Political Documentaries on Netflix
Last updated January 21, 2025
Miss Representation
2011 | NR | 4.3 out of 5 StarsExplore how the media's often disparaging portrayals of women contribute to the under-representation of females in positions of power, creating another generation of women defined by beauty and sexuality, and not by their capacity as leaders.
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Zeitgeist: Addendum
2008 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsContinuing the discussion from Zeitgeist: The Movie about the controversial links between religion and the financial markets, this documentary explores the causes of social corruption and puts forth a solution based on human alignment with nature.
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Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry
2012 | NR | 4.2 out of 5 StarsThis compelling documentary explores three years in the life of celebrated Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, who uses social media and his art to inspire protests against the state, and suffers government persecution for his actions.
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Ken Burns: Prohibition
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsKen Burns's fascinating multipart documentary examines the history of alcohol in America, including the events leading up to the passage of the 18th Amendment, the social and legal effects of prohibiting alcohol, and the repeal of Prohibition.
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Farmageddon
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsAmericans' right to access fresh, healthy foods of their choice is under attack. Farmageddon tells the story of farms that were providing safe, healthy foods to their communities and were forced to stop, sometimes through violent action.
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Ken Burns: Prohibition
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsKen Burns's fascinating multipart documentary examines the history of alcohol in America, including the events leading up to the passage of the 18th Amendment, the social and legal effects of prohibiting alcohol, and the repeal of Prohibition.
Details about Ken Burns: Prohibition
Zeitgeist: Moving Forward
2011 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsThis compelling documentary examines the current state of the global socioeconomic monetary paradigm and concludes that we need to transition to a new resource-based economy for our continued human and social survival.
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Mitt (Trailer)
2013 | NR | 4.1 out of 5 StarsWith unprecedented access, this documentary captures Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign, revealing a side of the candidate the public never saw.
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Zeitgeist: The Movie
2007 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsPeter Joseph explores the controversial links between organized religion, the global financial markets and the international power structure in this thought-provoking documentary that probes several well-known conspiracy theories.
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The Big Fix
2011 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsWhile turning their cameras on the devastating 2010 oil spill that pumped 779,037,744 liters of crude oil and other contaminants into the Gulf of Mexico, filmmakers Joshua Tickell and Rebecca Harrell unearth a stunning stream of corruption.
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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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Inside Job
2010 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsThis sobering, Oscar-winning documentary presents in comprehensive, cogent detail the pervasive and deep-rooted Wall Street corruption that led to the global economic meltdown of 2008.
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GasLand
2010 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsIn this Oscar-nominated documentary, director Josh Fox journeys across America to examine the negative effects of natural-gas drilling, from poisoned water sources to kitchen sinks that burst into flames to unhealthy animals and people.
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How To Survive a Plague
2012 | NR | 4.0 out of 5 StarsThis passionate documentary focuses on the grass-roots crusade in the 1980s and '90s to speed up efforts at developing treatments for the HIV virus. The film follows AIDS activists to Washington, where they challenge the government to act.
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American Drug War: The Last White Hope
2007 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsWith commentary from soldiers on both sides of the conflict, filmmaker Kevin Booth's incisive documentary wades into the murky waters of the American war on drugs, the longest and costliest war in U.S. history. Taking viewers from prisons and inner-city streets to the halls of Congress and his own kitchen, Booth attempts to sort out the intricacies of the national drug policy -- and the reasons for its unmitigated failure.
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Food, Inc.
2008 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsDrawing on Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation and Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma, director Robert Kenner's provocative, Oscar-nominated documentary explores the food industry's detrimental effects on our health and environment.
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Sergio
2009 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsSérgio Vieira de Mello, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was killed in 2003 when terrorists bombed the U.N. headquarters in Iraq. Interviews with his family, friends and colleagues paint a moving portrait of his life and work.
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Dirty Wars
2013 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsExploring America's covert operations in the war on terror, investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill takes viewers on a revealing journey through drone strikes, night raids, kill lists that include U.S. citizens and secret government-condoned torture.
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Hank: Five Years from the Brink
2013 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsFrom Joe Berlinger, the director of the "Paradise Lost" trilogy, comes this documentary about U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and his efforts to convince Congress that only a trillion dollar bailout of Wall Street would prevent economic ruin.
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A Place at the Table
2012 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsUsing personal stories, this powerful doc illuminates the plight of the 49 million Americans struggling with food insecurity. A single mother, a small-town policeman and a farmer are among those for whom putting food on the table is a daily battle.
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Revenge of the Electric Car
2011 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsFour vastly different yet equally driven auto industry visionaries rush to develop and market the first commercially successful electric car in this follow-up to the provocative documentary Who Killed the Electric Car?
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The Cartel
2009 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsIn his first feature film, director Bob Bowdon takes aim at America's public school system, revealing a self-serving network of wasteful cartels that squander funding and fail to deliver when it comes to academic testing and basic skills. Both parents and teachers want change, but reform is an uphill battle in the face of heel-digging bureaucrats and so-called "dropout factories." It's a bona fide crisis that's burgeoning out of control.
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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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Death by China
2012 | NR | 3.9 out of 5 StarsThis frank documentary chronicles the growing power and global ambitions of China, and concludes that its strength threatens America's own future. The film views the loss of American jobs to China as one more facet of a one-sided economic rivalry.
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The Island President
2012 | NR | 3.8 out of 5 StarsThis documentary chronicles the extraordinary efforts of Mohamed Nasheed, during his term as president of the Maldive Islands, to fight global warming and prevent rising ocean levels from deluging his low-lying archipelago nation right off the map.
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