Documentaries connect us all. The element that most viewers tend to gravitate toward when it comes to documentaries is the essence of real life that one learn’s from the collection of historical footage, photographs or topics and event’s to make us understand the severity of climate change.

Netflix has a bountiful of great documentaries that cover a diverse range of subjects, from history, true crime and even filmmaking.

I’ve assembled a list of what I believe are the best & informative documentaries on Netflix right now.

1. The Roman Empire (18+)

Roman Empire is an amazing documentary series that dives deep into the rise and fall of 3 of the most influential leaders in Roman history. I have always had a slight obsession with the history of Rome, and this series is filled with entertainment and accurate information that helps viewers better understand not only who they were, but why they became who they were.

2. Down to Earth With Zac Afron

The show is very nicely put together, and Zac’s enthusiasm for everything really helps carry the heavier side of the story. Very educational and intriguing. The different concepts they show each episode gives just enough education that sparks you to want learn more about the topics.

3. Our Planet

Narrated by David Attenborough and produced by the same team behind the BBC’s Planet Earth, Our Planet is a nature documentary on a scale not seen before. Everything here is bigger, more beautiful and more ambitious & visually stunning documentaries you’ve ever watched. Our Planet is a call for action on climate change. Its episodes are filled with stories of a planet in crisis, of animals pushed to the brink of humanity’s harmful destruction of the planet we must all share. This documentary is important to watch!

4. The Power of Grayskull – The Definitive history of He-man & the Masters Of Universe.

This interesting, informative film delves into the origins and unmistakable culture impact of He-Man, the burly animated character who transformed the pop culture landscape and became an unforgettable icon of the ’80s & early 90’s. A simple string of action figures ended up spawning an enduring cult favorite that’s earned millions of fans and billions of dollars through movies, TV shows, comic books, and so much more!

5. Movies that made US

This fun and nostalgic docuseries discusses the stories behind blockbuster movies from the ’80s and ’90s. The first set of episodes of The Movies That Made Us take a deep dive into four biggies: Home Alone, Dirty Dancing, Die Hard and Ghostbusters. We get information about the origins of each movie, some of the bumps and detours the projects took before any film was exposed, and the impact each hit had when it came out. Totally worth the watch!

6. The Social Dilemma

At some point, we’ve all had our doubts about whether or not we’re addicted to social media. The Social Dilemma, more or less, confirms this suspicion.

What left me absolutely stunned was the idea that social media addiction isn’t an unintended consequence, rather a well thought-out objective. Turns out, all these years, Big Tech (Facebook, Twitter, Google etc) has been manipulating us and we never realized.

‘The Social Dilemma’ is in no way a tell-all expose of Big Tech’s big bad ways, it instead provides a good overview of the problem and also leaves you with productive tips at the end! This is a must watch documentary!