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Baraka poster

Movies that feel likeBaraka (1992)

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

If you loved Baraka, the closest films we have are Isle of Flowers (1989), Hoop Dreams (1994) and Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991). All three share Baraka's contemplative feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary (1997).

🍅 85% Rotten Tomatoes★ 8.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Ron Frickecontemplative
8 of 12 streaming nowHBO Max · Amazon Prime Video · Criterion Channel

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If Baraka hit the spot, these will too

Isle of Flowers poster
Isle of Flowers
1989 · dir. Jorge Furtado
★ 8.5documentary

Contemplative documentary, and it commits to that

A tomato is planted, harvested and sold at a supermarket, but it rots and ends up in the trash. But it doesn’t end there: Isle of Flowers follows it up until its real end, among animals, trash, women and children. And then the difference between tomatoes, pigs and human beings becomes clear.

Hoop Dreams poster
Hoop Dreams
1994 · dir. Steve James
🍅 98%★ 8.3documentaryMax

Documentary with a pulse of stillness, in both cases

Every school day, African-American teenagers William Gates and Arthur Agee travel 90 minutes each way from inner-city Chicago to St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, a predominately white suburban school well-known for the excellence of its basketball program. Gates and Agee dream of NBA stardom, and with the support of their close-knit families, they battle the social and physical obstacles that stand in their way. This acclaimed documentary was shot over the course of five years.

Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse poster
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
1991 · dir. George Hickenlooper
🍅 100%★ 8.1documentary

Documentary built on stillness, twice over

A chronicle of the production problems — including bad weather, actors' health, war near the filming locations, and more — which plagued the filming of Apocalypse Now, increasing costs and nearly destroying the life and career of Francis Ford Coppola.

Brother's Keeper poster
Brother's Keeper
1992 · dir. Bruce Sinofsky
🍅 100%★ 7.5documentary

Both are documentary through and through

This documentary by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky details the murder trial of Delbert Ward. Delbert was a member of a family of four elderly brothers, working as semi-literate farmers and living together in isolation from the rest of society until William's death.

The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On poster
🍅 100%★ 8.2documentary

The documentary is handled with the same confidence

Kenzo Okuzaki, a 62-year-old veteran of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, sets out to conduct interviews with survivors and relatives to find the truth behind atrocities committed by Japanese military, in particular the unexplained killing of two Japanese privates in his unit.

Little Dieter Needs to Fly poster
Little Dieter Needs to Fly
1997 · dir. Werner Herzog
🍅 93%★ 8documentaryPrime Video

Documentary of the same temperament

Three decades after German-American pilot Dieter Dengler was shot down over Laos, he returns to the places where he was held prisoner during the early years of the Vietnam War. Accompanied by director Werner Herzog, Dengler describes in unusually candid detail his captivity, the friendships he made, and his daring escape. Not willing to stop there, Herzog even persuades his subject to re-enact certain tortures, with the help of some willing local villagers.

Cane Toads: An Unnatural History poster
Cane Toads: An Unnatural History
1988 · dir. Mark Lewis
🍅 88%★ 7.6documentary

Both play documentary straight

A documentary detailing the spread of Hawaiian sugar-cane toads through Australia in a botched effort to introduce them as counter pests.

Streetwise poster
Streetwise
1984 · dir. Martin Bell
🍅 92%★ 8.2documentary

Cut from the same documentary cloth

This documentary about teenagers living on the streets in Seattle began as a magazine article. The film follows nine teenagers who discuss how they live by panhandling, prostitution, and petty theft.

Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary poster
Hands on a Hardbody: The Documentary
1997 · dir. S.R. Bindler
🍅 84%★ 7.6documentary

The same documentary instincts

Filmmaker S.R. Bindler profiles Texas contestants trying to win a truck by keeping one hand on it longer than everyone else.

Powaqqatsi poster
Powaqqatsi
1988 · dir. Godfrey Reggio
🍅 56%★ 7.2documentary

Documentary approached the same way

The difference: The scrappier of the two with critics

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them.

The Gleaners and I poster
The Gleaners and I
2000 · dir. Agnès Varda
🍅 93%★ 7.7documentary

Both working the same documentary territory

Varda focuses her eye on gleaners: those who scour already-reaped fields for the odd potato or turnip. Her investigation leads from forgotten corners of the French countryside to off-hours at the green markets of Paris, following those who insist on finding a use for that which society has cast off, whether out of necessity or activism.

Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. poster
🍅 100%★ 7.5documentary

Both know what they want from documentary

Documentary filmmaker Errol Morris investigates the case of a man who became an authority on capital punishment, but was discredited when he got involved on the wrong side of a court case. Leuchter, a meek man whose appearance belies his grim expertise, develops what he says is a more effective electric chair. Before long, he's in demand from officials who want his opinions on other execution methods. But when called to aid the case of an accused Holocaust denier, Leuchter's problems begin.

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