Since it first gained popularity, Netflix has offered its subscribers a high-quality catalog of movies and TV series. Although it started by mostly streaming fictional media, the last few years have seen documentaries become more and more popular. This has prompted Netflix to add more documentaries to its streaming site.
Given that they deal with real-life experiences, documentaries can often tackle serious or gruesome topics. Considering viewers’ current love for true crime, subscribers can find some of the most difficult-to-watch stories among the many documentaries offered by Netflix. These documentaries show viewers certain realities of life and can easily break anyone’s heart.
10 Hot Girls Wanted Paints A Dark Reality About Sex Work
Directed by Jill Bauer and Ronna Gradus, Hot Girls Wanted interviews several women aged 18 to 25 who have worked as amateur sex workers. Adult video actresses such as Rachel Bernard, Tressa Silguero, and Karly Stouffer talk about their experiences with pro-amateur agent Riley Reynolds, discussing their boundaries and other topics.
A sad but necessary look into sex work, Hot Girls Wanted introduces the viewers to the experience of amateur adult movie actresses, focusing on the exploitation suffered by these young women. It may not be a documentary about serial killers, but Hot Girls Wanted depicts a very dark side of today’s culture.
9 David Attenborough: A Life On Our Planet Reminds People Of Their Mortality
In David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet, the famous biologist David Attenborough talks about the state of Earth during his lifetime. Attenborough delves into the planet’s most important changes of the last decades while also discussing his concerns about the planet’s state, especially due to human negligence.
David Attenborough: A Life on Our Planet‘s constant juxtaposition of natural beauty with some of Attenborough’s most drastic predictions truly makes viewers wonder what humans are waiting for to fix the planet. The documentary is a scary and disheartening lesson on this topic that will change the way the audience sees the world.
8 A Secret Love Shows How Unfair The World Has Been With LGBTQ+ People
In 2020, Ryan Murphy produced A Secret Love, a beautiful documentary film about an LGBTQ+ couple and their struggle with society during the 20th century. This documentary, directed by Chris Bolan, depicts Terry Donahue and Pat Henschel’s 70-year love story, which was hidden from their loved ones.
Although A Secret Love aims to showcase a tender LGBTQ+ love story in a hopeful manner, Terry and Pat’s struggle with homophobia is still a key ingredient of this documentary. A Secret Love is a beautiful but emotional reflection of a type of social prejudice that is still around.
7 Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution Follows The Fight For Accessibility Legislation
Directed, written, and co-produced by Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht, Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution follows the lives of former campers of Camp Jened – a summer camp for teens with disabilities. The film explores these camper’s lives as adults as they became activists for the disability rights movement. Barack and Michelle Obama were executive producers.
Most critics agree that Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution is an inspiring and entertaining documentary, but it’s equally heartbreaking. As it focuses on the protagonists’ fight for accessibility legislation, the film often deals with the authority’s frustrating indifference towards inclusion.
6 Dick Johnson Is Dead Makes The Audience Reflect On Death
After Richard “Dick” Johnson was diagnosed with dementia, his daughter Kristen invited him to recreate several scenarios where he could die. For 90 minutes, Dick and Kristen consider many creative death scenarios that range from possible to super violent to absurd.
Although Dick Johnson is Dead is a black comedy, the human emotions behind the story can be a lot to handle when considering them seriously. In the end, this documentary is a way for Kristen and Dick to cope with their impending goodbye. Dick Johnson will have viewers pondering on their own life and death.
5 Born In Gaza Is A Harrowing Window Into Modern War
Born In Gaza by Hernán Zin explores how the political conflict between Israel and Palestine is affecting children in Gaza. The documentary follows a dozen Palestinian children who explain to the audience how their life has been since the war in Gaza in the summer of 2014.
Any documentary dealing with the topic of war is guaranteed to be a tragic and upsetting watch, but Born in Gaza takes it a step further. This film’s documentation of how childhoods are corrupted by political conflicts isn’t for the faint of heart, but it’s definitely compelling.
4 The Trials Of Gabriel Fernandez Depicts A Real, Heartbreaking Crime
The Trials Of Gabriel Fernandez, directed by Brian Knappenberger, is a true-crime docuseries that follows the story of Gabriel Fernandez. Gabriel was an eight-year-old boy who was abused and murdered by his mother and his stepfather in Palmdale, California. The documentary reviews the trials of his murderers and ponders on how much of this crime is CPS’s fault.
The Trials Of Gabriel Fernandez is one of the most disturbing documentaries on Netflix. It deals with very graphic descriptions of child abuse and murder, which is truly heartbreaking to hear about. This sad story is bound to make anyone feel powerless in the face of violence.
3 Procession Deals With Healing After Sexual Abuse
A heart-wrenching story, Procession tells the story of a group of sexual abuse survivors as they try to find peace. The six men, who were abused by Catholic priests, open their hearts to let the audience know about their healing process while the film crew reenacts key moments of their trauma to help them.
Procession explores role-play as a central tool in trauma therapy, creating a vivid depiction of sexual abuse and its effect on victims. As the men face their demons (often inside the same churches where the abuse occurred), the audience can’t help but empathize with their suffering.
2 The Three Deaths Of Marisela Escobedo Talks About Government Corruption
In The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo, Carlos Pérez Osorio focuses on the story of Marisela Escobedo, a nurse whose daughter, Rubí, was murdered in 2008. Marisela, who was shot in the head while protesting in front of the Government Palace, fought for justice until her last days. This film is a hidden gem when it comes to true crime documentaries.
The Three Deaths of Marisela Escobedo depicts the two-year-long battle that Escobedo had to endure to find the people responsible for Rubí’s murder. This documentary explores the way Mexico’s judicial system failed Escobedo and serves as an example of the femicide crisis that Mexico has been going through for the last 30 years.
1 13th Deals With Systematic Racism In Current America
In 13th, Ava DuVernay observes the close relationship between justice and race in the United States. The director reviews the mass incarceration of Black men and women and the unfortunate evolution of slavery in this country, especially citing the country’s racist history.
In a time and age where systematic racism shouldn’t be happening anymore, Ava DuVernay aims to show that systems don’t really change, they just adapt while being as harmful as before. 13th wants its audience to realize that African-American criminalization is still as prevalent, which can be a hard pill to swallow.
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