The Best Documentary Exposés: A List that will Change Your Life. Documentaries that Uncover Dark Secrets

Ever wondered what the darkest of the secrets look like? Do you have the mind of a detective and are you always excited to know more about the truth behind things. If yes, this list is just for you.

1

Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends

1998

Louis Theroux which delves into the weirder fringes of American society.

8.5 IMDB
2

The Look of Silence

Adi Rukun, M.Y. Basrun, Amir Hasan
Joshua Oppenheimer
2014

A family that survives the genocide in Indonesia confronts the men who killed one of their brothers.

8.3 IMDB
3

The Act of Killing

Anwar Congo, Herman Koto, Syamsul Arifin
Joshua Oppenheimer
2012

In a place where killers are celebrated as heroes, these filmmakers challenge unrepentant death-squad leaders to dramatize their role in genocide. The result is a surreal, cinematic journey, not only into the memories and imaginations of mass murderers, but also into a frighteningly banal regime of corruption and impunity.

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8.2 IMDB
4

13th

Jelani Cobb, Angela Davis, Henry Louis Gates
Ava DuVernay
2016

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

8.2 IMDB
5

Inside Job

Matt Damon, William Ackman, Barack Obama
Charles Ferguson
2010

A film that exposes the shocking truth behind the economic crisis of 2008. The global financial meltdown, at a cost of over $20 trillion, resulted in millions of people losing their homes and jobs. Through extensive research and interviews with major financial insiders, politicians and journalists, Inside Job traces the rise of a rogue industry and unveils the corrosive relationships which have corrupted politics, regulation and academia.

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8.2 IMDB
6

Citizenfour

Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras
Laura Poitras
2014

In June 2013, Laura Poitras and reporter Glenn Greenwald flew to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden. She brought her camera with her.

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8.1 IMDB
7

Grizzly Man

Timothy Treadwell, Kathleen Parker, Warren Queeney
Werner Herzog
2005

Werner Herzog's documentary film about the "Grizzly Man" Timothy Treadwell and what the thirteen summers in a National Park in Alaska were like in one man's attempt to protect the grizzly bears. The film is full of unique images and a look into the spirit of a man who sacrificed himself for nature.

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7.8 IMDB
8

Zero Days

Joanne Tucker, Yossi Melman, Ralph Langner
Alex Gibney
2016

Alex Gibney explores the phenomenon of Stuxnet, a self-replicating computer virus discovered in 2010 by international IT experts. Evidently commissioned by the US and Israeli governments, this malware was designed to specifically sabotage Iran’s nuclear programme. However, the complex computer worm ended up not only infecting its intended target but also spreading uncontrollably.

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7.8 IMDB
9

Jim: The James Foley Story

Ben Chase, Diane Foley, James Foley
Brian Oakes
2016

In August, 2014, a video of the public execution of American photojournalist James Foley rippled across the globe. Foley wore an orange jumpsuit as he knelt beside an ISIS militant dressed in black. That image challenged the world to deal with a new face of terror. And it tested one American family. Seen through the lens of filmmaker Brian Oakes, Foley’s close childhood friend, Jim takes us from small-town New England to the adrenaline-fueled front lines of Libya and Syria, where Foley pushed the limits of danger to report on the plight of civilians impacted by war.

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7.7 IMDB
10

The Central Park Five

Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam
Sarah Burns, Ken Burns, David McMahon
2012

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City's Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, this is the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

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7.7 IMDB
11

Fire In The Blood

Zackie Achmat, Peter Mugyenyl, Bill Clinton
Dylan Mohan Gray
2013

An intricate tale of "medicine, monopoly and malice", FIRE IN THE BLOOD tells the story of how Western pharmaceutical companies and governments blocked access to low-cost AIDS drugs for the countries of the global south in the years after 1996 - causing ten million or more unnecessary deaths - and the improbable group of people who decided to fight back. Shot on four continents and including contributions from global figures such as Bill Clinton, Desmond Tutu and Joseph Stiglitz, FIRE IN THE BLOOD is the never-before-told true story of the remarkable coalition which came together to stop 'the crime of the century' and save millions of lives in the process.

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7.7 IMDB
12

The Imposter

Frédéric Bourdin, Adam O\'Brian, Anna Ruben
Bart Layton
2012

In 1994 a 13-year-old boy disappeared without a trace from his home in San Antonio, Texas. Three and a half years later he is found alive thousands of miles away in a village in southern Spain with a horrifying story of kidnap and torture. His family is overjoyed to bring him home. But all is not quite as it seems.

