10 Netflix Documentaries You Want to See

Netflix’s original productions have come a long way and yielded the popular streaming site 91 Emmy nomination for their $6 Billion investment into their original programming in 2017.

Netflix has put out a bunch of top charting documentaries on a myriad of topics ranging from drugs, sex, cults, and celebrity life. Here are 10 of my fave documentaries on Netflix right now.

Paris is Burning: This documentary focuses on house and drag culture beginning in the 80’s in Harlem, New York. It takes a deep look into the popular drag houses at the time and juxtaposes the competition scene with the inner looks at the people competing and their personal lives. It’s a story of competition, fierceness, and survival.
Captive: This docu series focuses on the cases of kidnapping in America and overseas where there are survivors of the crimes. So, it adds in a different side to their story, unlike many other crime documentaries focusing on kidnapping and missing people, in which they let the people involved tell of their experience and their escapes. The series spans eight episodes and 5 continents to tell of each individual situation in its entirety. (I could go on about each one, but you should really watch it.)
What Happened Miss Simone?: This documentary meant a lot to me because of my love for the “infamous” Nina Simone. She’s probably one of my favorite artists of all time and inspires many of my decisions in music choice and activism posthumously in a way many living people cannot reach. Netflix’s documentary, based on her biography written by Alan Light, showcases the prolific singer’s humble beginnings, her rise to fame playing music and then singing, and the establishment of her immortal notoriety by her exaltation of a black aesthetic.
FreeWay: Crack in The System: This documentary introduces audiences to the original Rick Ross, the drug kingpin hailing from Oakland, California who introduced crack cocaine to communities across the United States, essentially gas-lighting the crack epidemic of the 80s and 90s. It tells of his rise and fall, both at the hands of the government. If you believe that the government was the main culprit in the “war on drugs,” like I do, then you’ll want to hear it straight from the man who found himself almost a casualty of it.
The Keepers: Another binge-worthy docu-series that keeps audience members entertained from start to finish, this series focuses on a series of crimes committed at a catholic school in Baltimore in 60’s and 70’s. It starts as a couple of nuns delve into the forgotten case of their friend, Sister Catherine Cesnik, who was murdered in 1969.
Stretch and Bobbito: Stretch and Bobbito is a documentary on the two prominent radio hip hop heads named Stretch and Bobbito whose radio show spawned a new age of hip hop in the 90s.
The Seven Five: The Seven Five is about the story of Mike Dowd, a cop in the Seven Five precinct in Brooklyn, New York. Mike Dowd became a corrupt cop and some argue that he eventually was worse than the dealers he was supposed to be arresting. They used interviews from friends also in the precinct at the time who also confess how they became corrupted by his influence. Makes you really wonder why more people don’t want to be Firemen. There’s never a “bad fireman.”
After Porn Ends: After Porn Ends is a documentary that takes an objective look at the porn industry for what it is: A lucrative business. Sex sells– plain and simple. But what happens when those porn stars grow out of their looks or can no longer perform? This inside look takes people into the business outside of just “on camera” work to see how these ex porn stars earn a living today.
25 to Life: A man from Philly keeps this awful secret for his entire life and finally comes clean in this documentary, 25 to Life. In his biographical documentary, William Brawner tells of how he contracted HIV as a child due to hospital malpractice and kept his status a secret his entire life– from girlfriends, sex partners, friends, everyone who knew him besides his mother. He went to Howard University (ironic as a Howard student watching, I could see how this happened lol) and his friends chime in about how they never saw this happening, but allowed their college shenanigans.
Champs: Champs is a boxing documentary on the world’s greatest heavyweight champions: Mike Tyson (of course), Evander Holyfield, and Bernard Hopkins. The documentary lasts about an hour and a half, covering each boxers short background and their beginning in boxing and tells about them losing their titles to later competition, truly showing how even the greats fall one day.