15. Oceans (2010)
> Domestic box office, adjusted for inflation: $22.5 million
> IMDb user rating: 7.7/10 (9,724 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes user rating: 75% (98,515 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 80% (81 reviews)
> Directed by: Jacques Perrin
This French documentary brings viewers deep under ocean water to explore the various aquatic life therein. As thrilling shots of the natural world give way to images of man made destruction, viewers are left to ponder their own relationship to the planet.
14. Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (2018)
> Domestic box office, adjusted for inflation: $23.0 million
> IMDb user rating: 8.3/10 (25,969 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes user rating: 94% (4,439 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 97% (255 reviews)
> Directed by: Morgan Neville
This acclaimed documentary examines the life and times of iconic children’s TV show host Fred Rogers, better known as Mr. Rogers. It reveals a patient and kind-hearted man, whose message of empathy and acceptance extended well beyond the intended demographic.
13. Sicko (2007)
> Domestic box office, adjusted for inflation: $32.7 million
> IMDb user rating: 8.0/10 (75,517 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes user rating: 87% (250,774 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 91% (219 reviews)
> Directed by: Michael Moore
Michael Moore followed “Fahrenheit 9/11” with this bleak expose about America’s health care system. It takes the director across the country and then to places such as Canada and Europe, where medical care isn’t simply another capitalist enterprise.
12. Chimpanzee (2012)
> Domestic box office, adjusted for inflation: $33.3 million
> IMDb user rating: 7.1/10 (6,183 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes user rating: 75% (98,044 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 76% (98 reviews)
> Directed by: Alastair Fothergill & Mark Linfield
One in a string of successful Disneynature releases, this documentary introduces a lovable chimp named Oscar and his rambunctious cohort. Its saccharine tone and narrative ambitions might bely a harsher reality, but who are viewers to resist?
11. An Inconvenient Truth (2006)
> Domestic box office, adjusted for inflation: $33.8 million
> IMDb user rating: 7.4/10 (83,348 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes user rating: 79% (119,870 votes)
> Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score: 93% (166 reviews)
> Directed by: Davis Guggenheim
Presidential nominee turned environmental activist Al Gore rings the alarm bells on climate change in this pivotal documentary. If not an early turning point, it was certainly a wakeup call in the fight for an eco-friendly future. “It grabs you like a thriller with an ending that will haunt your dreams,” wrote critic Peter Travers for Rolling Stone.
