The Best Hulu Documentaries Streaming Right Now

This powerful documentary tells the story of the Lakota people’s forced expulsion from the Black Hills land that was not only sacred to them but central to their collective philosophy and identity. In violation of treaty after treaty, the United States gradually forced the Lakota off the land where Mount Rushmore sits today. 

Through moving interviews with activists and the exploration of archival materials, this heartfelt yet honest documentary spares no details in chronicling the injustices endured by the Lakota people at the hands of the U.S. government that persist to this day, ultimately making the case for the restoration of these sacred lands to their rightful owners.  

The two-hour documentary was written by Oglala poet Layli Long Soldier and directed by Jesse Short Bull and Laura Tomaselli. Short Bull, a member of the Oglala Lakota tribe in the badlands of South Dakota, also wrote and produced Istimna, a film shot in the Lakota language. Tomaselli has been previously awarded for her work on the acclaimed 2020 documentary MLK/FBI.  

Based on the 1619 Project from The New York Times, developed by Nikole Hannah-Jones in 2019, this documentary expands on the discussion about how slavery has affected and continues to influence America’s history. The six-episode docuseries hosted by Nikole Hannah-Jones highlights six different aspects of the Black experience in America, broken down into: democracy, race, fear, justice, music, and capitalism. It is a powerful series that is interspersed with interviews and personal accounts from Hannah-Jones about her own experience as a biracial woman. Watch this series for a thought-provoking look at how Black culture influences America and how the dark roots of slavery are reflected in the deep-seated racism of the U.S.

With the current rise in white supremacy and antisemitism, this documentary challenges viewers to consider the reasons we are so fascinated with Hitler and Nazism and whether or not documentaries can be made on the subject without glorifying this dictator and romanticizing the time period. If you ever had a question about Hitler, there is most likely an article or documentary that has answered those questions (including the most trivial—such as “What was Hitler’s favorite food?”). 

Filmed in nine countries over three years and filled with interviews from various historians and writers, this documentary explores the pros and cons of studying this time period, arguing that while it absolutely must be learned about so as not to be forgotten, some discussions being had about the topic are leading to desensitization and minimization of the horrors of this historical era.

Released two years after protests and riots swept the United States in response to policeman Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd, Riotsville, USA sheds light on the model towns constructed by the U.S. Army to train police and shape the military response to domestic civil unrest in the 1960s and 70s. 

Using previously classified government footage, director Sierra Pettengill exposes these “Riotsvilles” trained to quash civil disobedience by any means necessary, turning America’s military might on its own people. In a year when we have once again seen anti-war protests violently repressed by the police, Pettengill’s analysis of the militarization of U.S. police is as relevant now as it was decades ago.

Shot over the span of three years, this documentary follows 26-year-old Jacinta as she navigates life in and out of the U.S. carceral system. It opens on the Maine Correctional Center, where Jacinta and her mother, Rosemary, 46, are both incarcerated and recovering from addiction. Ever since she was a child, Jacinta has struggled to outrun her mother’s world of drugs and crime, moving in and out of correctional facilities while attempting to get clean for her own 10-year-old daughter. 

Jacinta is simultaneously a heartfelt story of the bond between mother and daughter and a powerful examination of the vicious cycle of addiction, incarceration, and inherited trauma. It was an official selection at an array of film festivals, such as the Tribeca Film Festival, the Camden International Film Festival, and the Woodstock Film Festival. It boasts a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes. 

While most documentaries rely on photo- and videographic evidence to bring their stories to life, Flee takes a different approach: animation. This 90-minute documentary, largely animated to protect its subject’s identity, tells the true story of Amin Nawabi, a gay refugee from Afghanistan who emigrated to Denmark when he was just a child. It became the first movie in Oscars history to receive nominations for Best Animated Feature, Best Documentary Feature, and Best International Feature in the same year.

