Top 100 Netflix Documentaries to Watch Right Now (#55 to #51)

Top 55 to 51 — and we’ve got David Attenborough, the Boy Scouts scandal, Obama-produced Oscar winners, and the OG true crime docuseries. The range on this list is wild. My personal favorite of today’s list of five Netflix Documentaries is The Staircase. Just a crazy story that completely unravels the deeper you get into it. Alright, let’s dig in.

Netflix Documentary #55 — Our Planet

2019 | Series | Directed by Alastair Fothergill

93% from both critics and audiences. David Attenborough + Netflix + a four-year shoot across 50 countries = probably the most visually stunning nature documentary ever made. Every frame looks like a painting. But it’s not just pretty — the series pulls no punches about the climate crisis and what we’re losing. The walrus scene will haunt you. Fair warning.

Netflix Documentary #54 — Scout’s Honor

2023 | Film | Directed by Brian Knappenberger

94% on Rotten Tomatoes. The Boy Scouts of America and the decades of sexual abuse covered up within the organization. Knappenberger (who also directed The American Experiment on this list) handles the subject with the gravity it deserves while giving survivors a platform to be heard. It’s part of a pattern you see across multiple docs on this list — institutions that protect predators.

Netflix Documentary #53 — American Factory

2019 | Film | Directed by Steven Bognar & Julia Reichert

95% from critics with 93 reviews. A Chinese billionaire reopens a shuttered GM plant in Ohio, and what follows is a fascinating, sometimes heartbreaking culture clash between Chinese and American workers. The Obama-produced doc won the Oscar, and it earned it. It’s about globalization, labor, dignity, and what happens when the American Dream gets outsourced. I think about this one constantly.

Netflix Documentary #52 — The Edge of Democracy

2019 | Film | Directed by Petra Costa

95% on RT. Brazilian filmmaker Petra Costa documents the political crisis that tore her country apart — the impeachment of Dilma Rousseff and the imprisonment of Lula. It’s deeply personal and politically charged, and even if you know nothing about Brazilian politics, the parallels to democratic backsliding everywhere will feel uncomfortably familiar.

Netflix Documentary #51 — The Staircase

2004 | Series | Directed by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade

95% from critics. This is the OG true crime docuseries — before Making a Murderer, before Serial, there was The Staircase. Michael Peterson’s wife is found dead at the bottom of a staircase, and what follows is one of the most twisting, turning legal sagas ever filmed. The doc spans YEARS of real-time legal proceedings. If you haven’t seen it, you’re about to lose a weekend.

The Complete Top 100 Netflix Documentary Countdown

We’re past the halfway point and I genuinely believe every doc from here to #1 has the potential to change how you see the world. That’s not hype. That’s just what great documentaries do.

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