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7.5 IMDB
13

Stories We Tell

Michael Polley, Harry Gulkin, Susy Buchan
Sarah Polley
2012

Canadian actress and filmmaker Sarah Polley investigates certain secrets related to her mother, interviewing a group of family members and friends whose reliability varies depending of their implication in the events, which are remembered in different ways; so a trail of questions remains to be answered, because memory is always changing and the discovery of truth often depends on who is telling the tale.

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7.5 IMDB
14

The Pirate Bay: Away from Keyboard

Gottfrid Svartholm, Fredrik Neij, Peter Sunde
Simon Klose
2013

TPB AFK is a documentary about three computer addicts who redefined the world of media distribution with their hobby homepage The Pirate Bay. How did Tiamo, a beer crazy hardware fanatic, Brokep a tree hugging eco activist and Anakata – a paranoid hacker libertarian – get the White House to threaten the Swedish government with trade sanctions? TPB AFK explores what Hollywood’s most hated pirates go through on a personal level.

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7.5 IMDB
15

Under the Sun

Lee Zin-Mi, Yu-Yong, Hye-Yong
Vitaly Mansky
2016

Over the course of one year, this film follows the life of an ordinary Pyongyang family whose daughter was chosen to take part in one of the famous Korean "Spartakiads". The ritualized explosions of color and joy contrast sharply with pale everyday reality, which is not particularly terrible, but rather quite surreal, like a typical life as seen "through the looking glass".

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7.4 IMDB
16

An Open Secret

Evan Henzi, Michael Egan III, Mark Ryan Running
Amy Berg
2015

An investigation into accusations of teenagers being sexually abused within the film industry.

7.4 IMDB
17

We Are Legion: The Story of the Hacktivists

Anon2World, Anonyops, Julian Assange
Brian Knappenberger
2012

WE ARE LEGION: THE STORY OF THE HACTIVISTS takes us inside the world of Anonymous, the radical "hacktivist" collective that has redefined civil disobedience for the digital age. The film explores early hacktivist groups like Cult of the Dead Cow and Electronic Disturbance Theater, then moves to Anonymous' raucous beginnings on the website 4chan. Through interviews with current members, people recently returned from prison or facing trial, writers, academics, activists and major players in various "raids," the documentary traces Anonymous’ evolution from merry pranksters to a full-blown movement with a global reach, the most transformative civil disobedience of our time.

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7.3 IMDB
18

My Kid Could Paint That

Laura Olmstead, Mark Olmstead, Marla Olmstead
Amir Bar-Lev
2007

A look at the work and surprising success of a four-year-old girl whose paintings have been compared to the likes of Picasso and has raked in hundreds of thousands of dollars.

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7.1 IMDB
19

Catfish

Megan Faccio, Melody C. Roscher, Ariel Schulman
Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman
2010

Nev, a 24-year-old New York-based photographer, has no idea what he's in for when Abby, an eight-year-old girl from rural Michigan, contacts him on Facebook, seeking permission to paint one of his photographs. When he receives her remarkable painting, Nev begins a friendship and correspondence with Abby's family. But things really get interesting when he develops a cyber-romance with Abby's attractive older sister, Megan, a musician and model. Prompted by some startling revelations about Megan, Nev and his buddies embark on a road trip in search of the truth.

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7.1 IMDB
20

Deep Web

Keanu Reeves, Ross Ulbricht, Andy Greenberg
Alex Winter
2015

Deep Web gives the inside story of one of the most important and riveting digital crime sagas of the century -- the arrest of Ross William Ulbricht, the 30-year-old entrepreneur convicted of being 'Dread Pirate Roberts,' creator and operator of online black market Silk Road. As the only film with exclusive access to the Ulbricht family, Deep Web explores how the brightest minds and thought leaders behind the Deep Web and Bitcoin are now caught in the crosshairs of the battle for control of a future inextricably linked to technology, with our digital rights hanging in the balance.

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7 IMDB
21

Welcome to Leith

Craig Cobb
Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker
2015

In September 2012, the tiny prairie town of Leith, North Dakota, sees its population of 24 grow by one. As the new resident's behavior becomes more threatening, tensions soar, and the residents desperately look for ways to expel their unwanted neighbor.

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7 IMDB