Political Documentaries on Netflix
Last updated January 22, 2025
Media Malpractice
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsTalk show host turned filmmaker John Ziegler examines the role of the media during America's 2008 presidential election, using clips from TV news and other sources to argue that Barack Obama received preferential treatment over his political rivals. Declaring that media bias all but swept Obama to victory, the film also features an interview with Sarah Palin, who alleges that journalists unfairly maligned her throughout the campaign.
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Grass
2000 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsNarrated by actor and pot activist Woody Harrelson, this slick and snappy documentary chronicles the history of marijuana use and prohibition from the early 1900s through modern day. Biased toward legalization in tone, the clever if subjective film reveals the absurdity of government anti-grass tactics. Comic Tommy Chong also lends his voice to this informative and amusing illustration of how one substance among many has created such a clamor.
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Art of Conflict
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsNarrated by actor Vince Vaughn and produced in collaboration with his sister Valeri, this thoughtful look at Northern Ireland's street murals examines them as an expression of the region's violent history through those who created them.
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Bowling for Columbine
2002 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsFamed filmmaker and left-wing political humorist Michael Moore tackles America's obsession with firearms in this Oscar-winning documentary centered on the Columbine High School massacre of 1999.
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16 Acres
2012 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsCapturing the controversies and searing emotions surrounding the plans for rebuilding the Ground Zero site, filmmaker Richard Hankin documents the political jousting and maneuvering that have plagued the process, making consensus hard to achieve.
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Everything's Cool
2007 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsIn this documentary, filmmakers Daniel B. Gold and Judith Helfand (Blue Vinyl) follow a troupe of self-proclaimed global warming "warriors" on a mission to get the world to care about rising temperatures and melting polar ice caps. Taking a topic that's inherently serious and applying their signature blend of humor and emotional heft, Gold and Helfand advance the environmental dialogue in a surprisingly entertaining way.
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Hunting the Lost Symbol
2009 | NR | 3.5 out of 5 StarsA companion piece to Dan Brown's best-selling novel The Lost Symbol, this documentary explores American history and many of the book's Washington, D.C., locales to find the facts behind the legends of the nation's Masonic past.
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Fierce Light: When Spirit Meets Action
2008 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsTrying to come to terms with the death of a friend killed during a peaceful protest in Mexico, filmmaker Velcrow Ripper explores the concept of spiritual activism by focusing on a patch of land given to low-income South Central Los Angeles residents.
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Fahrenheit 9/11
2004 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsMichael Moore's hard-hitting documentary addresses the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, outlining the reasons the United States became a target for hatred and terrorism and criticizing President George W. Bush's response to the attacks.
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Right to Exit: Kevorkian
2004 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsDetermined to help people die with dignity, Dr. Jack Kevorkian refused to conceal or halt his participation in assisted suicides until the government stopped him with a 1999 murder conviction. This film chronicles his struggles. Through interviews with key players in the trial as well as a prison phone chat with Kevorkian himself, director Anna Terean provides an illuminating study of both the doctor and the politics of euthanasia.
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Our Nixon
2013 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsNixon himself wasn't the only one obsessively recording his presidency; three of his top aides were filming it, too, with Super 8 cameras. These home movies -- from H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman and Dwight Chapin -- form the basis of this portrait.
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Sons of the Clouds: The Last Colony
2012 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis documentary produced by Javier Bardem follows the plight of the Sahrawi, refugees living in the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara who have suffered countless human rights abuses.
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The Flat
2011 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWhen Arnon Goldfinger's grandmother died at 98, he was charged with cleaning out her Tel Aviv apartment, where he made a shocking discovery. The filmmaker plays detective as he sorts through decades of the Holocaust survivor's letters and photos.
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Payback
2012 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsDrawing from Margaret Atwood's book, documentarian Jennifer Baichwal examines the role of debt throughout human history. The film holds religion, politics, literature and sociology up to the light, finding every aspect of culture touched by debt.
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Cocalero
2007 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsThis 2007 Sundance Film Festival competition entry from director Alejandro Landes documents Aymara Indian Evo Morales's grassroots political campaign to become the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Morales, former president of the Chapare coca growers union, solicited a groundswell of native political support during the 2002 elections, a telling response to the incumbent administration's attempts to eradicate the crop.
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Let's Make Money
2008 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsWith an eye toward exposing the policies and practices that affect the global economy, director Erwin Wagenhofer traverses the planet in a heroic effort to trace money as it passes through the international finance system. Making stops in First World countries and developing nations alike, the film reveals the far-reaching consequences of relaxed credit, deregulation and privatization as well as shocking examples of greed and ruthlessness.
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Évocateur: The Morton Downey Jr. Movie
2012 | NR | 3.4 out of 5 StarsRude, crude and polarizing, Morton Downey Jr. was the profane right-wing prince of talk show hosts during his brief heyday in the late 1980s. This colorful documentary includes archival footage of Downey's riotous show with revealing interviews.
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Without Shepherds
2013 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsThis documentary follows the lives of six people who live in the turbulent waters of modern Pakistan, including a cricket star, a female journalist, a trucker, a supermodel, a rock musician and a reformed fundamentalist.
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Where in the World Is Osama bin Laden?
2008 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsIn his follow-up to the hit Super Size Me, documentarian Morgan Spurlock tries to one-up the U.S. government by finding Osama bin Laden. Spurlock reportedly shot more than 800 hours of footage while scouring the Middle East for the infamous leader.
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Cocaine Unwrapped
2011 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsFrom the first frame this definitive documentary ties the blithe recreational use of cocaine to the global realities of its dirty supply chain. With unprecedented access to all the major players in the War on Drugs, from Presidents to drug mules, Cocaine Unwrapped challenges preconceptions and begs compassion.
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The Case for Israel: Democracy's Outpost
2009 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsRising in vigorous defense of the nation-state of the Jewish people, distinguished Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz presents incisive evidence from leading experts across the political spectrum to assert Israel's basic right to exist.
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Dirty Business
2010 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 Stars&NFi;Rolling Stone&NFi_; reporter Jeff Goodell examines America's continuing dependence on coal and the effects of that reliance in this eye-opening documentary. Goodell investigates coal's environmental and human cost, as well as the notion of "clean coal."
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The Water Front
2007 | NR | 3.3 out of 5 StarsWhen a financially suffering town turns to an unlikely source -- its water plant -- for hope, no one expects $10,000 water bills and worse. This doc reveals the drastic policies enacted by an emergency financial manager, and their shocking effects.
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The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair
2006 | NR | 3.2 out of 5 StarsIn 2003, Iraqi journalist Yunis Abbas was taken from his home by American soldiers and detained at Abu Ghraib prison on suspicion of planning to assassinate Tony Blair. Only thing is, he was innocent. Through his months-long ordeal played out like a comedy of errors, Yunis learned the true meaning of liberation. His unique story is told via co-director Michael Tucker's footage, Yunis's home videos and illustrations by co-director Petra Epperlein.
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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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