Best Political Documentaries on Netflix You Can Stream Right Now

Being informed has never been more important than it is right now, especially when you consider how our leaders have begun passing unpopular bills under the cover of darkness. An uninformed electorate is perhaps the greatest threat to our democracy, and the best political documentaries on Netflix can play a role in changing that.

Many in Washington aren't just hoping for our apathy, a good number of these feckless windbags are counting on it. Staying informed is the best way to combat this, in fact, it may be the only way for many of us. Get a better idea about what is going on in the world around you and watch some of these great documentaries available to stream on Netflix.

Winter on Fire tells the story of how student demonstrations supporting European integration grew into a violent revolution calling for the resignation of Kremlin backed President Viktor Yanukovich. The protests started when Yanukovich spurned the European Union and decided to align with the Russian Federation. The protest turned bloody and brutal, as Yanukovich used force to try and squash the protests.

Yanukovich was ousted and civil unrest followed as Russia got heavily involved. While the story is far from over, it's one of the best political documentaries on Netflix if you want to learn more about geopolitics, especially as tensions with Russia continue to increase.

Robert Reich, the Former Secretary of Labor of the United States, puts the failures of capitalism under a microscope and attempts to find answers to what will happen when most of the wealth and income keep skipping the middle class and going straight to the top. Saving Capitalism implores everyday Americans to get involved so they might have more say in what happens, instead of being beaten down by the invisible hand.

What makes it one of the best political documentaries on Netflix is how Reich breaks down the facts but never demeans either side, while still making the point that something has change before we go too far. He also ponders the frightening question of what happens over the long haul when we leave too many people behind.

Ava DuVernay takes an in-depth look at the prison system in the United States, and how a long history of racial inequality has disproportionately hurt the black community. The Oscar nominated documentary is also a great way to understand the oppression of black people that has been going on long after the 13th Amendment ended slavery.

The film examines Jim Crow, Emmett Till, and the civil rights movement, as well as Nixon and Reagan's escalation of the drug war, which caused an explosion of the prison system. 13th is important to better understand the times in which we are living.

Investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill sheds a light on America's controversial methods for dealing with terrorism around the globe. Dirty Warsexamines some of the United States most questionable operations, many of which are carried out by JSOC (Joint Special Operations Command) with little to no transparency.

One of the best political documentaries on Netflix gets into the history of this under the radar committee that only became prominent after the killing of Bin Laden. Scahill argues that these covert operations are incredibly harmful, especially when they kill civilians in mass. And, by continuing to carry out these deadly missions, we are being sucked into an endless global war.

Requiem for the American Dream is one of America's foremost intellectuals, Noam Chomsky, talking about the problems with so much wealth and power in so few hands. He goes in-depth and looks at the systems that have led to financial inequality, and what we can do to make a change.

The film is based on four years of interviews with Chomsky, and he traces the policies that have overwhelmingly favored the rich and the problems we are now seeing from those policies. Requiem is one of the best political documentaries on Netflix for those who care about the future of our country.

The Thin Blue Linetells the story of a man who was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas, and about a documentary film that helped save his life. Errol Morris had never heard about convicted cop killer Randall Adams before he began work on the film, but when it all was over he'd freed him, found the real killer, and exposed corruption so wide that it almost cost him his life.

Widely considered one of the greatest documentaries of all time, The Thin Blue Line is Making a Murderer and Serial decades before either existed. It's one of the best political documentaries on Netflix because it helped expose the faults in our trusted systems.

The Propaganda Game is about filmmaker Álvaro Longoria's tour of North Korea, as he attempts to contrast his findings from the typical media depictions. What he finds is even worse than he thought, and the film is a rare look into the world's most isolated nation.

It's one of the best political documentaries on Netflix because of the relevance North Korea has in todays political conversation—it's a film we all should see.

This Netflix original documentary is highly enlightening, as it follows the downfall of gossip site Gawker. It followed the trial between Hulk Hogan and Gawker Media, which was all about privacy rights against freedom of the press.

It is also about how our free press has been silenced by big money and special interests over the years, which sadly makes many of these celebrated media figures who bash President Trump now look nothing if not a bit self-serving.

We're Not Broke is one of the most important political documentaries on Netflix, especially given the recent massive tax cuts. The big lie has always been that corporations don't have enough money to invest in this country because of our back breaking corporate taxes, so they are forced to go elsewhere.

The truth is, corporations have sheltered trillions of dollars in tax money that could have been put into our schools and our roads for a long con. Now, their lie is about to payoff big, as they've gotten their massive tax cuts and will simply buy more company stock back and the everyday workers won't see a dime—in most cases. We're Not Broke helps expose some of these myths.

The Untold History of the United States is Oliver Stones examination of under-reported events in American history. What makes this so interesting, and one of the best political documentaries on Netflix, is that Stone doesn't always take the side you think he will.

In a mostly un-biased way and always interesting way, Stone wades through some of our past events that are of most interest to him. If you're at all interested in history you'll find it tough to turn away from this one.