What Documentary Movies to watch on Tubi
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Life with Murder
Chatham, Ontario, 1998. Eighteen-year-old Jennifer Jenkins is brutally shot to death by multiple rifle rounds in her family home. The main suspect: her brother, Mason Jenkins, who fled the scene of the crime. After fabricating a story about what occurred, Jenkins was incarcerated. His parents, facing the loss of both their children, chose to support his claims of innocence, repressing the dark secret of their son's true intentions. Concurrently shocking and heartbreaking, John Kastner's finely crafted mystery slowly reveals the many layers of a family dynamic that becomes its own enigma, drawing from a decade's worth of coverage, including police interrogation videos, home movies, and incredible interviews with Jenkins, his family, and the case's investigators. With a skillful eye that eschews sensationalism, Kastner delves beyond the details of the murder to capture the pain of paternal devotion as Jenkins' parents struggle to hold onto the last shreds of their family. Led by the belief that one's children are not disposable, the burden of the Jenkins' forgiveness proves as fearsome as the murder that begot it.

- 2010
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
In Canada's history, there are few people who signified the nation's modern confidence in its arts more than Gordon Lightfoot. This singer-songwriter's singular talent in music changed the world's opinion of Canada's culture with his tremendous variety of songs that both celebrated the nation and touched its soul. Sparing nothing about Lightfoot's personal weaknesses and failures as well as his triumphs, this film covers Lightfoot's career from his own words and his closest associates with recordings of his greatest hits.

- Metascore74
- 2019
The Cove
Richard O'Barry was the man who captured and trained the dolphins for the television show Flipper (1964). O'Barry's view of cetaceans in captivity changed from that experience when as the last straw he saw that one of the dolphins playing Flipper - her name being Kathy - basically committed suicide in his arms because of the stress of being in captivity. Since that time, he has become one of the leading advocates against cetaceans in captivity and for the preservation of cetaceans in the wild. O'Barry and filmmaker 'Louie Psihoyos (I)' go about trying to expose one of what they see as the most cruel acts against wild dolphins in the world in Taiji, Japan, where dolphins are routinely corralled, either to be sold alive to aquariums and marine parks, or slaughtered for meat. The primary secluded cove where this activity is taking place is heavily guarded. O'Barry and Psihoyos are well known as enemies by the authorities in Taiji, the authorities who will use whatever tactic to expel the two from Japan forever. O'Barry, Psihoyos and their team covertly try to film as a document of conclusive evidence this cruel behavior. They employ among others Hollywood cameramen and deep sea free divers. They also highlight what is considered the dangerous consumption of dolphin meat (due to its high concentration of mercury) which is often sold not as dolphin meat, and the Japanese government's methodical buying off of poorer third world nations for their support of Japan's whaling industry, that support most specifically at the International Whaling Commission.

- Metascore84
- 2009
A Woman in Berlin
A nameless woman keeps a diary as the Russians invade Berlin in the spring of 1945. She is in her early 30s, a patriotic journalist with international credentials; her husband, Gerd, a writer, is an officer at the Russian front. She speaks Russian and, for a day or two after the invasion, keeps herself safe, but then the rapes begin. She resolves to control her fate and invites the attentions of a Russian major, Andreij Rybkin. He becomes her protector of sorts subject to pressures from his own fellow soldiers and officers. Dramas play out in the block of flats where she lives. Is she an amoral traitor? She asks, "How do we go on living?" And what of Gerd and her diary?

- Metascore74
- 2008
55 Days at Peking
Diplomats, soldiers, and other representatives of a dozen nations fend off the siege of the International Compound in Peking during the 1899 to 1901 Boxer Rebellion. The disparate interests unite for survival, despite competing factions, overwhelming odds, delayed relief, and tacit support of the Boxers by Dowager Empress Tzu-Hsi (Dame Flora Robson) and her Generals.

- 1963
Beavers
A story about several beaver families in their wild surroundings. The interesting process of building a dam can be watched as well as the dangers arising from hungry bears and other influences on the new-built home.

- 1988
Before Stonewall
New York City's Stonewall Inn is regarded by many as the site of gay and lesbian liberation since it was at this bar that drag queens fought back against police June 27-28, 1969. This documentary uses extensive archival film, movie clips and personal recollections to construct an audiovisual history of the gay community before the Stonewall riots.

- 1984
Citizen Jane
Jane Alexander, an attractive, athletic San Francisco woman, is enjoying a comfortable life in Pacific Heights with the man she loves, handsome, charismatic Tom O'Donnell. Jane's idyllic life is shattered when her beloved Aunt Gertrude McCabe is brutally murdered in San Jose. Jane's heartbreak turns to horror when a brilliant police detective, Jack Morris, finally convinces her that the killer is none other than her beloved boyfriend, Tom O'Donnell. Jane embarks on an epic journey to track down and convict the wily and resourceful O'Donnell, astonishing both police and prosecutors for her shrewdness and tenacity.

- 2009
Mao's Last Dancer
A drama based on the autobiography by Li Cunxin. At the age of 11, Li was plucked from a poor Chinese village by Madame Mao's cultural delegates and taken to Beijing to study ballet. In 1979, during a cultural exchange to Texas, he fell in love with an American woman. Two years later, he managed to defect and went on to perform as a principal dancer for the Houston Ballet and as a principal artist with the Australian Ballet.

