What Documentary Shows and Movies to watch on Plex
Find what to watch on Plex including the latest releases. Filter by movies, TV shows, release years, genres and more.
Capturing Grace
It seems like two disparate realms. One occupied by some of the most acclaimed dancers in the world, people who move for a living. The other occupied by people who often struggle to move, people who have Parkinson's disease. This is the story of what happens when those worlds intersect. We followed individuals with Parkinson's as they prepared to stage a first ever dance performance, under the tutelage of two long time dancers at the Mark Morris Dance Group. It's a story about determination, adversity, contending with doubt, the transformative power of art and the strength of the human spirit. This is the story of a remarkable community of dancers who have come together to rediscover the meaning of grace.

- 2014
The Great Hip Hop Hoax
Californian hip-hop duo Silibil n' Brains were going to be massive. No one knew the pair were really Scottish, with fake American accents and made up identities. When their promising Scottish rap act was branded "the rapping Proclaimers" by scornful A&Rs, friends Billy and Gavin reinvented themselves as LA homeboys. The real deal. The lie was their golden ticket to a dream life. With confessions from the scammers, insight from the music execs they duped and doodle reconstructions, the film charts the roller coaster story of the highs of the scam and the lows of madness and the personal toll the deception took. A film about truth, lies and the legacy of faking everything in the desperate pursuit of fame.

- 2013

- Metascore59
- 2013
Cuban America
The evolving character and story of a major urban, metropolitan city by an immigrant community.

- 2011
Dark Star: HR Gigers Welt
Both a mesmerizing introduction to Giger's oeuvre and a must-see for Giger devotees, Belinda Sallin's definitive documentary DARK STAR: H. R. GIGER'S WORLD shares the intimate last years of the artist's life and reveals how deeply he resided within his own artistic visions.

- Metascore62
- 2014
Undaunted: The Forgotten Giants of the Allegheny Observatory
This film tells the surprising story of how the Allegheny Observatory has been a world leader in the study of the stars since the 1860s. Self-educated, and often facing unrelenting hardships, the people associated with the Allegheny Observatory defied the odds to make enormous contributions to the founding of astrophysics and early aviation. Among its many distinctions, the Allegheny Observatory is often regarded as the birthplace of astrophysics, laid the foundation for climate and solar energy research, had made major discoveries in planetary science, and have discovered and studied planets outside our solar system. Samuel Pierpont Langley made the first truly scientific studies of the principles of flight and published a textbook on the subject in 1891. He was also the first person to fly a documented heavier-than-air powered flying machine in 1896. Starting with only a grade school education, John Brashear taught himself physics and astronomy to become one of the world's foremost scientific instrument makers. Among his many accomplishments, he made the highly precise optical apparatus for one of the most famous physics experiments ever performed, the Michelson Morley experiment. This experiment revolutionized all of physics and provided crucial evidence to support Einstein's theory of special relativity. UNDAUNTED is the story of ingenious minds in a little known place, whose remarkable stories of tenacity and determination in the pursuit of furthering science and technology have nearly been forgotten. Features interviews with Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson of the American Museum of Natural History, Dr. Tom Crouch of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Dr. George Gatewood of the University of Pittsburgh, and Dr. William Fickinger of Case Western Reserve University.

- 2012
War Flowers
When the battle crosses family land and a Yankee soldier is left behind badly wounded, Sarah cannot abandon him to die. In the midst of despair, an unlikely bond is forged over time.

- 2012
Picture Me
Supermodel Sara Ziff offers an insider's view of the glitzy world of high fashion modeling. From photo shoots with celebrated photographers to runway shows in New York, Milan, and Paris, this intimate account features in-depth interviews with noted photographers, designers, and the models themselves, giving voice to those who are often seen, but rarely heard.

- Metascore44
- 2009
True Legend
Su Qi-Er retired from his life as a renowned Qing dynasty general in order to pursue his dream of a family and his own martial arts school. However, Su's peaceful life is shattered when his vengeful adopted brother, Yuan Lie, kidnaps his son and leaves Su for dead. Saved from his demise by his wife Ying and the reclusive doctor Yu, Su resolves to perfect his technique so that he may defeat Yuan Lie and reunite his family. Suffering from visions that he aided in his training by two of the "Eight Immortals" in the form of the mystical "God of Wushu" and the eccentric "Old Sage" master of Drunken Boxing. He embarks on the path that would eventually give rise to the legend of the "King of Beggars."

- Metascore62
- 2010
14 Blades
A kung fu thriller set during the Ming Dynasty and centered on a secret service agent (Donnie Yen) in the emperor's court who is betrayed and then hunted by his colleagues.

- Metascore50
- 2010
Maria and I
María lives with her mother May, in the Canary Islands, 3,000 km from Barcelona, where Miguel Gallardo has his home. Sometimes Miguel and María go on holiday together, spending a week at a resort in southern Gran Canaria, a rather unusual setting where the guests don't normally include a single father and his fourteen year-old autistic daughter. This is the story of one of their journeys, but above all it's an original tale, full of humor, irony and sincerity, about how to live with a disability.

