My Favorite True Stories: Documentaries, Docu-Dramas, and Biographical films
This is an ever-expanding list of my favorite films about real life. Many of these movies listed here will be documentaries or biographical films. However, I've decided to go ahead and include my favorite "Based On a True Story" films, which I like to refer to as "docu-dramas". If you're reading this, don't forget that by including "docu-dramas" on my list, I've listed some films that probably don't stick 100% to the facts (for example - - "JFK" - Historically inaccurate, but "based on a true story".) So, the best films here on this list are the documentaries, but I like more than just straight up documentaries sometimes, so here's my list of "true story movies". Enjoy.
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- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsTony BrooksDiana DavisTerry WoodA horrific triple child murder leads to an indictment and trial of three nonconformist boys based on questionable evidence.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsDamien Wayne EcholsMelissa ByersNorris DeajonThe case of the West Memphis Three, its questionable circumstances and the parties involved are followed up years later.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsGary GitchellTodd MooreDana MooreA further followup of the case of the West Memphis Three and the decades long fight to exonerate them that finally gained traction with new DNA evidence.
- DirectorAtom EgoyanStarsColin FirthReese WitherspoonAlessandro NivolaThe savage murders of three young children sparks a controversial trial of three teenagers accused of killing the kids as part of a Satanic ritual.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsJason BaldwinDamien Wayne EcholsJessie MisskelleyAn examination of a failure of justice in the case against the West Memphis Three.
- DirectorAmy BergStarsOliver O'GradyThomas DoyleAdamDocumentary about Father Oliver O'Grady, a Catholic priest who was relocated to various parishes around the United States during the 1970s in an attempt by the Catholic Church to cover up his rape of dozens of children.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsAlex GibneyTerry KohutGary SmithAlex Gibney explores the charged issue of pedophilia in the Catholic Church, following a trail from the first known protest against clerical sexual abuse in the United States and all the way to the Vatican.
- DirectorAlex GibneyStarsPaul HaggisJason BegheSpanky TaylorA documentary looking at the inner-workings of the Church of Scientology.
- DirectorStanley NelsonStarsRebecca MooreJanet ShularTim CarterFeaturing never-before-seen footage, this documentary delivers a startling new look at the Peoples Temple, headed by preacher Jim Jones who, in 1978, led more than 900 members to Guyana, where he orchestrated a mass suicide via tainted punch.
- DirectorWilliam GazeckiStarsDan GiffordJim CavanaughDick DeGuerinA reassessment of the tragedy at Waco that left 76 members of the Branch Davidian religious sect dead.
- DirectorBilly CorbenStarsCraig C. DeThomasisAlice HendonDisa HollyDocumentary about a University of Florida fraternity party that led to what may or may not have been a rape, with footage from the night of the incident, including sexual acts.
- DirectorJoe BerlingerBruce SinofskyStarsDelbert WardRoscoe WardLyman WardThis compelling documentary details the strange-but-true murder trial of Delbert Ward, accused of the mercy killing of his brother in rural upstate NY. This real-life murder mystery won the Audience Award at Sundance.
- DirectorErrol MorrisStarsRandall AdamsDavid HarrisGus RoseA film that successfully argued that a man was wrongly convicted for murder by a corrupt justice system in Dallas County, Texas.
- DirectorRicki SternAnne SundbergStarsEvelyn JeffersonFred FlaglerJohn Reeves"The Trials of Darryl Hunt" is a feature documentary about a brutal rape/murder case and a wrongly convicted man, Darryl Hunt, who spent nearly twenty years in prison for a crime he did not commit. Both a social justice story and a personally driven narrative, the film chronicles this capital case from 1984 through 2004. With exclusive footage from two decades, the film frames the judicial and emotional response to a chilling crime - and the implications that reverberate from Hunt's conviction - against a backdrop of class and racial bias in the South and in the American criminal justice system. This documentary is the culmination of ten years of research and filming. In 1993, inspired by claims of injustice and police conspiracy, the filmmakers began to shoot in North Carolina. Working from a mix of formats (16mm and 24P video) the film melds the visceral reality of a murder case with first person accounts and cinematic imagery, illuminating perceptions and memories of events as they unfolded for the people closest to this haunting story. This unique look at one man's loss and redemption challenges the assumption that all Americans have the right to unbiased justice. Hunt's story - while one man's personal journey - reflects systemic issues of national concern: cross-racial eyewitness identification, prosecutorial misconduct, inexperienced defense attorneys assigned to capital cases, racial bias in death penalty cases and errors in police procedure. Barry Scheck from The Innocence Project, who worked on Hunt's case for ten years, and Gary Wells, professor and eyewitness expert, offer concrete examples where errors occurred in Hunt's saga and offer future remedies and effective ideas to prevent future "Darryl Hunts." Hunt himself addresses the need for systemic reforms to prevent wrongful convictions, underscoring the haunting reality that Hunt could have been sentenced to death and we would never have known this story.