- Metascore55
- 2009
Sebastiane
Derek Jarman's feature film debut is a historical drama which lays bare the latent homoeroticism that has always lurked beneath the glossy surface of Hollywood biblical epics, audaciously spoken in Latin and supported by one of Brian Eno's best music scores.

- 1976
Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's
It's the most mythic of all American emporiums - and the scene of many an ultimate fashion fantasy. Now audiences get a rarified chance to peek behind the backroom doors and into the reality of the fascinating inner workings and fabulous untold stories from Bergdorf Goodman's iconic history in Scatter My Ashes at Bergdorf's.

- Metascore55
- 2013
The Story of Jacob and Joseph
This movie recounts the tales of the Biblical figures, Jacob and Joseph. The first part tells the story of Jacob fleeing his tribe when he cheats his brother out of his birthright, gets cheated himself in his exile years while learning of the need to make amends. The second part is of the story of Jacob's favorite son, Joseph. Betrayed and sold into slavery by his brothers, he meets and overcomes all adversity to become the Prime Minister of Egypt, second only to the Pharoah.

- 1974
Thomas Kinkade's Christmas Cottage
Necessity is the mother of invention. In the weeks leading up to Christmas 1977, Maryanne Kinkade has fallen behind in her mortgage payments and is about to lose her small house in Placerville, a town in California's gold country in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Her son Thom, who attends art school and is in his 20s, determines to make the transition from amateur to professional painter to help save the family's home. He seeks advice from an aging mentor.

- 2008
Naked Ambition: An R Rated Look at an X Rated Industry
Noted Celebrity Photographer, Michael Grecco, sets out to capture the essence of the AVN Awards and Convention where the best in American Pornography is displayed, celebrated and honored.

- Metascore50
- 2009
Shadowlands
Renowned author, Christian apologist, and Oxford medieval scholar C.S. Lewis agrees to marry the divorced American poet Joy Davidman Gresham, to allow her and her two sons to stay in England. But what began as an act of charity by the confirmed bachelor becomes a deep and abiding love and they marry again, "before God." Alas, Joy becomes gravely ill...

- 1985
The Gallant Hours
The Gallant Hours depicts the crucial five-week period in October-November 1942 after Admiral Halsey took command of the beleaguered American forces in the South Pacific Area. That period of combat became a turning point in the struggle against the Japanese Empire during the World War II. The story is told in flashback, framed by Halsey's ceremony of going on inactive duty in 1947.

- 1960

- 2011
Fahrenheit 9/11
In the most provocative film of the year, Academy Award(r)-winner Michael Moore (2002, Best Documentary, Bowling for Columbine) presents a searing examination of the role played by money and oil in thewake of the tragic events of 9/11. Moore blends captivating and thought-provoking footage with revealing interviews, while balancing it all with his own brand of humor and satire.

- Metascore67
- 2004
The Concubine
A love triangle between a royal concubine, her commoner-lover, and a prince ignites a series of political, passionate and life-threatening upheavals.

- 2012
The Falcon and the Snowman
The true story of Christopher Boyce, a young All-American man whose job as a guard for sensitive documents shatters his faith in his country and leads him to a sometimes comic, sometimes chilling sideline as a spy for the Soviets, aided by his scruffy buddy, Daulton; it can't last, though, and the consequences are tremendous for Boyce and his family.

- Metascore68
- 1985
Four Blood Moons
It is rare that science, history and scripture align with each other, yet the last three series of Four Blood Moons have done exactly that. Are these the "signs" that God refers to in the Bible? If they are, what do they mean? What is their significance for us today? In his riveting and highly acclaimed book, Pastor John Hagee explores the supernatural connection of certain celestial events to biblical prophecy-and to the future of God's chosen people and to the nations of the world. In the movie "Four Blood Moons," produced by Rick Eldridge and directed by the Academy Award Winner, Kieth Merrill; these veteran filmmakers illustrate this fascinating phenomenon in a very compelling docu-drama. Cinematic recreations of historical events from the United States, Israel and throughout the Middle East; along with expert testimonials from scientists, historians and religious scholars, are used to illustrate this story told in narrative format by a celebrity host. Just as in biblical times, perhaps God is controlling the sun, the moon, and the stars to send our generation a signal that something big is about to happen. The question is: Are we watching and listening for His message?

- 2015
The Physician
When nine-year-old Rob Cole felt the life force slipping from his mother's hand he could not foresee that this terrifying awareness of impending death was a gift that would lead him from the familiar life of 11th-century London to small villages throughout England and finally to the medical school at Isfahan. Though apprenticed to an itinerant barber surgeon, it is the dazzling surgery of a Jewish physician trained by the legendary Persian physician Avicenna (Ibn Sina) that inspires him to accept his gift and to commit his life to healing by studying at Avicenna's school. Despite the ban on Christian students, Rob goes there, disguising himself as a Jew to gain admission. Gordon has written an adventurous and inspiring tale of a quest for medical knowledge pursued in a violent world full of superstition and prejudice.

- 2013
- 2015
The Colt
Defying orders to shoot a helpless newborn colt, a Union soldier raises the horse as a symbol of hope in the war torn lands of Civil War America. Stars Ryan Merriman.

- 2005