What Documentary Shows and Movies to watch on Plex
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Beauty Beneath the Dirt
Beauty Beneath the Dirt follows the story of three young urbanites -- a lawyer, an Ivy grad, and a city chick -- as they attempt to balance family, friendship, and personal happiness while hiking from Georgia to Maine.

- 2012
Bhopali
In 1984, the world's worst industrial disaster devastated and contaminated Bhopal, India. Today the suffering continues, prompting victims to fight for justice and corporate responsibility, which has long been ignored.

- 2011
Taylor Swift: American Beauty
A biography on the rise and fame of Country Superstar Taylor Swift.

- 2012
Bob and the Monster
Six years in the making, this documentary film follows outspoken indie-rock hero Bob Forrest, through his life-threatening struggle with addiction, to his transformation into one of the most influential and controversial drug counselors in the US today. BOB AND THE MONSTER crafts contemporary footage, animation and compelling interviews with archival performances and personal videos from Bob's past to reveal the complex layers of this troubled, but hopeful soul. Testimony from his peers, including Courtney Love, Anthony Kiedis and Flea add texture, but it's the depth of Bob's music, interwoven throughout the film, that illuminates this unforgettable and inspirational story.

- 2011
Call Us Ishmael
Filmmaker David Schaerf takes us on a journey into the world of "Moby-Dick". On the way he meets artists, musicians and fans who introduce him to the "Great American Novel."

- 2019
The Manson Family
If you think you know the story of the Manson Family, you are dead wrong. On a ranch outside of Los Angeles, the dream of the "Love Generation" is transforming into something evil. What was once an oasis of free love and acid trips has become ground zero for a madman's paranoid visions. An average group of kids, the "Family," become engulfed in a delusional world where torment and slaughter are considered the path to righteousness.Director Jim VanBebber (Deadbeat at Dawn) delivers a dizzying, rapid-fire vision of the sex and violence that unifies the misguided group, a group hell-bent on executing the brutal vision of its leader, Charles Manson. You've seen the story through the eyes of the law. Now witness it through the eyes of THE MANSOSN FAMILY.

- Metascore56
- 1997
Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
Documentary photographer Zana Briski journeyed into Calcutta's underworld to photograph the city's prostitutes. In return, she offered to teach the prostitutes' children the basics of photography so that the kids could document their own lives on the streets of one of the world's poorest cities. The resulting photographs, often astonishing, were exhibited around the world; many of them are seen in this film, which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2005.

- Metascore78
- 2004
180° South
Conquerors of the Useless follows Jeff Johnson as he retraces the epic 1968 journey of his heroes Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia. Along the way he gets shipwrecked off Easter Island, surfs the longest wave of his life - and prepares himself for a rare ascent of Cerro Corcovado. Jeff's life turns when he meets up in a rainy hut with Chouinard and Tompkins who, once driven purely by a love of climbing and surfing, now value above all the experience of raw nature - and have come to Patagonia to spend their fortunes to protect it.

- 2010
Detective Dee: Mystery of the Phantom Flame
In 689 A.D., the Empress Wu Zetian is building a 66 m high statue of Buddha for her inauguration as the first empress of China under the objections and conspiracy of the other clans. When the engineer responsible for the construction mysteriously dies by spontaneous combustion, the superstitious workers are afraid since the man removed the good luck charms from the main pillar. There is an investigation of Pei Donglai and another investigator that also dies after withdrawing the amulets. Empress Wu assigns her loyal assistant Shangguan Jing'er to release the exiled Detective Dee from his imprisonment to investigate with Donglai and Jing'er the mystery of the deaths. They ride in a mystic and epic adventure to unravel the mystery.

- Metascore75
- 2010
Double Dare
DOUBLE DARE is a double-barreled, action-packed documentary about the struggles of two stuntwomen in male-dominated Tinseltown to stay working, stay thin, and stay sane.

- Metascore70
- 2004
How to Boil a Frog
How to Boil a Frog is an eco-comedy that gives an overview of the Big Mess We're In - environment, energy, economic - and lays out a set of personal solutions that will make your life better and save civilization as a by-product. HTBAF chronicles Jon Cooksey's personal, three-year adventure as a filmmaker, activist and, above all, a father driven to make sure his daughter would have a future beyond living on a raft with the last polar bear. HTBAF mixes humor, facts and a sprinkling of experts (in tiny doses) to show how climate change is just one symptom of an even messier problem: overshoot. "Overshoot means too many people using up too little planet," says Cooksey, "so in the end, we either need fewer people, more planets, or we're going to have use less stuff. Or all three. I dib Mars." With its Everyman approach in the style of "Supersize Me", interviews with scientists, journalists and energy experts across North America, HTBAF takes the kind of information that makes most people want to jump off a bridge and makes it into entertainment that just might save your life, and everybody else's too.
- 2010
Africa's Outsiders
This is the story of three African animals that nature has repainted with extraordinary new colours. They are the Outsiders: a White Lion, a Yellow Crocodile and a White Baboon. To be born an 'outsider' is a rare and dramatic event. Animals with startlingly different colours face completely new challenges. They are not well-camouflaged for the habitat they were born into, so they must work harder to survive. This film tells their story in the innovative form of an African fable. Along the way we'll meet a host of other fascinating characters like a pink hippo, a black leopard and even a striped cheetah!

