Amazon Prime Video has one of the biggest catalogs of any streaming service, but also a navigation system that can make it very hard to find something you want to watch. This means that the service has hundreds of great documentaries that you may not have realised were available to stream.
To find some of the finest, we have scoured Rotten Tomatoes to find the 25 best-reviewed true stories on Amazon Prime Video. Here are the docs that critics loved the most, featuring everything from true crime to tour docs, shocking stories and uplifting tales.
25 best documentaries on Amazon Prime, according to critics
NOTE: For this list, we only looked at films with over 30 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes to find films that critics have given a true positive consensus. Films with the same RT score are ordered by the number of total reviews
25. She's Beautiful When She's Angry, 2014 (RT score 93%)
The story of the forgotten foundations of the U.S. women's movement, featuring interviews with all the key players.
24. Indie Game: The Movie, 2012 (RT score 94%)
A Sundance favorite that followed the development of iconic independent games Super Meat Boy, Fez and Braid.
23. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father, 2008 (RT score 94%)
A cinematic scrapbook to the son of a father who was murdered, written, produced, directed, shot, edited and with music composed by one person.
22. Best Worst Movie, 2009 (RT score 94%)
The story of the notoriously bad film Troll 2, directed by a child star who appeared in the film.
21. Janis: Little Girl Blue, 2015 (RT score 94%)
The story of the rise and sad fall of one of the voices of the '60s, Janis Joplin.
20. 20,000 Days on Earth, 2014 (RT score 95%)
A semi-fictional account of a day in the life of legendary Australian gloom-monger Nick Cave.
19. Gimme Danger, 2016 (RT score 95%)
A music doc about the career of punk legends Iggy Pop and The Stooges, told by Only Lovers Left Alive and Paterson director Jim Jarmusch.
18. The Imposter, 2012 (RT score 95%)
A visually inventive take on the stranger than fiction story of a 20-year old French man who pretended to be an abducted 13-year-old American.
17. The Queen of Versailles, 2012 (RT score 95%)
Director Lauren Greenfield's look at the construction of America's biggest house and the impact of the financial crash on the super-wealthy.
16. The Act of Killing, 2012 (RT score 95%)
A uniquely harrowing blend of a musical and documentary that saw perpetrators on the Indonesian genocide recreating their own crimes in golden age Hollywood-inspired vignettes.
15. Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present, 2012 (RT score 96%)
A look behind the MoMA exhibition that invited people to sit opposite the Serbian performance artist.
14. Particle Fever, 2013 (RT score 96%)
A trip behind the scenes of the first experiments using the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.
13. The Look of Silence, 2014 (RT score 96%)
A companion piece to The Act of Killing that sees a man confronting the killers under the pretense of giving them an eye exam.
12. Making Waves : The Art of Cinematic Sound, 2019 (RT score 97%)
A visual guide to the people behind the sound design of some of the world's most famous films.
11. Hale County This Morning, This Evening, 2018 (RT score 97%)
An experimental portrait of an Alabama community that turns the everyday moment into art.
10. Finders Keepers, 2015 (RT score 98%)
The bizarre true story about the legal wrangling over a mummified leg between the person whose leg it was and a woman who found it at an auction.
9. The Last Waltz, 1978 (RT score 98%)
Martin Scorsese's recording of the legendary final concert of The Band plus special guests including Joni Mitchell, Eric Clapton and Neil Young.
8. One Child Nation, 2019 (RT score 98%)
A doc that tries to find 'the truth behind the propaganda' of China's former one-child policy.
7. City of Ghosts, 2017 (RT score 98%)
An eye-opening look at activist group Raqqa Is Being Slaughtered Silently after ISIS takes over their homeland.
6. Time, 2020 (RT score 98%)
A meditative movie about one's woman's quest to find justice for her incarcerated husband.
Read more
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5. I Am Not Your Negro, 2016 (RT score 99%)
The Oscar-nominated film telling the history of American racism through the eyes of author James Baldwin.
4. Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno, 2009 (RT score 100%)
A reconstruction of the Diabolique director's unfinished 1964 film, made after the director has trapped in a lift with the director's wife for two hours.
3. Stop Making Sense, 1984 (RT score 100%)
David Byrne and his big suit take to the stage with the rest of the Talking Heads in the ultimate concert film.
2. The Square, 2013 (RT score 100%)
The Emmy-winning story of the 2011 Egyptian revolution and how it played out over the subsequent two years.
1. Taxi to the Dark Side, 2007 (RT score 100%)
The shocking Oscar winning film from Alex Gibney about an Afghan taxi driver killed by American soldiers.
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