35 Best Documentaries of All Time, Ranked (original) (raw)
Updated Sep 23, 2024, 8:45 PM EDT
Jeremy has more than 2500 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows.
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The documentary genre is a more varied one than many people give it credit for. As a type of film, documentaries do usually aim to inform or educate about some kind of non-fiction story or topic, but that's not their sole purpose. Some aim to evoke certain feelings or experiences more than anything else, others aim to present an argument or point of view in a persuasive manner, and others are mostly concerned with simply entertaining audiences the way a work of fiction might. Furthermore, some documentaries aim to do a combination of the above, or maybe even none of the above, instead opting to do something else entirely.
Exploring the world of documentary filmmaking can be a truly eye-opening thing to do, and reveal worlds or unique perspectives that aren't as easy to explore through other genres. It's safe to assume that documentary movies will never go out of style, which makes keeping track of the best documentaries out there worthwhile. Some of the best documentaries of all time have been around for decades, while others are more recent, and deal with ongoing, ever-topical issues. The films below aren't merely good documentaries; they're largely considered all-timers within the genre, and can all be described quite reasonably as the best documentaries ever. What follows are some of the finest documentary films of all time, ranked below from great to greatest.
35 'Triumph Over Violence' (1965)
Directed by Mikhail Romm
Image via Mosfilm
Playing out like a particularly scathing and effective anti-war documentary, Triumph Over Violence looks at the rise of fascism in Europe both before World War II broke out and then while fighting was ongoing. It’s comprehensive in an objective sense, given there is a ton of information contained within, but there’s also an argument being made here that distinguishes the film from just feeling like a history lesson.
It's difficult to come to an understanding of why things happened the way they did in Europe throughout the 1920s, 1930s, and into the 1940s, but a film like Triumph Over Violence is important as a warning that it could happen again. It looks at evil in an unblinking way, and shows how various people sat by while the whole thing happened, perhaps due to apathy. It’s a challenging watch, but an undeniably eye-opening one that makes Triumph Over Violence one of the most impactful of all time, and perhaps also one of the most underrated.
34 'All the Beauty and the Bloodshed' (2022)
Directed by Laura Poitras
Nan Goldin in All the Beauty and the Bloodshed
Image via NEON
Even though All the Beauty and the Bloodshed is a recent documentary, in the overall scheme of things, it’s a nonetheless brilliant one; enough to already feel like an all-timer. Part of its brilliance comes from the way it so effectively manages to be about two subjects at once: namely, artist/activist Nan Goldin and the history of the opioid epidemic in the U.S.
Of course, Goldin became involved in protests concerning the latter, with the two threads coming together closer to the end of the film in a way that packs an emotional punch. Elsewhere, All the Beauty and the Bloodshed deals with other difficult themes beyond the aforementioned epidemic, making it a rather haunting and downbeat watch at times. However, it treats the serious subject matter at hand with care and appropriate empathy, overall feeling like a careful and direct film that works both as a biographical documentary and a look at one of the biggest problems impacting the U.S. in the 21st century so far.
Release Date
November 23, 2022
Runtime
122 minutes
33 'Ennio' (2021)
Directed by Giuseppe Tornatore
Image via Music Box Films
When you have a documentary about one of the greatest movie composers of all time, it’s only natural for things to get rather cinematic by documentary standards. Enter Ennio, which is all about Ennio Morricone, starting with covering his early life, documenting how he entered into the world of composing for film, and how his style (and ceaseless ability to pump out original music) soon made him one of the most beloved and influential composers of the 20th century (and beyond, considering he won his first competitive Oscar for one of his final films, 2015’s The Hateful Eight).
Ennio was likely made shortly before Morricone himself passed away, with the film coming out one year later while featuring numerous interviews with the man himself throughout. His passing isn't addressed directly, but the film instead ends with a sense of his music living on. It’s bittersweet, but Morricone lived a long life and did so much for cinema while he was alive. Giuseppe Tornatore – who collaborated with Morricone numerous times, the latter doing the score for Cinema Paradiso, for example – makes Ennio a heartfelt and appropriately sentimental send-off of sorts. The whole thing is edited immensely well, making 2.5 hours fly by, and the sheer number of high-profile interviewees here is also impressive.
Release Date
February 17, 2022
Runtime
156 minutes
Director
Giuseppe Tornatore
32 'Koyaanisqatsi' (1982)
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
A woman and two children in a room full of TVs
Image via New Cinema
Call Koyaanisqatsi a documentary if you want, or call it an essay film, or label it entirely its own thing and leave it at that. It’s a beautiful-looking and sounding movie that leaves a ton up to the viewer, simply being a series of images with music playing and underscoring everything. There’s a progression from natural landscapes to increasingly highly-populated and crowded cities, but little by way of actual/literal commentary.
This is because Koyaanisqatsi lacks voiceover narration, interviews, or anything that could be called dialogue. It is a look at life on Earth, contrasting the natural with the things that humanity has constructed over what was once natural. It’s about the environment to some extent, but it could be about other things, too. Somehow, it all works, and doesn’t feel lazy, vague, or frustrating in any way, being a unique experience everyone should check out at least once in their life.
