Ready for a Netflix binge session? We’ve done the hard yards for you and rounded up the best Netflix documentaries you need to watch right now. From the intriguing to the shocking, it’s all here.
Here are all the best Netflix documentaries to watch right now.
Fyre Festival
Primed as a luxury music festival on an exotic island, this Netflix documentary gives a behind the scenes look into one of the most anticipated festivals ever – that never actually happened. Fyre Festival provides an insight into one of the biggest lawsuits of its kind while exposing secrets of the organisers that thought they could get away with a bunch of serious crimes.
Avicii True Stories
After the very public death of one of the most influential DJs in the world, everyone had questions about how it all came about. Now, this Netflix documentary gives you a very real look into the life of the Swedish DJ legend, Tim Bergling. Avicii True Stories puts the microscope on the life of one of the biggest musical geniuses of our time, from humble beginnings as a teenager with a passion for spinning decks to his rise to super-stardom and touring the world.
Ted Bundy Tapes
Seriously creepy and a must watch for crime-obsessed humans. This four-part series exposes some dark secrets and gives an insight into the twisted mind of one of America’s most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy. He was a seemingly “normal” and extremely intelligent psychology graduate who was passionate about politics and managed to uphold all that “All-American” wholesomeness. But behind the façade, he was pure evil. His confessions will chill you to the bone.
Gaga Five Foot Two
She’s one of the biggest pop stars of our time and now this Netflix documentary gives you a real glimpse of the raw, uncut Gaga. It gives you a year-long look at her life off stage, at home and in the recording studio in the lead up to her 2017 Super Bowl performance, exposing traumas . Follow her highs and lows and personal journey to finding a balance between her stage persona and day to day life as a normal woman.
Blue Planet II
Essentially the king of nature cinematography, Attenborough is pretty hard to beat. The follow-up series to the first Blue Planet is nothing short of amazing, given it took four years to film. Visually, this Netflix docuseries is legitimately awe-inspiring as Attenborough takes us on a journey into oceans around the world.
Evil Genius
The true crime story of one of America’s most diabolical bank heists. In 2003, a bank robbery took place but when the burglar was caught, he was found to have a bomb around his neck. He pleaded with authorities to help him find the key to unlock the bomb but shortly after the bomb detonated and he died. The overarching mystery now is who coerced him to do it? The four-part Netflix series delves into the manhunt for who is responsible for the crime. It’s bizarre and you’ll be on the edge of your seat as it takes a series of unsuspecting twists and turns making you question who is responsible.
The American Meme
Follow Paris Hilton, Josh Ostrovsky better known as the “The Fat Jew”, Brittany Furlan and DJ Khalid among others into the all-consuming yet incredibly isolating world that is social media. This Netflix documentary provides a provocative perspective on online media platforms and their ability to build online empires while simultaneously providing a means for a vacuous existence.
Icarus
A little left of centre but none the list very worthy of this list, this documentary takes a closer look into one of the most controversial athletic scandals in history – doping. Filmmaker, Bryan Fogel, who also has a keen interest in cycling volunteers himself as a human guinea pig to test whether he can complete a successful doping regimen without being detected by the sport’s intense drug testing procedure. He invests in the help of a Russian scientist – Putin’s most wanted whistle-blower to help cheat the drug test, uncovering insights about the biggest scandal in sporting history.
Abducted In Plain Sight
If you’re obsessed at the moment with the overload of true crime series and podcasts about, then you’ll need to add this to your list. It’s disturbing, disgusting and downright distressing. Abducted In Plain Sight tells the story of 12-year-old Jan Broberg who was kidnapped twice in a two-year period by the same man – her mother and father’s family friend and neighbour, Robert Berchtold. Robert essentially has an incomprehensible infatuation with Jan and a manipulative hold on her parents which gives way to some pretty horrific events (no spoilers though).
The White Helmets
The White Helmets is a Netflix original short documentary, set in Aleppo, Syria and Turkey in early 2016. As the violence intensifies, the Netflix documentary follows three volunteer rescue workers as they put everything on the line to save civilians affected by the war, all the while wracked with worry about the safety of their own loved ones. Moving and inspiring, The White Helmets (directed by Academy Award®–nominated director Orlando von Einsiedel and producer Joanna Natasegara) is both a snapshot of the harrowing realities of life for ordinary Syrians who remain in the country, and a humbling portrait of the power of the human spirit.
Still got time to spare? Here are all the best movies to watch on Netflix right now.
Image credit: Jeff Kravitz