Whether you are a history freak or you like to watch a good documentary now and then, we made you a list of best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now.
One might say that Amazon’s idea of ’historical documentary’ is a little bit wider than expected, but what is unquestionable is the variety and quality of the documentaries offered on Amazon Prime right now! Since we’re talking about first class documentaries, you might want to check out our list of 11 best serial killer documentaries on Netflix streaming in 2015, as well.
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So, venture outside the boundaries of everyday life and take a peek into the past! While taking a tour through the centuries, discover various pathways of life and figure out the importance that history has in the process of understanding the world around us.
To make an authentic list of historical documentaries worth watching we ranked them according to our well-established system. By combining an IMDb rating with average rate obtained from various review websites, we get the overall score. At the end we put documentaries in the right order, and voilà!
11. Japan: Memoirs of a Secret Empire
Site score 8.6, IMDb score 7.6; Overall score=8.1
Directed by Lyn Goldfarb
Year: 2004
Are you ready for two and a half hours of an attention-grabbing tale about fearless shoguns, honorable samurai, and the Bushido Code? If you are, prepare yourself to be seduced by exotic geisha as you enter the world of Japanese Secret Empire! Extraordinary PBS’s 3 part miniseries take you on the exciting journey through the centuries! You have a chance to witness a rise and 250-year rule of the Tokugawa dynasty and period of Japanese ’Renaissance’.
10. Trouble the Water
Site score 9, IMDb score 7.4; Overall score=8.2
Directed by Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, and others
Year: 2008
Speaking of Hurricane Matthew, that is in the spotlight these days, we present you the eye-opening documentary about Katrina survivors, young rap artist Kim Roberts and her husband Scott, who remained in New Orleans during the storm. Carl Deal and Tia Lessin are trying to understand the aftermath of the storm, as well as to point out mistakes and omissions that the government made in response to this catastrophic circumstance.
10. Man on Wire
Site score 8.6, IMDb score 7.8; Overall score=8.2
Directed by James Marsh
Year: 2008
Are you brave and crazy enough to walk in the clouds? One man is! It’s Philippe Petit, the daring French artist who walked between the rooftops of the Twin Towers of New York’s World Trade Center. He took a stroll on stretched steel cable during one summer morning in 1974. James Marsh made a documentary about him and his unbelievable stunt and won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival and definitely a place on our list of 11 best documentaries on Amazon Prime right now. In order to watch Philippe’s artistic crime of the century, prepare yourself for 93 minutes of adrenaline rush and click the Play button!
8. Swimming in Auschwitz
Site score 8.8, IMDb score 7.9; Overall score=8.35
Directed by Jon Kean
Year: 2007
Swimming in Auschwitz is Jon Kean’s moving tale about six survivors of the Holocaust, one of the deadliest genocides from the beginning of time. Find out how these brave Jewish women, from different countries and milieus, pulled through such horrible circumstances. It’s not easy to watch great deeds of cruelty done by the executioners and imagine the horrors that those women experienced. Nevertheless, you can relate to their faith and incredible strength. They swam in the deep water of Auschwitz-Birkenau and emerged thanks to compassion and the power of will.
7. The Medici, Godfathers of the Renaissance
Site score 8.8, IMDb score 8.2; Overall score=8.5
Directed by Justin Hardy
Year: 2004
Ever wondered who brought light into the dark corridors of the Middle Ages in Europe? It was the Medici, a dynasty that is responsible for building the cultural bridge between the Middle Ages and Modern History! Produced by Bassnett-McGuire and Susan Horth this 4 part miniseries is another PBS Empire series of Documentaries on our list of the best documentaries on Amazon Prime right now! Enjoy 220 minutes of entertainment and pleasure. Rise, rule, and fall of the Medici dynasty told through the interesting story about art, poetry, and philosophy that flourished in Florence from 15th to 18th century.
6. Paradise Lost 3 Purgatory
Site score 9, IMDb score 8.1; Overall score=8.55
Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Year: 2011
The third part of an intriguing documentary directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky ranks 6th in our list of best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now. It gives you a follow-up on the case of the West Memphis 3, in their battle for innocence. As an Academy Award nominee, documentary gain great popularity, especially because of the sudden release of the West Memphis Three, three teenage boys who were accused of the murders of three eight-year-old boys and sentenced to death and life in prison. Considering the new DNA evidence the truth has come to light.
5. American Experience: Murder of a President
Site score 9, IMDb score8.2; Overall score=8.6
Directed by Rob Rapley
Year: 2016
Last in the row of PBS American Experience series in our list of best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now is this exquisite 120-minute docudrama made by Rob Rapley, Susan Bellow and their team of producers. Biography and story of the assassination of the 20th President, James Garfield, have come to life throughout this interesting combination of recreations, photographs, and paintings. Despite being one of the four presidents to be assassinated, besides Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and John F. Kennedy, he is unfortunately in a shadow of past centuries. Nevertheless, we should remember his notable 200 days in office and a remarkable will to live. Whoever watches this documentary, cannot help but ask themselves would the history of the USA be different if there weren’t incompetence and arrogance of president’s doctors?
5. Above and Beyond
Site score 9.4, IMDb score 7.8; Overall score=8.6
Directed by Roberta Grossman
Year: 2014
As we’re approaching the third of the 11 best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now that you can watch instantly, we are bringing you the latest accomplishment of Nancy Spielberg, the youngest sister of Steven Spielberg, and her colleague Roberta Grossman. On the Frontline of Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, young World War II pilots, both Jews, and foreigns, voluntarily risked their lives while fighting against the Arab Armies who were eager to destroy the new State and People of Israel. Everlasting bigotry between Israel and Palestine is immortalized by a story told from the participant’s perspective.
3. When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Site score 9.2, IMDb score 8.6; Overall score=8.9
Directed by Speke Lee
Year: 2006
Once again on our list of best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now, we are focusing on one of the most devastating natural catastrophes in recent American history-Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath regarding the government’s response. So, the third place on our list is reserved for Speke Lee’s 4 part HBO documentary, that is an assemblage of videos, photographs, and interviews with residents of New Orleans, journalists, historians, engineers and the most important – politicians. Watch the documentary and form your opinion.
2. How we played the Revolution
Site score 10, IMDb score 8.5; Overall score=9.25
Directed by Giedre Zickyte
Year:2012
Sit back and enjoy our second place choice on our list of best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now, a vivid 70 minute documentary about cultural rebellion in 1980’s Lithuania, that escalated into the fight for the Independence. Even if you’re not a punk rock admirer, you’ll be swept away with this story of Singing Revolution. Find out how a harmless one-night music band formed by a group of architects become the Frontline of the Rock Marches that were a forerunner of big meetings for Lithuanian Independence in the year of 1984.
1. Misa’s Fugue
Site score 9.6, IMDb score 9; Overall score=9.3
Directed by Sean Gaston
Year: 2012
Finally, the first place on our list of 11 best history documentaries on Amazon Prime right now goes to story about Frank “Misa” Grunwald, the Holocaust survivor, his life, and soul-searching. Being narrated by Misa himself, the documentary is filled with strong emotions. An eternal fight between destruction and creation is incarnated in descriptions of his suffering and losses, and in his search for comfort through music and art. The documentary is an accomplishment of students of the Fleetwood Area High School in Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.
