What to Watch

The 2008 financial crisis wiped out $20 trillion, cost millions of people their homes and jobs, and plunged the world into recession—yet it wasn't an accident.

This Oscar-winning documentary exposes the unholy alliance between Wall Street, government regulators, and elite academia that enabled the crisis. Through confrontational interviews that make executives squirm and economists stammer, the film names names and follows the money—revealing that those who caused the crisis faced no criminal prosecution and many received bonuses while ordinary Americans lost everything.

A crucial reminder that without accountability and reform, history will repeat itself—and understanding how this happened is the first step toward demanding better from those in power.

What does it look like when someone decides to sacrifice everything—career, country, freedom—to expose government secrets?

Laura Poitras's camera captures the answer in real time. In a Hong Kong hotel room in June 2013, she films Edward Snowden over eight tense days as he prepares to leak classified NSA documents revealing mass surveillance of American citizens. Every knock on the door could be authorities. Every decision could mean prison or exile. The restraint is remarkable—no dramatic music, no reenactments, just history unfolding minute by minute.

A masterclass in documentary storytelling that reveals how surveillance has fundamentally reshaped privacy, democracy, and power in the digital age.

What begins as a personal investigation into whether an amateur athlete can beat the doping system takes an extraordinary turn when filmmaker Bryan Fogel connects with the head of Russia's anti-doping laboratory.

As their relationship deepens, his collaborator reveals something far bigger than cycling's doping problem—evidence of a massive state-sponsored doping program that helped Russian athletes cheat at the highest levels of international competition, including the Olympics. The film transforms into a real-time geopolitical thriller as the whistleblower risks everything to expose the truth while the Russian government closes in.

An Oscar-winning exposé that reveals how corruption operates at the intersection of sports, science, and state power.

What happens when a musician becomes a legend in a country he's never visited?

"Searching for Sugar Man" unravels one of music's most baffling mysteries: Sixto Rodriguez recorded two albums in early 1970s Detroit that went nowhere in America but somehow became the soundtrack of revolution in apartheid South Africa. Yet Rodriguez himself vanished without a trace. Decades later, two devoted fans turn detective, following a trail of rumors and whispers across two continents to discover the truth.

This Oscar-winning documentary delivers unexpected revelations about fame, obscurity, and the strange paths that music travels.

This is a heist film where nothing is stolen—and the villain is someone you'll desperately want to succeed.

In 1974, French street performer Philippe Petit became obsessed with an "impossible" dream: to walk a high wire between the newly built Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. This Oscar-winning documentary unfolds with nail-biting suspense as Petit and his team execute their "artistic crime of the century," culminating in 45 minutes of dancing, lying down, and walking across a wire where one misstep meant death.

A joyful celebration of artistic passion and human audacity—and a poignant reminder of the Twin Towers in their youth, before the world knew their tragic fate.

Most Americans know Prohibition happened, but few understand how a constitutional amendment banning alcohol came to pass—or why it failed so spectacularly.

This Ken Burns film reveals the surprising forces behind Prohibition: the women's suffrage movement fighting domestic abuse, Progressive reformers seeking social improvement, and crucially, the income tax, which freed the government from dependence on alcohol revenue. What began as an idealistic crusade to protect families instead created a nation of scofflaws, where speakeasies flourished, organized crime thrived, and defying the law became a badge of honor.

A cautionary tale about unintended consequences that remains relevant today as we continue debating how much government should regulate personal behavior.

At the turn of the 20th century, America's food supply was a dangerous gamble—milk diluted with pond water, coffee laced with sawdust, candy colored with toxic dyes.

Government chemist Dr. Harvey Wiley believed the only way to prove these chemicals were poisoning Americans was through shocking human trials. He recruited twelve volunteers to eat expertly prepared meals laced with suspected toxins, documenting their deteriorating health in meticulous detail. The controversial "Poison Squad" experiments captivated the nation, pitting Wiley against powerful food manufacturers and ultimately leading to the creation of the FDA.

A gripping story of courage that remains relevant as we navigate today's debates over additives, pesticides, and processed foods.

How did a printer's apprentice with barely two years of formal education become the most famous American of the 18th century and help create a new nation?

Ken Burns chronicles Franklin's astonishing journey across science, writing, politics, and diplomacy. He unlocked electricity's mystery with his lightning rod experiments, founded America's first public library, wrote Poor Richard's Almanack, helped craft the Declaration of Independence, secured French support for the Revolution, and shaped the Constitution. Yet his contradictions were stark—owning enslaved people, abandoning his wife, estranging his Loyalist son William.

A portrait of America's greatest polymath whose ideas about self-improvement and civic responsibility continue shaping society.

What if America's most breathtaking landscapes—the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone, Yosemite—had been sold to private developers and lost forever?

Ken Burns's stunning series chronicles how visionaries like naturalist John Muir, President Theodore Roosevelt, and advocate Stephen Mather fought fierce battles against mining, logging, and railroad interests to preserve these landscapes for everyone. Filmed over six years at spectacular locations, the series reveals through archival photographs and breathtaking cinematography how each park represents a hard-won victory that almost didn't happen.