Release Date
April 27, 1983
Runtime
86 minutes
Director
Godfrey Reggio
31 'Amy' (2015)
Directed by Asif Kapadia
Image via Altitude Film Distribution
Amy might look like another musician-centered documentary on the surface, but it’s really so much more than just a recap of Amy Winehouse’s tragically short life. It’s comprehensive in a biographical sense, so you undoubtedly get that kind of information, experience the highs and lows of her life, and understand who she was as a person. But Amy also has more to say beyond Winehouse’s music and life.
Essentially, it’s a film that serves as a condemnation of all who joked about or bullied Winehouse, particularly those in the media and the people who followed her everywhere, refusing to give her privacy. She was a troubled individual, but Amy suggests she needed help, and that the way she was treated by most just made her personal demons more out of control. Amy Winehouse’s story here can be read as a warning, as to prevent comparable tragedies from ever happening again. It’s one of the most effective calls for empathy in cinema history, and the fact that it’s also a very good music documentary about the titular artist at the same time is just icing on the cake.
Release Date
July 3, 2015
Runtime
90 minutes
Director
30 'Bowling for Columbine' (2002)
Directed by Michael Moore
Coming out years before crime documentaries became Netflix's bread and butter, Bowling for Columbine uses a horrific crime spree as a jumping-off point to explore American culture, and its seemingly unending love of firearms. The event it's all framed around is the Columbine High School massacre of 1999, which claimed more than 20 victims.
In one of the best movies of 2002, Michael Moore made arguably his most passionate and emotional movie with Bowling for Columbine, with the editing and presentation making the arguments put forward quite persuasive. It's in-your-face and uncompromising as a documentary, and it works well as something that clearly wants to start a conversation about a serious topic.
Release Date
October 9, 2002
Runtime
120 minutes
Director
Michael Moore
29 'Sans Soleil' (1983)
Directed by Chris Marker
Two waving cat statues in the experimental documentary by Chris Marker, Sans Soleil.
Image via Argos Films
Sans Soleil is a documentary that's hard to summarize, and has a rather experimental approach to the format/genre. It has little by way of narrative or a direct argument that it wants to present, instead being an artistically presented odyssey through a woman's abstract thoughts, often relating to the meaning of life and human existence.
Sans Soleil feels broad and open to interpretation, but it's the kind of thing where someone could watch it and have it fully click, gaining an entirely different understanding than other viewers. This might make Sans Soleil something of an acquired taste, but it's worth at least one watch for those who appreciate unconventional and adventurous documentary movies.
Release Date
October 26, 1983
Runtime
100 Minutes
Director
Chris Marker
28 '13th' (2016)
Directed by Ava DuVernay
A black girl in 13th looking at something or someone off-camera.
Image via Netflix
Standing as one of the most important cultural/political documentaries in recent memory, 13th is a difficult yet essential watch. It tackles the U.S. prison system with a particular focus on the racial inequality present within it, tying the way prisons function in modern times to the way slavery functioned back during the nation's earlier days.
It might be a difficult thing for some viewers to hear and grapple with, but 13th is persuasive and remarkably good at presenting the case for this claim. It's all assembled amazingly well, and makes for the kind of film that wants to frustrate, get people thinking, and have viewers reassess what they thought they knew. In these ways, 13th is a resoundingly successful documentary.
Release Date
October 7, 2016
Runtime
100minutes
Director
27 'Gimme Shelter' (1970)
Directed by Albert and David Maysles and Charlotte Zwerin
Image via Cinema 5
It's no secret that Martin Scorsese loves The Rolling Stones, having directed his own documentary about them and using their songs throughout his films. He seems particularly fond of the song "Gimme Shelter," which is also the name of this 1970 documentary about The Rolling Stones, focusing on one particularly infamous concert they performed in 1969.
Gimme Shelter is one of the few concert movies that could be described as nightmarish, because even if you enjoy some of the music on offer, the stark presentation of a tragic event is ultimately what's most memorable. It's an intense watch that's probably not for everyone, but it certainly stands as one of the most distinct - and harrowing - music documentaries of all time.
Release Date
December 6, 1970
Runtime
92 minutes
Director
Albert Maysles, Charlotte Zwerin, David Maysles
26 'Man on Wire' (2008)
Directed by James Marsh
Image via Magnolia Pictures
Somehow functioning as both a documentary and a heist movie at the same time, Man on Wire tells a wild true story that was also adapted into a feature film with 2015's The Walk. It's about daredevil/tightrope walker Philippe Petit, and the way he managed to execute a stunt in 1974 that involved walking between the two towers of the World Trade Center, which had then only recently been built.
Man on Wire's pacing makes it feel more dynamic and thrilling than many other documentaries out there, and some of the footage/photographs captured prove awe-inspiring to look at. It's artistically presented and genuinely exciting, serving as both a psychological exploration of a rather unique man while also celebrating the absolutely wild feat he managed to pull off.
Release Date
July 25, 2008
Runtime
94 minutes
Director