Canadian Documentaries on Netflix
Last updated May 05, 2024
We Were Children
2012 | NR | 4.3 out of 5 StarsThis emotional film reflects the stories of two people who endured a Canadian program that forced First Nations children to negate their aboriginal identity. Separated from their families at a very young age, they faced brutality and mental abuse.
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Indie Game: The Movie
2012 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsThis captivating documentary follows several independent game designers as they painstakingly develop their games and hope for breakthrough success. It also explores the quirky sensibility these personalities bring to their art form.
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Global Metal
2008 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsTaking their cameras to far-flung locales in Asia, the Middle East and South America, filmmakers Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen chronicle the continuing evolution of heavy metal and chart its influence on cultures around the world. The result is a revealing portrait of an often misunderstood genre that's found new artistic expression in Chinese black metal, Iranian thrash metal and Indonesian death metal.
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The Hole Story
2011 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsFilmmakers dig deep into a discussion about corporate greed, public health and environmental disaster in this exposé of the Canadian mining industry. With a long history of injustice to workers, the business continues to be dangerous and corrupt.
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Summit on Ice
1992 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsIn September 1972, the world watched as Canada faced Russia in the most significant sports event of its time. It was a battle of beliefs, a clash of cultures and some would say, a war.
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The Chocolate Farmer
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsThis film captures a year in the life of a Belizean family as they work their cacao plantation in the tradition of their Mayan ancestors and struggle to preserve their values in a world that is dramatically changing around them.
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Pink Ribbons, Inc.
2011 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsWho really benefits from the pink ribbon campaigns: the cause or the company? In showing the real story of breast cancer and the lives of those who fight it, this film reveals the co-opting of what marketing experts have labeled a "dream cause."
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Wiebo's War
2011 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsPaced like a thriller, this documentary chronicles back-to-nature Christian and accused eco-terrorist Wiebo Ludwig's struggle to save his little patch of Northern Canada from the scourge (or boon) of what lies beneath it: a huge natural gas field.
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Vanishing Point
2012 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsTwo Inuit communities in the Arctic, linked by lineage to a legendary shaman, face the greatest social and environmental challenges in their history. While the groups share much in common, they approach technological and social change differently.
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The Striking Truth
2010 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsThis dual-subject documentary charts the careers of two compelling professional fighters: Georges St-Pierre and David "the Crow" Loiseau. One is an Ultimate Fighting Champion; the other is one of the most exciting fighters in mixed martial arts.
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Who's Counting? Marilyn Waring on Sex Lies and Global Economics
1995 | NR | 3.7 out of 5 StarsIn this insightful program, witty and irreverent economics professor, goat farmer and former New Zealand Member of Parliament Marilyn Waring challenges the numerous myths of economics.
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Legend of a Warrior
2012 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsThis deeply personal documentary follows filmmaker Corey Lee's efforts to reconnect with his father, Frank, a high-kicking martial arts legend whose style of full-contact fighting made him famous -- but largely kept him from father-son bonding.
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Up the Yangtze
2007 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsWhen the Three Gorges Dam makes life hard for the Yu family, daughter Yu Shui must take a job aboard a cruise ship, where she enters into a dizzying microcosm of modern China. Meanwhile, her parents face the rising waters of the Yangtze.
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Meltdown
2013 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsThe hard-hitting earthquake that rocked Japan's Fukushima Prefecture on March 11, 2011, delivered much more than bricks-and-mortar destruction; it also triggered a nuclear meltdown and ignited the largest nuclear disaster since Chernobyl.
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Addicted to Plastic
2008 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsFocusing on manufacturing, environmental effects and solutions, a documentarian journeys around the world to trace the life cycle of plastic. While plastic is the most versatile material ever invented, its ubiquity comes at a steep cost to mankind.
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The Corporation
2003 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsFilmmakers Mark Achbar and Jennifer Abbott explore the genesis of the American corporation, its global economic supremacy and its psychopathic leanings, with social critics like Noam Chomsky and Milton Friedman lending insight in this documentary.
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Examined Life
2008 | NR | 3.6 out of 5 StarsFilmmaker Astra Taylor explores the application of contemporary philosophy to everyday life by speaking with leading philosophers in settings that underscore the tangible relevance of their theories.
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Life with Murder
2010 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsWhen 18-year-old Jennifer Jenkins is shot dead at home, all evidence points to the guilt of her 20-year-old brother, Mason -- but the siblings' parents maintain an unwavering belief in their son's innocence. Director John Kastner's unflinching documentary chronicles Mason's 11-year march through the Canadian court system, from first interrogation to appeal attempts, and culminates in an unforeseen revelation.
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Anvil! The Story of Anvil
2008 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsFormed by two 14-year-olds in the 1970s, heavy metal band Anvil influenced other acts, such as Anthrax and Metallica. This documentary joins Anvil's now middle-aged founders as they cope with obsoleteness and try to end their careers on a high note.
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My Name is Kahentiiosta
1995 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsKahentiiosta, a young Kahnawake Mohawk woman who was arrested during the Oka crisis and detained for defending her choice to provide her Aboriginal name.
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Flamenco at 5:15
1983 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsA flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio Robledo.
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Status Quo? The Unfinished Business of Feminism in Canada
2013 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsFeminism has shaped the society we live in. But just how far has it brought us, and how relevant is it today? This in-depth documentary asks these questions and uncovers provocative answers about the evolution of women's equality in Canada.
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Whistling Smith
1975 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsHere is a revealing insight into one side of big-city life and a tough cop with a big heart.
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The Rising Tide
1949 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis film shows the growth of cooperatives in the Maritime provinces and how they brought new life and hope to poverty-stricken fishermen.
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Universe
1960 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsA triumph of film art, creating on the screen a vast, awe-inspiring picture of the universe as it would appear to a voyager through space.
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