Today these parks are among America's most beloved institutions, offering millions a connection to natural wonder that visionaries risked everything to protect.

When 12 boys and their coach became trapped deep in a flooded Thai cave, the world watched as an impossible rescue mission unfolded over 18 desperate days.

The cave's flooded passages were so treacherous that even elite Thai Navy SEALs couldn't navigate them, forcing rescuers to call in British cave divers whose obscure hobby suddenly became the world's only hope. Through never-before-seen footage and interviews with the divers, the film reveals the stunning technical challenges, impossible decisions, and heartbreaking setbacks that threatened to turn rescue into tragedy.

A breathtaking story of international collaboration and human determination that feels almost too extraordinary to be true—yet every moment is real.

For 13 summers, Timothy Treadwell lived alone among grizzly bears in Alaska, filming himself closer to these magnificent, feared predators than anyone had ever dared.

Werner Herzog crafts an unforgettable documentary from Treadwell's own footage—100 hours of intimate bear encounters, passionate monologues, and a man's descent into dangerous delusion. Through Herzog's philosophical narration, we witness Treadwell's deep devotion to protecting the bears he named and loved, even as experts warned his behavior violated every safety rule and put both himself and the animals at risk.

A meditation on obsession and dedication that explores the tragic cost of refusing to accept nature's boundaries—essential viewing about when passion crosses into fatal delusion.

Told almost entirely through police bodycam footage with no narrator, this Sundance Award-winning documentary unfolds like a real-time thriller.

In June 2023, a neighborhood dispute over children playing escalated into tragedy when Susan Lorincz shot and killed her neighbor Ajike Owens, a mother of four, through her front door. The film uses raw footage from multiple police responses over months to reveal how a seemingly minor conflict spiraled into hostility and ultimately violence. We watch officers respond to repeated complaints, witness neighbors' growing concern, and see the horrifying aftermath.

The innovative format lets the story unfold without commentary, allowing viewers to witness the legal and human complexities of Florida's stand-your-ground laws firsthand.

Few in American history inspire such polarized reactions as Henry Kissinger—awarded the Nobel Peace Prize yet condemned as an architect of mass death.

This PBS documentary traces Kissinger's journey from fleeing Nazi Germany as a Jewish refugee to becoming the most powerful non-elected figure in U.S. foreign policy history. The film examines his monumental achievements—opening China, negotiating détente with the Soviet Union, ending the Vietnam War—alongside his devastating legacy: the secret bombing of Cambodia, supporting the coup in Chile, and overlooking widespread human rights abuses in pursuit of Cold War strategy.

The documentary presents both reverent admiration and seething contempt, allowing viewers to grapple with Kissinger's contradictions.

You walk past them every day without a second thought, but pigeons are far more remarkable than you've ever imagined.

Through stunning cinematography, the film shows how pigeons thrive in environments built entirely by and for humans. This PBS Nature documentary follows pigeons in New York and London, revealing how they have mastered urban survival with remarkable intelligence and adaptation. We learn they mate for life, sleep with one eye open, have 340-degree visibility, and navigate complex social hierarchies within their flocks while facing constant challenges from predators like hawks deployed to control their populations.

An eye-opening look at wildlife hiding in plain sight that will forever change how you see these remarkably intelligent, resilient neighbors.

This Oscar-winning documentary tells O.J. Simpson's story—from football glory to the trial of the century—while revealing how his life became a window into America's struggles with race, celebrity, and justice.

Through interviews and investigative journalism, the series traces Simpson's rise from USC star to beloved icon, while examining the forces that collided in the trial: the LAPD's brutal history with Black communities, the Rodney King beating, and the domestic abuse of Nicole Brown Simpson. The documentary reveals how Simpson's acquittal wasn't just about guilt or innocence—it was about decades of injustice and celebrity worship.

Essential viewing for understanding modern America and the genesis of our obsession with true crime, court TV, and celebrity scandal.

James Baldwin saw America's racial contradictions with unflinching clarity—and refused to look away.

This documentary brings Baldwin's unfinished manuscript to life, weaving his observations about Medgar Evers, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King Jr. into a broader meditation on race in America. Narrated by Samuel L. Jackson, the film connects Baldwin's piercing analysis from the civil rights era to contemporary struggles, revealing how the same forces of denial and systemic inequality persist today. Through archival footage, film clips, and Baldwin's eloquent prose, it exposes the myths America tells itself while offering uncomfortable truths about the cost of willful blindness.

A masterclass in how one brilliant mind can illuminate what a nation refuses to see.

A masterpiece of documentary craft that revolutionized the genre and sparked a generation's interest in understanding how a nation tore itself apart to become whole.

Ken Burns's landmark 1990 series chronicles the war from its roots in slavery and sectional conflict through four years of battles. Through 16,000 photographs, soldiers' letters, and historian commentary, Burns created the template for modern historical filmmaking—slow pans across still images, the haunting "Ashokan Farewell" theme, weaving individual stories into epic narrative that brought the conflict to 40 million viewers.

