Since its birth, cinema has served as a mirror to society. It has reflected our greatest hopes and successes, as well as our fears and failures. Movies about human rights explore every angle of the human experience and raise awareness of the most urgent human rights issues of the day. Here are 15 human rights movies available to watch on Netflix:
| # | Title |
|---|---|
| 1 | Crip Camp |
| 2 | Coded Bias |
| 3 | Reversing Roe |
| 4 | Rustin |
| 5 | Disclosure |
| 6 | The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson |
| 7 | Descendent |
| 8 | Beasts of No Nation |
| 9 | 13th |
| 10 | Adú |
| 11 | 7 Prisoners |
| 12 | The Swimmers |
| 13 | Pray Away |
| 14 | Trees of Peace |
| 15 | Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am |
Note: At the time of writing, these films were available to watch on Netflix in the United States. Availability may vary by region.
#1. Crip Camp (2020)
Directors: Nicole Newnham and James LeBrecht
Every summer, thousands of kids leave home to attend summer camp. Camp Jened was special. It gave kids with disabilities a space to play, make new friends, experience first love, and talk about their futures. It closed in 2009. Over lunch one day, filmmaking partners James LeBrecht and Nicole Newnham were discussing the camp, which James had attended. They decided to make a movie. Their film, which went on to be nominated for an Academy Award, explores how several campers and counselors from Camp Jened grew up to become leaders in the disability rights movement.
#2. Coded Bias (2020)
Director: Shalini Kantayya
While working as an MIT media researcher, Joy Buolamwini noticed that facial recognition systems didn’t work for her. She soon learned that many facial recognition tools didn’t work for people with dark skin. We know humans discriminate based on skin color, but what happens if the technology we use daily discriminates, too? “Coded Bias” digs into this question, as well as other issues surrounding artificial intelligence and human rights.
#3. Reversing Roe (2018)
Director: Ricki Stern and Anne Sundberg
Released before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the film “Reversing Roe” examined the history of the battle between the pro-choice and anti-choice movements. Using interviews with experts, activists, politicians, and journalists, the movie provides an essential explainer on how the US got to where it is today. “Reversing Roe” was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Politics and Government Documentary.
#4. Rustin (2023)
Director: George C. Wolfe
Bayard Rustin was a leader in the Civil Rights movement, as well as the movements for socialism and gay rights. He helped organize the Freedom Rides and the March on Washington. In his later years, he participated in many humanitarian missions. As a gay man, he was frequently discriminated against and his contributions were not publicly recognized in his time. “Rustin,” which stars Colman Domingo as Bayard Rustin, releases on Netflix on November 17th, 2023.
#5. Disclosure (2020)
Director: Sam Feder
Trans people have always existed, and they’ve always been represented on the movie and TV screen, as well. The documentary “Disclosure” examines the history of Hollywood’s depictions of trans people and how their stories have impacted American culture. For years, depictions have not been positive. Trans people in the film industry (like Laverne Cox, Jamie Clayton, Chaz Bono, and many others) discuss these films and TV shows, which include “Ace Ventura,” “Victor Victoria,” and “To Kill A Mockingbird.”
#6. The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson (2017)
Director: David France
In 1992, Marsha P. Johnson died under mysterious circumstances. While the death was ruled a suicide, activist Victoria Cruz performed her own investigation. The film follows her journey while relating the stories of Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Riveria, who were iconic figures of the gay liberation and transgender rights movement in New York City. “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and was released on Netflix.
#7. Descendant (2022)
Director: Margaret Brown
In 2019, the wreckage of the last known slave ship to travel from Africa to the United States was found in the Mobile River in Alabama. When it arrived on the shore in 1859 or 1860, it had carried 110 African men, women and children. The documentary “Descendant” takes a close look at the community of Africatown, which is home to descendants of a group of West Africans enslaved on the last slave ship. The film premiered at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival and was released on Netflix.
#8. Beasts of No Nation (2015)
Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga
Based on the 2005 novel of the same name, “Beasts of No Nation” tells the story of a young boy forced to serve as a child soldier in an unnamed West African country. For years, West Africa has had a high number of child soldiers. According to a 2021 UN report, more than 21,000 kids have been recruited into conflict over the last five years. While “Beasts of No Nation” came out years ago, children are still enduring the human rights abuses depicted in the film.
#9. 13th (2016)
Director: Ava Duvernay
The Civil War ended slavery in the United States, but we have still not achieved racial equality in the century and a half since. As the film “13th” explores, the United States instead reimagined systems of racial disenfranchisement through the Jim Crow laws, the war on drugs and the prison-industrial complex. The film gets its name from the 13th Amendment, which ended slavery but made a troubling caveat: slavery and involuntary servitude could be used as a punishment for crimes. “13th” was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
#10. Adú
Director: Salvador Calvo
This Spanish drama tells three stories related to African immigration to Europe. In one tale, a six-year-old and his sister try to flee Cameroon. In the second, an activist fights against illegal poaching, while in the third, a group of guards and African immigrants trying to flee to Spain clash. The film won four Goya Awards, which is Spain’s equivalent of an Academy Award.
Loading ...#11. 7 Prisoners (2021)
Director: Alexandre Maratto
In this Brazilian drama, 18-year-old Mateus leaves his home for a job working in a Sao Paulo junkyard. However, he and a group of other boys are quickly trapped in an exploitative system. With no other options for work, Mateus must choose whether to leave or stay in the human trafficking world. While the film isn’t based on a true story, the director and writers wanted to capture what human trafficking in Brazil often looks like.
#12. The Swimmers (2022)
Director: Sally El Hosaini
Syrian teenagers Yusra and Sara are refugees, but when they flee Damascus, their boat, which carries 18 other refugees, begins to sink. The sisters pull the boat for hours through the Mediterranean Sea. Yusra would go on to swim for the Refugee Olympic Team in the Rio 2016 Olympics, and in 2023, Time Magazine named Yusra and Sara as two of the 100 most influential people in the world.
#13. Pray Away
Director: Kristine Stolakis
Conversion therapy (also known as “reparative” therapy”) is any attempt to change a person’s sexuality or gender by a counselor, religious leader, or through peer support groups. It’s illegal in many places, and all major medical associations consider the practice deeply harmful. However, for years, organizations like Focus on the Family and Exodus International advocated for and performed conversion therapy in the United States. The film “Pray Away” examines this harmful practice and interviews several of the people once involved in its promotion.
#14. Trees of Peace (2022)
Director: Alanna Brown
In this film about the Rwandan genocide, four people hide beneath a house to escape the bloodshed. The women all come from dramatically different backgrounds. There’s a Hutu moderate, a Tutsi woman, a Catholic nun, and an American volunteer. As they try to survive the genocide, the women grow closer. The film was crowdfunded on Kickstarter. On Netflix, “Trees of Peace” ranked in the top 10 English-language films in more than 30 countries.
#15. Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (2019)
Director: Timothy Greenfield-Sanders
Toni Morrison (1931-2019) was an award-winning American novelist and thinker. She was the first Black female editor of fiction at Random House, and the first Black woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature. Through interviews and archival footage, “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” explores her life, her writing and the themes that thread through her literary career. People who have been influenced by Morrison – like Barack Obama and Angela Davis – also make appearances.