- 2010
Lula, the Son of Brazil
In 1945, in Garanhuns, in the countryside of Pernambuco, Luiz Inácio da Silva is born, the seventh child of Aristides and Dona Lindu. Aristides moves to Santos and Lindu raises the children alone until 1952 when the family moves to Santos to meet the patriarch. As time goes on, the poor family struggles to survive with the children studying at elementary school and working as street vendors. Later Lindu leaves the alcoholic and abusive Aristides and moves with her children to São Paulo. Lula graduates as lathe operator and gets a formal job in the industry. He becomes President of the union advocating for worker's rights and a living wage.

- Metascore44
- 2009
Crocs of Katuma
The remote floodplains of Katavi National Park in the far west corner of Tanzania teem with incredible numbers of wildlife. Including a female crocodile & a female hippopotamus who both become mothers.
- 2010
Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl
The whole team's final, and most famous, stage appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in 1980. Includes material from the TV show as well as from their 'Contractual Obligation Album'.

- 1982
Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life
A glimpse at the life of French singer Serge Gainsbourg, from growing up in 1940s Nazi-occupied Paris through his successful song-writing years in the 1960s to his death in 1991 at the age of 62.

- Metascore58
- 2010
Inequality for All
A documentary that follows former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich as he looks to raise awareness of the country's widening economic gap.

- Metascore68
- 2013
Born in Chicago
Born In Chicago is a soulful documentary film that chronicles a uniquely musical passing of the torch. It's the story of first generation blues performers who had made their way to Chicago from the Mississippi Delta and their ardent and unexpected followers - young white, middle class kids who followed the evocative music to smoky clubs deep in Chicago's ghettos. Passed down from musician to musician, the Chicago blues transcended the color lines of the 1960s as young, white Chicago musicians apprenticed themselves to legends such as Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

- 2020
Get Thrashed: The Story of Thrash Metal
The GET THRASHED journey begins in the early 80s, where Metallica and several other bands laid the groundwork for what would become a lasting impression on the face of heavy metal music. These bands helped ignite local scenes in Los Angeles, the Bay area of California and New York City, which helped fuel a worldwide thrash metal movement. By the dawn of the 1990's, thrash bands had gone from playing backyard barbeque parties to headlining arenas and Metallica were on their way to becoming one of the biggest metal acts of all time. But as legions of headbanging, stage diving and moshing metalheads were flocking to see their favorite bands, the tides had begun to change. In the early 1990's, a changing musical landscape sent thrash spiraling back into the underground. Some of the musicians passed away, some returned to their day jobs and some bands broke up. While the music lived on, the scene was forever changed. Get Thrashed traces the rise, fall and impact of thrash metal; from its early years, through its influence on grunge, nu metal and today's heavy metal scene. It is the story of the heaviest, hardest music of the 80s and early 90s as told by the bands who lived it, the fans and bands that grew up on it and by the artists that carry the "thrash metal" flag today. The documentary throws new light on an overlooked, yet incredible music scene and how it went from a simple rumbling in the underground to a loud, obnoxious and constant roar in the (almost) mainstream.

- 2006
First Squad: The Moment of Truth
Set during the opening days of World War II on the Eastern Front. Its main cast are a group of Soviet teenagers with extraordinary abilities; the teenagers have been drafted to form a special unit to fight the invading German army. They are opposed by a Schutzstaffel (SS) officer who is attempting to raise from the dead a supernatural army of crusaders from the 12th-century Order of the Sacred Cross and enlist them in the Nazi cause.

- 2009
American Drug War 2: Cannabis Destiny
After surviving brain surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, a 2-year-old boy lay in a coma not eating for over 40 days. His parents are told to make funeral arrangements. However, his father had read about a version of an ancient drug made from cannabis. Unbeknownst to the hospital staff, the parents start secretly injecting the illegal drug into their dying son's feeding tube and soon a "miracle" takes place. When the doctors are told that cannabis was the cause of the "miracle," they have nothing to say. Every war has unintended victims and it's the children who are losing America's longest running war. From cartel recruiting grounds of Mexico - to a child being removed from his birth mother for smoking marijuana. Is it a conspiracy? Or simple profit motives that continue to keep marijuana inside the black market?

- 2013
Attack in the Pacific
There are over 10,000 islands within the Pacific Ocean located between Asia and America, the vast majority of which possess little geopolitical importance in periods of peace - but during the Second World War a good measure of these outposts suffered through the dismal experience of armed conflict between two widely separated nations: Japan and The United States.

- 1944
Don't Be a Dick About It
Two red-headed kids fight a lot, eat a lot, and grow up a little in a goofy coming of age story that looks at the small things in life that define who we are, or at least define that we're all dicks. Matthew has braces, likes soccer and has an irrational and extreme fear of dogs. Peter is obsessed with the reality TV show Survivor, loves the letter "C" and is terrified of Cheerios, the breakfast cereal. We follow these two brothers as they struggle to overcome their own fears, learn to accept each other's differences but mostly just piss each other off. Through playfully constructed vérité scenes, Don't Be A Dick About It explores expectations and imagination, fears and hopes, being normal and being weird.

- 2018
Patient Seventeen
Meet a surgeon who claims to remove highly advance implants, microchips imbedded by aliens, non-humans monitoring our earth. Discover the world of abductions, scalar wave transmissions, and a program to study or manipulate the human race.

- 2017
Brave New Jersey
A comedy about a small New Jersey town on the night of Orson Welles' legendary 1938 "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast, which led millions of listeners to believe the U.S. was being invaded by Martians.

- Metascore45
- 2016