Documentaries bring us all together. When it comes to documentaries, the essence of actual life that one can derive from ensembles of video, images, talking heads, pre-recorded audio, and ordinary mundane duties is what most viewers gravitate toward. Even when you're seeing something obviously slanted, there's an irrefutable sense of genuineness. Netflix, without a doubt, has some of the most interesting, honest, disturbing, and even just strange documentaries available. It's also home to a slew of Academy Award-nominated and winning documentaries from around the world, including one from India and the Best Documentary Feature 2020 winner, American Factory. Here are some of the documentaries that will keep you on the edge till the post-credits.
1. PERIOD. END OF SENTENCE
Period. End of Sentence. is a documentary short directed by Rayka Zehtabchi and produced by Melissa Berton that follows a group of young women in Kathikera village in Uttar Pradesh who make sanitary napkins using low-cost machinery invented by Arunachalam Muruganantham also called the Padman of India. In 2019, the short received the Oscar for Best Documentary Short Subject.
2. 13th
13th is an Oscar-nominated documentary that has also won Best Documentary awards at the Emmys, BAFTAs, and NAACP Image Awards. It alludes to the 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which states, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States, except as a punishment for a crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." This amendment contains a significant flaw, and the programme walks viewers through extensive examples of the consequences: The criminalization of African Americans in the United States, as well as the prison boom and economics in the United States, have been widely discussed.
3. Icarus
Icarus, directed by Bryan Fogel and winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature at the 90th Academy Awards, follows the story of an amateur bike racer and his link with a rogue Russian scientist, Dr. Grigory Rodchenkov. The former's voyage into how doping works in the highly regulated world of sporting competitions, as well as the world's largest doping scandal, and more.
4. White Helmets
The tale of a group of Syrian civilian volunteers known as the White Helmets is told in this Oscar-winning 2016 British short documentary film. Hundreds of bombings occur every day, and these men are among the first to arrive on the scene, attempting to save as many people as possible buried beneath the wreckage.
5. Wild Wild Country
Emmy-winning documentary, Wild Wild Country is a Netflix documentary series about the controversial Indian guru Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh (Osho), his one-time personal helper Ma Anand Sheela, and the Rajneeshpuram community in Wasco County, Oregon, and their community of followers. After screening at the Sundance Film Festival, it was published on Netflix on March 16, 2018. The series' title is derived from the Bill Callahan song "Drover," which appears significantly in the final episode, and it also mirrors Jane Stork's ('Ma Shanti B') description of the ranch in episode: "it was just so wild, so rugged but vast - really wild country."
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