencher gives three women -- Grace, Milly and Lucy -- time to talk about their childhoods in Uganda, where they were forced to kill against their will as soldiers in the Lord's Resistance Army. Now as adults, they're working as activists to help others through a support group for survivors of childhood slavery, never forgetting their own haunting experiences.
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Spudwrench: Kahnawake Man
1997 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsHorne is one of many Mohawk high steel workers who worked on some of the world's tallest buildings--but have never lost touch with their roots.
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Women on the March
1959 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsA film record of women at the turn of the century and of the suffragette movement's struggle for equal rights.
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The Boxing Girls of Kabul
2012 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsA remarkable group of young Afghan women dream of representing their country as boxers at the 2012 Olympics. This documentary follows them as they embark on a journey of both personal and political transformation.
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Fists of Pride
2013 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsIn a boxing camp on the Thai-Burmese border, young boys -- the children of mostly illegal migrant workers fleeing Burma -- train for prize fights that they hope might change their lives.
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Last Chance
2012 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsFilmmaker Paul Émile d'Entremont chronicles the journeys of five asylum-seekers as they turn to Canada to escape sexual discrimination and homophobic violence in their native countries.
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A Museum in the City
2012 | NR | 3.1 out of 5 StarsFilmmaker Luc Bourdon takes viewers on a behind-the-scenes tour of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, revealing less about the artwork itself and more about the fine art of bringing a museum to life.
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Office Tigers
2006 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsDocumentary filmmaker Liz Mermin examines an American-owned company that trains young Indian professionals the rules of Western business in this fascinating look into outsourcing and the contemporary blending of cultures. Headquartered in conservative Chennai, India, Office Tigers serves clients including the world's top investment banks. Mermin looks into the lives of the workers and the changes being wrought by their new opportunities.
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Three Miles North of Molkom
2008 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsThis wildly entertaining documentary follows a gruff Australian rugby coach as he ventures into the offbeat New Age waters of Sweden's alternative-spirituality No Mind Festival, where he's surrounded by hippies, shamans and tantric sex enthusiasts.
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Seven Dumpsters and a Corpse
2007 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsWhen their mother dies, Swiss brothers Thomas and Erik undertake the mammoth task of cleaning out her junk-filled apartment. Sorting through seven dumpsters' worth of accumulations, the men piece together an unbelievable family history. The long and twisted tale -- as revealed in this enthralling and darkly comic documentary -- is replete with elite nobles, sordid affairs, Nazi officers, nymphomania and even a photo cameo by future U.N. chief Kofi Annan.
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Graffiti Verite 9: Soulful Ways: The DJ
2010 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsBlending concert footage with artist interviews, scratching tutorials, and DJ wit and wisdom, this documentary provides an in-depth and up-to-the-minute look at the art and business of being a DJ. DJ Sircut, DJ Handprints, Glenn Towery and other master turntablists share their stories of making it in the intensely competitive world of Los Angeles hip-hop and provide a primer on an array of spinning styles.
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Most Valuable Players
2010 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsThis exuberant documentary celebrates the Freddy Awards, a televised high school musical theater competition held every year in Lehigh Valley, Penn. The enthusiasm and creativity demonstrated by the featured theater troupes surprise and inspire.
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Defiant Requiem
2012 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsThis World War II documentary relates the inspiring and tragic story of Raphael Schächter, a young composer held in the Terezin concentration camp. In an act of artistic defiance, Schächter teaches a prison chorus to perform Verdi's Requiem.
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After Kony: Staging Hope
2011 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsThis documentary follows a team of actors, playwrights and activists in Uganda who use theater to help former child soldiers or sex slaves that escaped their abductors cope with the traumatic experiences they've been through.
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(A) Sexual
2011 | NR | 3.0 out of 5 StarsFacing a sex-obsessed culture, a mountain of stereotypes and misconceptions, and a lack of social or scientific research, asexuals -- people who experience no sexual attraction -- struggle to claim their identity.
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Graffiti Verite 3: A Voyage into the Iconography of Graffiti Art
2000 | NR | 2.9 out of 5 StarsFilmmaker Bob Bryan continues his exploration of graffiti in this third award-winning installment, which pairs images of the urban art form with a soundtrack of international experimental music. Seeking to free viewers' minds from preconceived notions of graffiti, Bryan's film features music from a variety of countries and genres meant to illuminate the historical and creative significance of the controversial aerosol art.
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