In 2009, Glenn Kurtz found three minutes of footage of a Jewish community that his grandfather had recorded on a trip from the last century. Kurtz decided to share the footage with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, but it wasn’t until 2011 that the footage was identified as being taped in the Jewish community in the Polish village of Nasielsk. To chronicle his experience of finding this footage, Kurtz wrote the book Three Minutes in Poland: Discovering a Lost World in a 1938 Family Film, on which the documentary was based. 

This documentary captures the people in this community in 1938, before it was destroyed during the Holocaust. Before the Holocaust, the community had around 7,000 inhabitants, of whom around 3,000 were Jewish, but by 1939, many were deported to ghettoes around Poland and then forced into extermination camps. Of the 3,000, only 100 members of the Jewish community in Nasielsk survived. This film allows the men, women and children whose lives were stolen to be remembered and honored by putting faces to the individuals who are, unfortunately, usually lumped in as part of a mass group of nameless victims.   

Following three different high school athletes: Mack Baggs, a wrestler in Dallas; Sarah Rose Huckman, a skier from New Hampshire; and Andraya Yearwood, a runner in Connecticut; this documentary demonstrates the various hindrances that each student faces in their attempts to compete in athletics. Viewers get to see how these three students advocate for themselves despite backlash from officials, parents and peers alike. High school is already hard enough, but these kids are faced with harsh criticism for simply wanting to play on the same team as their gender identity. An impactful watch for anyone who wants to educate themselves on transgender kids’ experience in athletics. 

You have probably heard of Woodstock, but have you heard of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival that happened that same summer? In his directorial debut, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award when his documentary highlighting this joyous celebration of music from the Black community premiered at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival. The Harlem Cultural Festival took place on six Sundays between June 29th and August 24th at Mount Morris Park in Harlem. Included in this documentary are restored footage of the festival, interviews of attendees and performers, and other commentators that discuss the cultural and historical importance of the event. 

Although it garnered a huge number of attendees and featured brilliant performers like Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Gladys Knight & the Pips, to name a few, the original footage was left forgotten in a basement for 50 years. Not only should this documentary be enjoyed for the incredible music, but also for the way the film shows us how music can heal, comfort and inspire the masses during times of unrest.  

Often, when we think of historical documentaries, we think about accounts of the past that feel distant and foreign—events that can only be experienced through textbooks or archival footage. We forget that we are living history at this very moment. In early 2020, the world was hit with an unexpected crisis: the COVID-19 pandemic. Suddenly, we woke up to the news that a virus had made its way to the U.S., which the general public believed would be quickly taken care of but instead became a fatal emergency that led to the deaths of over one million Americans. 

Co-director Alex Gibney felt compelled to create this documentary after a friend of his died from COVID-19, since he believes that the American government under Donald Trump’s presidency failed his friend, as well as many others, by neglecting to follow through with safety plans recommended by scientists and medical professionals and by continuously denying the severity of the pandemic. This documentary breaks down what went wrong, how our leaders neglected us and the ways in which more lives could have been protected.  

The First Wave does an extraordinary job of highlighting some of the heroes during the COVID-19 pandemic while giving an up-close-and-personal look at the healthcare workers at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. It brings attention to the horrific suffering that patients had to endure and the traumatic situations that healthcare workers had to brave to care for these patients. With sensitivity, it explores the emotional and physical toll the pandemic took and discusses how systemic issues in America caused minority communities to be hit the hardest during this chaotic period. A heart-wrenching but extremely necessary film to watch in order to better understand the sacrifices that were made by front-line workers.       

From the first Red Scare in the late 1910s to the era of McCarthyism in the 1950s to its present-day lack of representation in U.S. government, socialism has long be framed as the ideological enemy of America. In this 90 minute documentary, a series of historians, journalists, and politicians like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez break down why that is—and argue why, contrary to popular belief, socialism is as American as football and apple pie. There’s a reason The Daily Beast calls it “the film about socialism the GOP doesn’t want you to see.”