- DirectorJean-Xavier de LestradeStarsAnn FinnellPatrick McGuinnessJames WilliamsOscar-winning documentary that documents a murder trial in which a 15-year-old African-American is wrongfully accused of a 2000 murder in Jacksonville, Florida.
- StarsMichael PetersonDavid RudolfRon GueretteThe high-profile murder trial of American novelist Michael Peterson following the death of his wife Kathleen Peterson in 2001.
- DirectorJim SheridanStarsDaniel Day-LewisPete PostlethwaiteAlison CrosbieAn Irish man's coerced confession to an I.R.A. bombing he did not commit results in the imprisonment of his father as well. Meanwhile, a British lawyer fights to clear their names and free them.
- DirectorDon McBreartyStarsAlly SheedyMark RendallJohn BourgeoisThe lives of Escondido, California residents Cheryl and Stephen Crowe change one morning when they find their twelve year old daughter Stephanie Crowe stabbed to death in her bedroom. As procedure dictates, the police take each member of the household away individually to be questioned, and the remaining children - fourteen year old Michael Crowe and adolescent Shannon Crowe - are taken into protective custody until Cheryl and Stephen can be cleared. The police end up placing much of their focus on the sullen Michael, who they question without counsel and without discussion with his parents. The tone of the police questioning is that they believe Michael did kill his sister, the police lying, harassing and coercing in the process. Under the barrage of questioning, Michael eventually confesses, as do two of his friends, both questioned under the same threatening tone. Cheryl and Stephen, who are finally made aware of the questioning and the confessions, enlist the help of sympathetic attorney, Dorothy Sorenson, to clear Michael and his friends while trying to find the real killer, who they believe is a transient named Richard Tuite.
- DirectorDon HardyDana NachmanStarsJack CummingsJackie CummingsAllen GraftonThe story of several families who have their lives destroyed when their hometown is whipped into a frenzy by allegations of child molestation.
- DirectorYoav PotashStarsDeborah PeaglerJoshua SafranNadia CostaThe story of the battle to free Debbie Peagler, an incarcerated survivor of brutal domestic violence. Over 20 years in prison cannot crush the spirit of this determined African-American woman, despite the injustices she has experienced, first at the hands of a duplicitous boyfriend who beat her and forced her into prostitution, and later by prosecutors who cornered her into a life behind bars for her connection to the murder of her abuser. Her story takes an unexpected turn two decades later when a pair of rookie land-use attorneys cut their teeth on her case -- and attract global attention to the troubled intersection of domestic violence and criminal justice.
- DirectorAndrew JareckiStarsArnold FriedmanJesse FriedmanDavid FriedmanDocumentary on the Friedmans, a seemingly typical, upper-middle-class Jewish family whose world is instantly transformed when the father and his youngest son are arrested and charged with shocking and horrible crimes.
- DirectorWerner HerzogStarsWerner HerzogRichard LopezMichael PerryConversations with death row inmate Michael Perry and those affected by his crime serve as an examination of why people - and the state - kill.
- DirectorMike LernerMaxim PozdorovkinStarsNadezhda TolokonnikovaMariya AlyokhinaYekaterina SamutsevichFollows the court case of three members of the Russian feminist punk protest group Pussy Riot after their performance in a Russian Orthodox cathedral.
- DirectorBart LaytonStarsAdam O'BrianNicholas BarclayCarey GibsonA documentary centered on a young man in Spain who claims to a grieving Texas family that he is their 16-year-old son who has been missing for 3 years.
- DirectorSteven SpielbergStarsLeonardo DiCaprioTom HanksChristopher WalkenBarely 17 yet, Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. FBI agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man, who only revels in the pursuit.