Historians continue debating the war's causes and meanings, but Burns's achievement in making this history accessible and emotionally resonant remains unmatched.

One American family produced three of the most transformative figures in the nation's history, fundamentally reshaping the relationship between citizens and government.

Ken Burns's landmark series interweaves the lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt for the first time. They are presented without reverence—showing Theodore's warmongering, Franklin's manipulation, Eleanor's self-righteousness—while revealing how their leadership redefined American democracy through progressive reform, the New Deal, World War II, and the founding of the United Nations.

An intimate portrait of political courage, personal struggle, and the complicated legacy of three figures whose vision of American government and power still shapes debates today.

Fred Rogers was exactly who he appeared to be—a genuine, deeply kind man who spent over 30 years teaching children they were loved, valued, and capable of handling life's difficult truths.

This documentary explores how Rogers revolutionized children's television by treating young viewers with profound respect, tackling topics like war, assassination, divorce, and death with honesty and tenderness. Through archival footage and interviews with family, colleagues, and friends, the film reveals Rogers' philosophy: that emotional intelligence matters more than entertainment, that love is the root of all learning, and that every child deserves to feel special.

Prepare to cry—happy, grateful tears. In an era of cynicism and division, Rogers' legacy feels urgently needed.

In the early 1970s, Camp Jened, a ramshackle summer camp in the Catskills, became an unlikely catalyst for revolution.

This documentary follows teenagers with disabilities who found acceptance, community, and their voices at a place that treated them as whole people. The film reveals how the friendships and confidence forged at camp transformed campers into fierce activists who would challenge a nation's indifference. The story traces their journey from joyful summers to the front lines of the disability rights movement, including protests that led to landmark civil rights protections.

A powerful testament to how belonging and solidarity can spark societal change while opening viewers' eyes to struggles that remain invisible to many.

What happens when a filmmaker and a chef with zero farming experience buy 214 acres of barren, drought-stricken land and promise to transform it into a thriving ecosystem?

Over eight years, John and Molly Chester document their journey from wasteland to wonder at Apricot Lane Farms. Coyotes slaughter chickens. Snails ravage crops. California's worst drought in 1,200 years threatens everything. Through trial and error, they discover biodiversity creates balance. The cinematography captures both intimate moments and sweeping transformations as 10,000 trees, 200 crops, and countless animals turn brown earth green.

A visually stunning meditation on working with nature that inspires while acknowledging the privilege and resources that enabled this agricultural experiment.

In 1989, five Black and Latino teenagers were wrongly convicted of a brutal Central Park rape that horrified the nation—despite no physical evidence linking them to the crime.

Burns chronicles how police coerced confessions from five teenagers—ages 14 to 16—who spent 6 to 13 years in prison for a crime they didn't commit. Interrogated without lawyers, prosecuted despite weak evidence, and convicted by a media-inflamed public, the teenagers' lives were destroyed. When serial rapist Matias Reyes confessed in 2002 and DNA proved he acted alone, many Americans still refused to believe in their innocence.

A devastating examination of how justice fails when racism and mob mentality trump evidence —told from the perspective of the five men who survived it.

Tilikum was taken from the wild at age two and spent over 30 years performing in tanks at SeaWorld—a life of confinement that ended with three human deaths.

This devastating documentary reveals what happens when highly intelligent, emotionally complex animals are forced into captivity for entertainment. Through interviews with former trainers and heartbreaking footage, the film reveals how Tilikum's aggression was a symptom of trauma and decades in concrete tanks. The film raises urgent questions about the ethics of captivity and whether the claimed benefits of research and education justify the suffering.

A documentary that sparked a movement, led SeaWorld to end its breeding program, and forces us to reconsider our relationship with captive animals everywhere.

In August 1969, 400,000 young people descended on a muddy farm in upstate New York for three days that would define a generation and capture the spirit of America in transformation.

This Oscar-winning documentary does more than chronicle legendary performances by Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, The Who, and Santana—it captures the emergence of an improvised city where strangers shared food, shelter, and a collective vision of peace during the height of the Vietnam War. From the overwhelmed organizers to the National Guard helicopters delivering supplies, the film reveals how chaos transformed into something transcendent.

A timeless portrait of what happens when music, idealism, and half a million people converge.

Bernie Madoff ran the largest Ponzi scheme in history—$65 billion stolen from thousands of investors over decades—yet the fraud was stunningly simple and hidden in plain sight.

This series traces Madoff's rise to Wall Street power broker, revealing how he built an empire on a foundation of lies while competitors, whistleblowers, and investigators repeatedly alerted regulators who chose to look away. Through never-before-seen video depositions of Madoff himself, along with devastating accounts from victims and insiders, the series exposes not just one man's greed but an entire financial system willing to ignore obvious red flags.

A sobering reminder about responsible investing as investors continue falling for new schemes in cryptocurrency, meme stocks, NFTs and beyond.