If you have already delved into every documentary available on other streaming platforms (or simply don’t have or can’t afford any), do not fear, because YouTube offers plenty of moving, tense, and interesting documentaries. YouTube ended 2020 with 30 million premium subscribers who are able to buy or rent a wide range of amazing movies and TV shows. But for those who haven’t subscribed, you can still stream content for free, as YouTube is constantly keeping us updated and frequently adding movies and specials to watch for free (though sometimes with ads).
Updated September 13, 2022: YouTube is always adding new documentaries for free, so we’ve updated this article to reflect some of the best available and to maintain the consistency and excellence we always strive for.
For documentary lovers who enjoy exploring real-life stories, unraveling a compelling true mystery, or even being educated on new and interesting discoveries, these are some of the best documentary movies you can watch for free on YouTube.
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10 Josef Fritzl’s Horrifying Crime
Josef Fritzl’s Horrifying Crime is an emotionally painful but perfectly edited documentary about how a father’s horrific actions tore a family apart. In 2008, the disturbing case of a woman who had been imprisoned in a basement for 24 years came to light. Elizabeth Fritzl was held captive, beaten, raped and assaulted by her own father, Josef, and gave birth to seven of his children while she was imprisoned.
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
MOVIEWEB VIDEO OF THE DAY
The documentary explores a real-life monster, explaining how it affected the family and how he managed to conceal his evil actions, including interviews and legal documentation by journalists and lawyers who followed the Josef Fritzl case. It’s ironic that this free movie on YouTube would be better than any other telling of the Fritzl case.
9 All Is Self
Proposing that the chaos in our society is a representation of the chaos in our own minds, All Is Self examines how our society is built on the idea that we separate ourselves from nature, allowing us to harm the environment and others without feeling like we are destroying ourselves. We may feel detached from the rest of the world at times, but in this documentary we are shown how spiritual traditions around the world have recognized this for centuries and how modern science has begun understanding this. The documentary makes us aware of the idea of oneness and how these spiritual traditions have led to the belief that all beings are our family, that we are one with nature, and that all is self. Who knew that enlightenment would be free on YouTube?
8 A Certain Kind of Death
Directors Blue Hadaegh and Grover Babcock investigate what happens to someone’s body when they die and have no next of kin, in their award-winning documentary A Certain Kind of Death. Following three cases at the Los Angeles County coroner’s office, we are taken on a step-by-step day in the life of those who handle these bodies and are shown the process of determining how they died and who to call to claim the remains.
In a race against the clock, they only have a few months to find the next of kin before they are forced to cremate the bodies. Viewers are given an unsettling yet interesting and educating insight into the struggles and importance of this process. This free movie is an important, strange lesson in empathy.
7 The Atomic Cafe
Featuring a sobering look at nuclear warfare and the false information and propaganda implemented by the United States throughout the Cold War, the 1982 documentary The Atomic Café includes chilling narrator-less clips of newsreels and footage released by the government throughout the ’40s and the ’50s at the dawn of the nuclear age.
The thought-provoking picture premiered during the height of American cynicism and nostalgia when our nation’s citizens had diminished faith in the government following both the Watergate Scandal and the Vietnam War. Through the use of military training footage, old television broadcasts and propaganda films, viewers can get a taste of the hysteria and uncertainty running rampant throughout the country during that tense period in history.
6 This Is The Zodiac Speaking
The unsolved murders of the Zodiac Killer threw California into a spiral of fear in the late 1960s, as he became one of the most fearsome real serial killers. The case became the most frustrating and difficult murder investigation for the law enforcement community at the time, and when letters, allegedly written by the killer, became part of the mystery, it only added to the panic. The Zodiac Killer to this day remains an enigma and one of the biggest unsolved cases in America, resulting in countless theories (and a great David Fincher film).
In the retrospective documentary This Is The Zodiac Speaking, director David Prior delves into the case once more, covering aspects of the investigation, including interviews with the original investigators and surviving victims. Analyzing the case on a factual basis, the documentary leaves it open for the viewer to conjure their own beliefs and theories of whom the Zodiac really is. While the Fincher film is brilliant, this free movie is a comprehensive, tense, and wonderful look at the killer.
5 A Murder in the Family
When a British businessman is murdered in his sleep in the Philippines in 2002, the mother of the victim, Margaret Davis, attempts to prove that her daughter-in-law was the one responsible. When Davis received a phone call telling her that her son was dead, she had no idea that the mastermind who was behind it all was the most unexpected suspect. A Murder in the Family takes true crime documentaries to a new level of suspense and provides insight into the ins and outs of the case, how a mother uncovered the secrets around her son’s death, and takes the audience on a rollercoaster ride as the shocking events unfold.
4 World’s Scariest Drug
This Vice documentary investigates a drug called Scopolamine, also known as The Devil’s Breath. World’s Scariest Drug is extremely enlightening, examining the different effects it can have on one’s body — one of which is supposedly the power to make you incapable of exercising free will. The interviews conducted in this documentary are with freaked-out dealers and people’s personal experiences with the drug, and it allows viewers to see how the story took a far darker turn than they expected, and the first hand the horror stories surrounding the World’s Scariest Drug.
3 Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Kurt Kuenne’s 2008 documentary is completely emotionally devastating, as he was friends with the subject of the film and brings an unflinchingly heartbreaking personal touch. Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father revolves around Andrew Bagby, who was found dead in a park in Pennsylvania. The viewers get to see how the police investigation begins to suspect his ex-girlfriend, who fled to Canada after his death. Dear Zachary is extremely shocking, and as viewers, we are able to make our own perceptions about the case, particularly when some facts come to light about the woman in question.
From interviews with family and unsettling archival footage, Kuenne captured their loving memories of Andrew into a film, designed to introduce the child to his father that he never met, and decided to release it publicly when the case took a more tragic turn. It’s simply unforgettable, and is one of the best movies for free on YouTube.
2 Citizenfour
One of the most important documentaries of the past decade, Citizenfour is available completely for free with ads on YouTube and explores Edward Snowden’s disturbing revelations about government surveillance and the invasive behavior of the NSA. At the same time, through the trouble Laura Poitras had in making the film, Citizenfour also chronicles the disturbing antagonism the government has toward whistleblowers, fact-checkers, and truth-tellers. The film is structured like one of the great conspiracy thrillers, except this one is disturbingly true.
1 13th
One of the rare documentaries that Netflix has put up completely for free on YouTube (with over 13 million views as a result), 13th is an important film that any American (or student of history) should watch. Ava DuVernay’s film dissects the history of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and its relationship to the prison-industrial complex. The film explores how slavery has never truly ended after the Civil War, but has rather been transferred to a massive political, legal, and corporate system which criminalizes Black bodies.
