If you’re looking for a great documentary, here are five that stood out in 2024:
5. Daughters
Streaming on: Netflix
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, despite making up close to 5% of the global population, the U.S. has more than 20% of the world’s prison population. Many of those imprisoned are Black. Many of them have children. Daughters is a sobering look at how families are impacted by incarceration. It follows the lives of four young girls and their imprisoned dads before, during, and after a father-daughter dance program. Angela Patton’s and Natalie Rae’s documentary doesn’t dwell on the crimes. Instead, the film focuses on relationships and how this dance, motivates these fathers to become better men.
4. How to Rob a Bank
Streaming on: Netflix
Documentaries about bank robbers are always fascinating. What sets How to Rob a Bank apart? It’s the hard-to-believe story of a culprit inspired by the movie Point Break. In the 1990s, a man and his accomplices pulled off at least 19 bank robberies in the Seattle area, netting them $2.3 million. The mastermind behind it all wasn’t obvious, which made him so hard to capture. If Scott Scurlock stopped his crime spree earlier, he might have gotten away with it. Directors Stephen Robert Morse and Seth Porges paint a vivid picture with detailed interviews about a thief who wasn’t among the usual suspects.
3. Will & Harper
Streaming on: Netflix
How would you react if a loved one came out as a trans person? Hopefully, you would be supportive, but it’s also normal to have many questions. Will Ferrell embarks on a road trip with his longtime friend, the former Andrew Steele who is now Harper Steele. It serves as a bonding experience but it also meant to see how strangers receive Steele. Some scenes are funny. Some are tough to watch. There’s a moment when Ferrell realizes that his fame and popularity can’t shield his friend from every negative encounter. Will & Harper is an honest look at how trans people navigate a world that isn’t always hospitable.
2. The Lionheart
Streaming on: Max
You don’t need to know anything about auto racing to appreciate one of the best sports documentaries in recent years. Dan Wheldon, a two-time Indianapolis 500, died in a crash while racing in 2011. His legacy lives on through his sons Sebastian and Oliver, both aspiring pro drivers. Through incredibly intimate interviews by director Laura Brownson, we get to know Wheldon and what made him special. The star of The Lionheart is his widow Susie, who is still coping with his death while raising sons who are participating in the sport that killed their father. There has never been a documentary quite like this one.
1. Sugarcane
Streaming on: Disney+
We all think we know the atrocities committed against native North Americans. However, once you uncover the details, it’s even more evil than you can imagine. Sugarcane examines the abuse, murder, and hidden burials of native children at a residential school run by the Catholic Church in Canada. Those who survived are adults now. Listening to them recall what they witnessed and what happened to them is heartbreaking. Directed by Emily Kassie and Julian Brave NoiseCat, Sugarcane ventures into important and uncomfortable territory following the 2021 discovery of a mass grave of Indigenous children in British Columbia. You can’t begin to heal until you understand the depth of the crime. Sugarcane takes us one step closer to finding answers.