- 2006
Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods
Philosopher, pop-icon, shaman and story teller - as one of the most influential comic book writers in the market today, Grant Morrison is all of these things. His explosive and often controversial 30 year career has made him a household name for comic fans, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Morrison's career is now taking a new turn, as he explores media beyond comic books. With film and television projects on the horizon, more and more people are asking "Who is Grant Morrison?" Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods is a feature length documentary that takes an in depth look at the life, career and mind of the man behind such pivotal titles as Batman RIP, The Invisibles, All Star Superman, The New X-Men, and many more. Featuring candid interviews with Morrison and his most important collaborators, Talking with Gods reveals an intelligent and thought provoking side of comic books that is often overlooked in Hollywood adaptations. Morrison's bold reinventions of traditional super-heroes, his groundbreaking original work, and his ability to push the metaphysical boundaries of comics have made him one of the most critically-acclaimed and best-selling writers in the industry. For the first time ever, Morrison recounts his own life story: his early days, growing up in Scotland; the start of his comics career; the crazy years of the '90s, as his life and his comics became enmeshed; and his more recent attempts to turn personal troubles and social darkness into compelling comics.

- 2010
Samurai Resurrection
37,000 Peasants perished in the Shimbara Revolt: among them, the leader of that uprising, Shiro Amakusa. Amakusa is resurrected from hell bent on revenging the death of his fellow comrades by over throwing the Shoganate. Shiro resurrects an army of living dead swordsmen by "Makai Tensho" (Demonic transmigration). Only the Legendary Samurai Jubei Yagyu, stands in his way!

- 2003
The 47 Ronin
In 1701, Lord Takuminokami Asano has a feud with Lord Kira and he tries to kill Kira in the corridors of the Shogun's palace. The Shogun sentences Lord Asano to commit suppuku and deprives the palace and lands from his clan, but does not punish Lord Kira. Lord Asano's vassals leave the land and his samurais become ronin and want to seek revenge against the dishonor of their Lord. But their leader Kuranosuke Oishi asks the Shogun to restore the Asano clan with his brother Daigaku Asano. One year later, the Shogun refuses his request and Oishi and forty-six ronin revenge their Lord.

- 1941
The Rise and Fall of Legs Diamond
Jack Diamond and his sickly brother arrive in prohibition New York as jewellery thieves. After a spell in jail, the coldly ambitious Diamond hits on the idea of stealing from thieves himself, and sets about getting close to gangster boss Arnold Rothstein to move in on his booze, girls, gambling, and drugs operations.

- 1960
ReWilding Kernwood
For three decades, Jean Aspen and Tom Irons called Alaska's remote Brooks Range home. Choosing to live lightly with the land, their family built a log cabin and explored the valley on foot-a journey they shared in books and documentaries. Now elders, the couple decide to close the circle and erase their footprints. In their third documentary, they dismantle their home and carefully restore the site to intact wilderness while exploring stewardship, responsibility, and human belonging to our living Earth. ReWilding Kernwood is a layered conversation on release, completion, and finding purpose in the shifting mystery of life.

- 2020
Alone Across the Arctic
Explorer Adam Shoalts embarks on an estimated 4000 km journey across the Canadian Arctic by canoe and on foot, alone.

- 2019
The Robertsons: Family, Faith & Ducks
Duck Dynasty is a hugely popular American reality television series on the A&E network that has taken America by storm. The Robertson family are a loveable bunch, and their daily lives centre around their strong core beliefs of faith, family and ducks. Their duck commander business manufactures and sells duck call products worldwide. From the swamps of Louisiana to the red carpets of Hollywood, the Robertson family is as polarizing as the come. Their philosophy on life is simple, and is the main draw for many of their fans that see the show as good old wholesome entertainment. Since airing, Duck Dynasty has broken several ratings records, claiming the throne from popular shows such as Survivor, The Housewife Series, and The Kardashians. Join us as we take you through the journey of the Robertson family. From their humble beginnings, to their record breaking reality show. We invite you too....Meet The Robertsons.

- 2014
A Dog Called Money
PJ Harvey - A Dog Called Money is a uniquely intimate journey through the inspiration, writing and recording of a PJ Harvey record. Harvey and photographer/director Seamus Murphy travelled through Afghanistan, Kosovo and Washington DC before landing back in London to record in an unprecedented and experimental way - with the public watching.

- Metascore41
- 2019
Karate for Life
This movie is based on the true life story of a Korean fighter named Choi Bae-dal (who later changed his name to Masutatsu Oyama), the founder of Kyokushin Karate in Japan.

- 1977
God Grew Tired of Us
In 1987, Sudan's Muslim government pronounced death to all males in the Christian south: 27,000 boys fled to Ethiopia on foot. In 1991, they were forced to flee to Kenya; 12,000 survived to live in a U.N. camp in Kakuma. Archival footage documents the 1,000 mile flight; we see life in the camp. We follow three young men who repatriate to the U.S. John Bul Dau goes to Syracuse, and by the film's end, becomes a spokesperson for the Lost Boys and Lost Girls of Sudan; Daniel Abol Pach and Panther Bior go to Pittsburgh. All work several jobs, send money back to the camp, search for relatives lost in the civil war, acclimatize to the U.S., seek an education, and miss their homeland.

- Metascore72
- 2006

- Metascore69
- 2007
Religulous
Bill Maher interviews some of religion's oddest adherents. Muslims, Jews and Christians of many kinds pass before his jaundiced eye. Maher goes to a Creationist Museum in Kentucky, which shows that dinosaurs and people lived at the same time 5000 years ago. He talks to truckers at a Truckers' Chapel. (Sign outside: "Jesus love you.") He goes to a theme park called Holy Land in Florida. He speaks to a rabbi in league with Holocaust deniers. He talks to a Muslim musician who preaches hatred of Jews. Maher finds the unlikeliest of believers and, in a certain Vatican priest, he even finds an unlikely skeptic.

- Metascore56
- 2008