With our list of 35 best documentaries on Amazon Prime, your subscription to Amazon Prime will be money well spent. Also, being able to watch The Grand Tour is a pretty nice bonus.
If you frequently use Amazon, then Amazon Prime is a convenient feature. It doesn’t just give you free shipping and other perks, it also lets you stream a respectable amount of movies, documentaries, TV shows, and music without an additional cost. This business model isn’t just good for users but also for the company. It was revealed recently that Amazon got around $6.4 billion in revenue from the service and that there are estimated 65 million Amazon Prime users. If you are only interested in streaming features, you don’t have to get the full membership since you can subscribe only to Amazon Video. Amazon Video membership will give you access not only to the content available to Amazon Prime users but lot more.
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Music, science, nature, health, no matter the topic you are interested in, Amazon Prime probably has you covered. For example, if you enjoy history topics, there are these 11 Best History Documentaries on Amazon Prime Right Now you can enjoy. The great thing is that the service also offers a large amount of lesser known documentaries and those made for TV that you wouldn’t have the chance to watch anywhere else. Since the company invests heavily into original content, we are sure there will be some great Amazon made documentaries in the future as well.
To get our list of 35 best documentaries on Amazon Prime, we did a huge research going through 4,986 documentaries currently available on Amazon Prime. We then ranked them using IMDb rating and the rating from Amazon viewers. Documentaries that didn’t have IMDb rating and those that had 5 or fewer ratings were not considered since that isn’t enough to determine how good the documentary really is. After covering the methodology, let us see the best that documentary category on Amazon Prime has to offer.
35. Vegan: Everyday Stories
Amazon Rating: 4.1
IMDb Rating: 9.3
If you thought vegans are some mystical people that are completely different from the rest of the world, it is time for you to check out this documentary. It follows the stories of 4 people who come from different backgrounds, but all have one thing in common: they are vegans.
34. The Grange Fair – An American Tradition
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 8.8
Agricultural fairs were always an important part of life for Americans who live in rural areas. They were the opportunities to socialize and meet with those who share similar interests. This documentary tells a story about this tradition and how it’s slowly fading in the United States.
33. Scarred but Smarter: Life n Times of Drivin n Cryin
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 8.7
This documentary will be a pure pleasure for any music lover. It revolves around a Rock’n’Roll band named Drivin n Cryin, that was widely popular in the southeast part of the United States but remained unknown to the wider audience.
32. The Medicine Game
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 8.6
This is a truly amazing story about the lacrosse players from Onondaga Nation. Although this Native American community has some of the best lacrosse players in the nation, they rarely get to the point where they can show their talent on the big stage. Two brothers are determined to make that final step.
31. Angel Azul
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 8.7
Angel Azul follows artist Jason deCaires Taylor, who creates artificial coral reefs that over time become beautiful pieces of art.
30. Heroes Behind the Badge
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 8.8
In times when there is so much animosity towards law enforcers, this documentary will remind you that these people are often putting their lives at stake just to make the world a safer place.
29. Imber’s Left Hand
Amazon Rating: 4.9
IMDb Rating: 8.6
Artist Jon Imber didn’t let ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) stand between him and painting. This documentary follows his story as this terrible disease starts to take its toll and makes it harder for him to continue doing art.
28. Her Aim Is True
Amazon Rating: 4.4
IMDb Rating: 9.1
Another music documentary on our list, Her Aim Is True follows rock photographer Jini Dellaccio and tells the story about her career and how she was one of the first photographers to capture the emerging punk and indie music scene with her camera.
27. The Milky Way
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 8.7
Don’t mistake this documentary for one about our galaxy. The topic of The Milky Way is breastfeeding and how more mothers in the United States are making a huge mistake by neglecting it.
26. In Search of Balance
Amazon Rating: 4.9
IMDb Rating: 8.7
The premise of the documentary is that humans are connected with nature and that our health depends on this connection. It explores the way our health can benefit if we pay attention to the food we eat.
25. The Saturn V Story
Amazon Rating: 4.5
IMDb Rating: 8.9
In the ’60s, the United States were determined to send a man to the Moon and win the space race with the Soviet Union, but there was no way to do that. At least, not until The Saturn V rocket was designed. This documentary tells the story of how The Saturn V made the trip to the Moon a reality.
24. The Starfish Throwers
Amazon Rating: 4.9
IMDb Rating: 8.7
After a successful Kickstarter campaign, Jesse Roesler was finally able to tell the story about three people on what seems an impossible mission. A professional chef, former school teacher, and a young girl are trying to fight hunger in the world each in their own way.
23. Craving Cuba
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 8.8
Craving Cuba explores the community of Cubans who fled to the United States decades ago and follows documentary maker Zuzy Martin Lynch on her journey back to the country of her origin. In the documentary she speaks with Cubans of all generations, trying to get the better understanding of their relationship with their native country.
22. Misa’s Fugue
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 9.0
A documentary that follows the life of Frank “Misa” Grunwald, who experienced firsthand all the terrors of Nazi regime and World War II while being an 8-year-old boy.
21. Butch Walker: Out of Focus
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 9.0
The music documentaries on our list of 35 best documentaries on Amazon Prime just keep on coming. This one follows the life of Butch Walker, musician, and producer who works with some of the biggest names in contemporary music like Taylor Swift, Pink, and Keith Urban.
20. Awaken the Dragon
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 9.0
This inspiring documentary follows the group of people who survived cancer and test their mind and bodies participating in an old Chinese sport known as dragon boat racing.
