The 12 best documentaries to stream this March

Seductive openings, unbelievable characters, and surprising endings are what these documentaries are made of.

Documentaries are a great way to expand your knowledge and find out what’s happening in the world. They serve as powerful tools that bring important topics to the table in a captivating way that also sparks conversation, and sometimes even social movements.

These are the ones you should watch this month. (All available on Showmax):

THE SPARKS BROTHERS | Stream from 21 March 2022

How can one rock band be successful, underrated, hugely influential, and criminally overlooked all at the same time? With commentary from celebrity fans like Flea, Beck, Jason Schwartzman, Neil Gaiman, and more, The Sparks Brothers takes audiences on a musical odyssey through five weird and wonderful decades with brothers and bandmates Ron and Russell Mael, celebrating the inspiring legacy of Sparks: your favourite band’s favourite band.

FINAL ACCOUNT | Stream from 21 March 2022

Distilled from over 300 interviews conducted by the late British documentary filmmaker Luke Holland, Final Account is an urgent portrait of the last living generation of everyday people to participate in Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich. In never-seen-before interviews, men and women, ranging from former SS members to civilians, reckon, in very different ways, with their memories, perceptions and personal appraisals of their own roles in one of the greatest human crimes in history.

I’LL BE GONE IN THE DARK | Binge from 18 March 2022

Based on the work of late American true crime author Michelle McNamara, the HBO documentary series I’ll Be Gone in the Dark is both a gripping examination of the crimes of the Golden State Killer who terrorized California in the 1970s and 1980s, and the moving story of one woman’s relentless pursuit of justice for his victims.

THE CRIME OF THE CENTURY

From Oscar- and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side, The Inventor), The Crime of the Century is a searing indictment of big pharma and the political operatives and government regulations that enable over-production, reckless distribution and abuse of synthetic opiates. 

THE LAST CRUISE

A terrifying origin story of the pandemic, HBO’s 40-minute documentary The Last Cruise chronicles the first big outbreak of the novel coronavirus outside China: the Diamond Princess cruise liner. 

As the uncontained outbreak on the luxury vessel at the start of the pandemic in January 2020 became a global spectacle and a faraway symbol of the new virus and its potential to upend any sense of normalcy, passengers aboard the ill-fated cruise ship were quarantined in their staterooms for weeks as the crew tended to the sick, delivered room service and slept and dined in cramped, shared quarters. Through never-before-seen footage from passengers and crew, we watch class divisions erupt as humanity misses its chance to contain Covid-19.

JOHN WAYNE GACY: DEVIL IN DISGUISE

John Wayne Gacy: Devil In Disguise follows the chilling story of one of the world’s most notorious serial killers, as told through the words of Gacy himself, those who were forever changed by his unspeakable deeds, and those who believe that the full truth remains concealed to this day.

BLACK ART: IN THE ABSENCE OF LIGHT

Directed by Oscar nominee and five-time Emmy winner Sam Pollard (MLK/FBI, When the Levees Broke), the HBO documentary film Black Art: In the Absence of Light explores the oft-neglected contributions of African American artists to both the art world and American culture at large.

ADRIENNE

Waitress, starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion, won five international awards in 2007 – the year after its writer-director, Adrienne Shelly, was brutally murdered. It went on to inspire the hit Broadway musical, penned by Grammy winner Sara Bareilles.

GIRLS CAN’T SURF

It’s the 1980s and the world of professional surfing is a circus of fluro colours, peroxide hair and male egos. Girls Can’t Surf follows the journey of a band of renegade surfers who took on the male-dominated professional surfing world to achieve equality and change the sport forever. 

A CHOICE OF WEAPONS: INSPIRED BY GORDON PARKS

“I might have turned to the gun or the knife, but by then I had chosen the camera,” says Gordon Parks in the trailer for this critically acclaimed HBO documentary. A Choice of Weapons: Inspired by Gordon Parks explores the enduring legacy of the legendary photographer, whose work brought the Black community’s struggle for dignity and justice to middle America on the pages of LIFE magazine from 1948 to 1972.

BY WHATEVER MEANS NECESSARY: THE TIMES OF GODFATHER OF HARLEM

The four-episode docuseries By Whatever Means Necessary: The Times of Godfather of Harlem, executive produced by Godfather of Harlem star Forest Whitaker and Swizz Beatz, examines the story of Harlem, its music during the 1960s and its connections to today.

SHARK WITH STEVE BACKSHALL

British explorer, naturalist, and presenter Steve Backshall has dedicated his life to revealing the wonder of sharks. Shark With Steve Backshall is a three-part docuseries tracking Steve’s journey to the remotest parts of our planet, from the sun-drenched tropics to the mysterious depths of our oceans, to meet the incredible variety of sharks upon which the health of our oceans depends, and the passionate people fighting to change attitudes and save these feared and misunderstood predators.

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