The best documentaries on Netflix right now

The history of Steve “Air” McNair doubles as a sports story and a cautionary true crime tale. As implied by the title of Untold: The Murder of Air McNair, the documentary hinges upon McNair’s murder in 2009. When McNair was still in the NFL, he was one of the most exciting players in the game. But his post-football ambitions ended when he was found dead from multiple gunshots alongside his girlfriend, Sahel Kazemi. While the police believe that Kazemi killed McNair and then committed suicide, some suggest that the investigators may have overlooked clues as to who was really responsible for their deaths. Either way, it’s a tragedy that has overshadowed the rest of McNair’s legacy.

In the realm of classical music, Orin O’Brien is a trailblazer. She was the first woman to join the New York Philharmonic in 1966, under the legendary Leonard Bernstein.

O’Brien took on a secondary role in the philharmonic and never really sought the spotlight, but she paved the way for every woman who came after her. While The Only Girl in the Orchestra is a relatively short documentary, it does give O’Brien her accolades for a career in music that spanned over five decades.

When We Were Kings is 1996’s Oscar-winner for Best Documentary, and it revisits the famous Rumble in the Jungle between former boxing world champion Muhammad Ali and the then-current champion, George Foreman. It was an epic match in the making, and promoter Don King offered big money to both fighters to make it happen. But the only one who put up the funds was the dictator of Zaire.

This film uses archival interviews and footage of Ali, Foreman, and King to set the stage for the bout, as well as footage from the actual match. Ali and Foreman made peace years after this fight, but the former unleashes some particularly harsh words on the latter before their battle for the ages.

Despite its name, How to Rob a Bank is not an instructional documentary that will show you how to be an outlaw. But it will show you how Scott Scurlock became one of the most successful bank robbers of the early ’90s. Scurlock’s nickname with law enforcement was “Hollywood,” because he had a theatrical flair for disguise and his robberies were largely impeccable.

The documentary features rare home video footage of Scurlock and examines what we know about the man who could have escaped the outlaw life without a hitch. But true to the Hollywood movies that inspired him, Scurlock’s temptation for one last score was too great to ignore.

Imagine being in the same room as Lionel Richie, Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Huey Lewis, Cyndi Lauper, Billy Joel, and Ray Charles. In 1985, at the peak of their stardom, these performers and more came together for a chaotic session to record the charity single, We Are the World.

The Greatest Night In Pop features footage from the all-night session, including the times when the whole thing could have fallen apart. Many of the surviving musicians also share their thoughts about the experience nearly four decades later. And there are even some moments of levity that were sorely needed as egos clashed.

During his long career in football (soccer), David Beckham was one of the most famous celebrities in the world. And while looking back over his career in Beckham, even Beckham admits that some of his decisions were very selfish, especially when it came to putting himself before his wife, Victoria Beckham.

Both of the Beckhams are extensively interviewed in Fisher Stevens’ four-part documentary series. Beckham isn’t a full warts-and-all approach to a sports icon, but it is surprisingly earnest when dealing with most of his shortcomings while also celebrating a legacy that few will ever match.

Thanks to the new movie Dumb Money, the GameStop short squeeze of 2021 is back in the zeitgeist. Netflix’s three-part documentary, Eat the Rich: The GameStop Saga, isn’t necessarily the definitive word on what went down. But it will give viewers more insight into how a group of amateur investors briefly drove GameStop stock far beyond its actual value, which led to hedge funds and professional stock traders losing millions because they had bet their own money that the stock would fall.

Unfortunately, GameStop’s inflated value was a bubble. And like all bubbles, this one burst. By the end of this story, there were very few winners.

If you’ve ever tried to escape hearing Last Christmas during the holiday season, you probably know that it’s almost impossible to avoid being “Whamed.” The duo behind Wham! — George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley — met as youngsters and their story is finally told in Netflix’s documentary, Wham!.

Through the use of previously recorded interviews, both Michael and Ridgeley share their accounts of how they met and how they became pop sensations in the 1980s. It’s an intimate look at the friendship and the bond between the duo, and a reminder of why Wham! made such a huge impact.

Netflix and A24 teamed up for The Deepest Breath, which chronicles the story of freediver Alessia Zecchini and safety diver Stephen Keenan. Zecchini wanted to break a world record, and she hired Keenan to help prepare her for that pivotal moment. Along the way, it’s clear that Zecchini and Keenan fell deeply in love with each other.

Unfortunately, the story of Zecchini and Keenan does not have a happy ending, and the documentary doesn’t hide the fact that their paths converge in tragedy. But it also celebrates their lives and everything that they stood for while paying tribute to their indomitable spirits.

Much like Anna Nicole Smith, Amanda Knox’s story exposes the dark side of fame. Knox never set out to be notable or famous, but she became infamous when she was accused and convicted of murdering her college roommate, Meredith Kercher, by the Italian courts until she was ultimately acquitted after spending four years in prison.

In the documentary that shares her name, Knox talks about her side of the story and how she lives with the stigma of being accused of a murder that took place nearly two decades ago. Whether you believe Knox or not, this will always be what she is remembered for. But within this film, Knox attempts to take control of her own narrative and she speaks out about being wrongly convicted of a heinous crime.

For a flavor of corporate-level corruption, the recent Netflix-original docuseries Madoff: The Monster of Wall Street tells the story of the titular financier, business tycoon and the infamously large-scale Ponzi scheme he executed.

A 4-episode series, The Monster of Wall Street uses never-before-seen footage and spotlights the many co-conspirators that Bernie Madoff used to orchestrate this colossal lie. It’s been reported that the scheme itself was worth around $64.8 billion, with the depositions, interviews, and revelations showcased making for a fascinating watch of a real-life financial thriller.

Presenter David Attenborough is celebrated worldwide as one of the biggest voices in documentaries on natural history. That makes a documentary film on the man behind the scenes a natural next step, and that’s what David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet succeeds and excels in doing.

This documentary functions in part as Attenborough’s recollection of his eventful career in this industry, as well as his eloquent and serious takes on the perils facing the natural world around us. It’s a damning indictment of how humanity has devastated the planet, but a necessary and compelling film that’s unlike any other documentary Attenborough has worked on.