19. The Love Part of This
Amazon Rating: 4.5
IMDb Rating: 9.1
Two women, both named Grace, are together for 40 years. The documentary explores their relationship, the good times, the bad times and the challenges they had to face in order to make it work.
18. The Lost World of Mr. Hardy
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 9.0
UK documentary The Lost World of Mr. Hardy revolves around a family that has a long history of making fishing equipment and how this “art” is not appreciated like it used to be.
17. Forgotten Plague
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 9.1
Described as a “must-see documentary,” Forgotten Plague follows Ryan Prior, who was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at a young age. In the documentary, he talks with other patients who suffer from the same illness, explores his disease and how it is ignored by the United States medical system.
16. Out of the Fire
Amazon Rating: 4.6
IMDb Rating: 9.2
If you thought that the art of making pots the old fashioned way died, think again. This documentary, next in line on our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime follows potter Kevin Crowe and his crew in an attempt to finish their six-month effort and make the final touches on their 2000 pots.
15. Walking Man
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 9.1
Walking Man tells a story about father and son, both suffering from bipolar disorder, who embark on a 200-mile journey by foot trying to shed some light on the growing suicide epidemic in their native state of Missouri.
14. For Once In My Life
Amazon Rating: 5.0
IMDb Rating: 8.9
Life with disabilities isn’t the end, and this documentary, that’s next on the list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime proves it. It revolves around a band whose members have various physical and mental disabilities and shows their life as performers and how they deal with numerous challenges.
13. Everything is Forever
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 9.2
Although he was already an established musician in his native country of Croatia, Nenad Bach decided to move to the United States to try to get his piece of the American dream. The documentary tells his life story and focuses on his passion for music but also his peace activism.
12. El Boxeo
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 9.1
In recent years, Latinos are dominating the world of boxing (think Oscar De La Hoya). This documentary, number 12 on our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime explores the reasons behind their dominance but also shows how boxing as a sport evolved with their emergence.
11. Richter: The Enigma
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 9.1
A mixture of interviews and archive footage, this documentary focuses on one of the greatest pianists that 20th century gave us, Soviet virtuoso Sviatoslav Richter. The interviews for the documentary are among his last ones, since he died in 1997, a year before the documentary was released.
10. Lessons of Basketball and War
Amazon Rating: 4.7
IMDb Rating: 9.3
Running away from raging war in the native country, a group of girls from Somalia is trying to start a new life in the United States. This is a story about the challenges they are facing while trying to accommodate to their new surroundings.
9. Hairy Who and The Chicago Imagists
Amazon Rating: 4.9
IMDb Rating: 9.1
This documentary explores the Imagists movement that emerged in Chicago in the ’60s. The documentary contains interviews with members of the movement but also with young artists who were influenced by it.
HAIRY WHO & THE CHICAGO IMAGISTS – Official trailer #2 from Pentimenti Productions on Vimeo.
8. Searching for Home: Coming Back from War
Amazon Rating: 5.0
IMDb Rating: 9.0
When they come from the battlefield, soldiers always struggle to resume their normal lives. This documentary follows returning soldiers from various conflicts and the challenges they’ve faced when trying to become regular members of society again.
7. Raskal Love
Amazon Rating: 5.0
IMDb Rating: 9.1
We are continuing our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime with Raskal Love that is a story about the life of Vanna Fut, who became a gang member at age 11. In the documentary, he shares his life story and talks about the journey from being a part of the gang to becoming a break dancer.
6. SMART: Specialized Mobile Animal Rescue Team
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 9.3
Animals have their superheroes as well. In Los Angeles, a group of people are dedicating their lives to rescue animals in need. This is a story about them and the good deeds they are doing.
5. Out in the Cold
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 9.4
This is what you call dedication to the filmmaking. Two men film their experience living with homeless people, who share their life stories, desperations, hopes and dreams with them.
Copyright: ulubird / 123RF Stock Photo
4. The Entertainers
Amazon Rating: 4.9
IMDb Rating: 9.3
The Entertainers, next on our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime is a story about six piano players who are going head to head to try and win The World Championship of Old-Time Piano. It is a mix of comedy and ode to the old piano music that will entertain you for sure.
3. Weaving the Past: Journey of Discovery
Amazon Rating: 5.0
IMDb Rating: 9.2
In an effort to fulfill his grandfather’s last wish, Walter Dominguez embarks on a journey to find his family’s origins. During the journey, he discovers the things about his grandfather that he didn’t know. The documentary, that ranked 3rd on our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime follows this lifechanging journey.
2. Ride with Larry
Amazon Rating: 4.8
IMDb Rating: 9.5
The centerpiece of this documentary, next on our list of best documentaries on Amazon Prime is Larry Smith, a man who’s lived with Parkinson’s disease for almost twenty years. After conventional methods of medicine failed to make his condition better, he turned to exercise and medical marijuana. Now, he is trying something that is considered impossible for people with Parkinson’s, riding a bike for 300 miles.
1. Still Dreaming
AmazonRating: 5.0
IMDb Rating: 9.4
We are at the end of our list of 35 best documentaries on Amazon Prime. The journey has been long but at least we got some awesome documentaries from it. Both IMDb and Amazon users agree that Still Dreaming is an outstanding documentary, and they have every right to think so. It is a heartwarming story about the group of retired entertainers from Lillian Booth Actors Home, whose administrators want them to make their final mark by performing one of the William Shakespeare’s most popular comedies, A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
