'You Can See Everything' & The 7 Highest-Ranked Documentaries Of All Time

You Can See Everything follows Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim, who spend roughly a month with Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes and her husband before she has to serve an 11-year prison sentence for defrauding investors. Fielder and Oppenheim feel Holmes is still hiding more, but her ability to lie against a person famous for deception with shows like The Rehearsal (2022) makes the documentary riveting.

You Can See Everything feels like an unstoppable force meeting an immovable object as Fielder and Holmes share time on screen. The meta-documentary pushes boundaries in unique ways and lets the audience participate by deciding what they should and shouldn't fully believe.

No documentary has impacted an entire business the way Blackfish did upon release. For decades, SeaWorld has had Orcas in captivity for shows, and Blackfish explores the life of one named Tilikum, who was responsible for the deaths of many trainers at SeaWorld. While he could be seen as the villain, the documentary shines a light on what captivity does to these animals that leads to these horrible events.

Blackfish's impact led to SeaWorld retiring its Shamu shows, and the park has since struggled to recover as it was put under heavy scrutiny for the treatment of its Orcas. Blackfish may be one of the most important documentaries ever because it shows Orcas in a new light as animals who deserve to be free.

The O.J. Simpson trial was one of the most important moments of the '90s, especially after he was found not guilty of the murders of his wife, Nicole Brown, and Ron Goldman. O.J.: Made in America is the most comprehensive and definitive look at the life of Simpson, from his career in sports and acting to his infamous trial.

What makes O.J.: Made in America such an important documentary is that in order for us to understand O.J., his crime, and the severity, we have to examine America at this time. It's a look at society and how one case impacted it long before any crime was committed, and no documentary has come close to doing what this one has.

Director Werner Herzog, who also made Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979), directed Grizzly Man, which explores the life and death of conservationist Timothy Treadwell, whose love of bears ultimately led to him being killed by one. Herzog compiled a documentary that was made up of five years' worth of footage filmed by Treadwell that led up to his tragic end.

Treadwell was famous for his unorthodox encounters with bears that often led to him getting close to them. However, this culminated in a bear attack that took his life. While Herzog refused to put the recorded audio in the documentary, his reaction to listening to it was shown, and it makes Grizzly Man truly haunting. It's a documentary that shows the beauty and danger of nature and teaches us lessons about life we can't take for granted.

Joshua Oppenheimer's The Act of Killing explores the aftermath of Indonesian mass killings from 1965-1966. During this time, communists killed and tortured anyone who stood against them. Then, those killers became local gang leaders who were still in power. Oppenheimer and his film crew document these gangsters and ask them to reenact these killings with a Hollywood flair.

The Act of Killing is yet another rare example of how documentaries can use creativity to make their message hit harder for audiences. The result of the film is how it impacts those who committed these acts and how they feel after decades, and whether remorse is one of those feelings. It takes things to a level Hollywood could never replicate and proves why documentaries are important.

The horrors of World War II and the Holocaust can never be forgotten, and the only way to stop them from ever happening again is to ensure that society is always given stories and documentaries about them. Night and Fog remains one of the most raw examples of that, being filmed and released only a decade after the liberation of Nazi concentration camps.

The film mixes footage of the liberated camps with archival footage from the war and explores the Holocaust from the Final Solution to the camps being active. It lays bare all the horrors the Nazis committed against the people inside and leaves you with a bleak feeling that must be felt so something like this never happens again.

Everyone knows the face, music, and sweater of Mr. Rogers as he helped educate generations on what it takes to be a good person and the many lessons life will throw at us. However, for many, getting older was also a chance to understand how amazing Fred Rogers was, and Won't You Be My Neighbor solidifies that fact.

The documentary highlights who Mr. Rogers was as a person, how his life ultimately impacted his work, and how he used that to give back to the community. Through archive footage, interviews with those who knew him, and more, Won't You Be My Neighbor is one of the most definitive documentaries on a single person who brought joy to millions.

Some of the best documentaries are tied to the animals that make up this beautiful world, and March of the Penguins is a perfect example of this. With a similar wholesome quality to Won't You Be My Neighbor?, March of the Penguins explores the march all penguins must embark on to find a mate and start a family.

Seeing these creatures in their natural habitat highlights both the adorable qualities as well as the impressive showcase of evolution that allows these creatures to cross so much just to start a family. During a time when penguins were all the rage thanks to movies like Happy Feet (2006), March of the Penguins still stands out as one of the greatest animal documentaries of all time.