The Best Social Justice Movies and Documentaries

Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)

Director: Shaka King

Cast: Daniel Kaluuya, Lakeith Stanfield, Dominique Fishback, Jesse Plemons

Genre: Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 2h 6m

Rotten Tomatoes: 96% (Critics) 95% (Audience)

Judas and the Black Messiah sees the fantastic Daniel Kaluuya portraying young revolutionary Fred Hampton in an Oscar winning role. The biographical drama centers on Hampton (Kaluuya), as he becomes chairman of the Chicago Black Panther party, but is eventually betrayed by William O’Neal (Lakeith Stanfield), an FBI informant. All too often Hollywood tends to soften portrayals of radical political figures, but thankfully this is not the case with Judas and the Black Messiah. Not only is the depiction of the Black Panther party pretty accurate (especially for a major Hollywood film), but it also has a remarkably accurate representation of Communism as a whole, and how the tenets of the ideology inform the political aims of the party. Kaluuya’s performance is a revelation as a stirring, compassionate leader but Lakeith Stanfield almost steals the spotlight in his equally compelling role as a man tortured by his decision to give up his comrades. The film also deserves much praise for refusing to sanitize Hampton’s death, which in real life was very clearly the Chicago police working in tandem with the FBI to murder a man in cold blood. Infuriating and inspiring in equal measure, Judas and the Black Messiah is the most radically political film that a major studio has released in quite some time.

Selma (2014)

Director: Ava DuVernay

Starring: David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey, Carmen Ejogo, Common

Also directed by Ava DuVernay, Selma ​is the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s struggle to secure voting rights for African-Americans. It culminated with a violent march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that came to be known as "Bloody Sunday," and ultimately led to President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965. With an all-star cast including Oprah, Common, and Cuba Gooding Jr., DuVernay turned her lens on a pivotal time in the Civil Rights Movement. —Dria Roland

Just Mercy (2019)

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall

The film, based on the true story of Walter McMillian, follows one man's wrongful murder conviction and the process it takes to get us free. Featuring a powerful performance from Jamie Foxx as McMillian (for which he received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Supporting Role) and Jordan's strong turn as Bryan Stevenson, the D.A. who sought to appeal McMillain's conviction. There are many who have been wrongfully convicted of crimes and are sitting in prison right now; it's important to educate oneself regarding the harrowing process it is to get people who are innocent out from the belly of the beast. —khal

I Am Not Your Negro (2017)

Director: Raoul Peck

Starring: Samuel L. Jackson

Based on the unfinished 30-page manuscript of what would've been James Baldwin's next project, "Remember This House," the Oscar-nominated I Am Not Your Negro is an impactful documentary from Raoul Peck that ties in Baldwin's ruminations on the lives and murders of Medgar Evers, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. to what's going on in America today. While Jackson isn't seen in the film, and is technically listed as a narrator, his readings of Baldwin's words were just as important as the visuals surrounding them, with Jackson doing some amazing voice work, nailing Baldwin's inflections while reading Baldwin's words. In a 2016 interview, Peck told Complex "The voice, I knew that was the only way to tell that story. The question toward the end was, how do I get someone with a tremendous capacity for acting and also some street credibility as a person? No matter what people say about Samuel L. Jackson—you might not like every film he made—he made sense to me."

For those of you looking to see how the systemic racism embedded in America's soil has been passed down, a documentary like I Am Not Your Negro holds all of the keys. —khal

If Beale Street Could Talk (2018)

Director: Barry Jenkins

Starring: KiKi Layne, Stephan James, Colman Domingo, Teyonah Parris, Michael Beach, Dave Franco, Diego Luna, Pedro Pascal, Ed Skrein, Brian Tyree Henry, Regina King

How do you follow-up a historic Oscar win? By adapting James Baldwin's 1974 novel If Beale Street Could Talk for the big screen. Featuring commanding performances from KiKi Layne, Stephen James (Homecoming, 21 Bridges), Regina King (in a performance which netted her Oscar and Golden Globe Award wins), and others in a story set in the mid-1970s but could have taken place any time before then...or now. A black man gets accused of a crime and placed in prison at the point where his life was about to take a shift for the better. With no money for his love or his legal fees, we follow his lover (Layne) and her mother (King) on their paths trying to make sense of what life has turned into for both of them. Shot beautifully, acted superbly, and extremely reflective of what life ends up being for many black men and women in the system, If Beale Street Could Talk gives us some of the highest highs—and lowest lows—of black life. —khal

Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992 (2017)

Director: John Ridley

Starring: n/a

The brutal beating that Rodney King suffered at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department was the spark that ignited the city of Los Angeles, erupting into the 1992 L.A. riots. The seeds of that moment had been long sewn, and John Ridley's documentary looks at the history of the Black and Brown people living in Los Angeles and their issues with the LAPD, culminating in this explosion of rage, fury and anger. With many first-hand accounts of the situations that lead to the riots, as well as a heavy dose of archival footage, this is the perfect film to deliver you the true story of the L.A. riots. —khal

Support The Girls (2018)

Director: Andrew Bujalski

Starring: Regina Hall, Shayna McHale, Haley Lu Richardson

A workplace comedy about women employed by a Hooters-esque restaurant may not sound like a social justice film, but trust us: Support The Girls is just that. Lisa (Regina Hall) is an optimistic general manager at a sports bar, who has her optimism challenged by an increasingly long and hard day at work. While Support The Girls is often funny, it’s also a bracing look at what it’s like to live paycheck to paycheck, as well as exist in a racist and misogynistic society. The workers are constantly sexually harassed, and the company that owns the bar does the bare minimum with regards to diversity and racial sensitivity. The movie is impressively subtle in its social commentary, and ultimately concludes that, while these women may go through all of this trouble, they’re alright as long as they support each other. Don’t just take our word for it: it was also one of Barack Obama’s favorite movies of 2018. —Andy Herrera

BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Director: Spike Lee

Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier

BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee’s latest film, and is as unapologetically political as Lee has always been. BlacKkKlansman tells the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department, as he plots to infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan with the help of colleague Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) in the early 1970s. Heavy-handed references that liken Trump to the KKK aside, BlacKkKlansman is also a sober look at the power of activism in the past and present. Stallworth’s belief that he can best help a racist society by leaning into the racist police force and making it more progressive is contrasted with love interest Patrice’s (Laura Harrier) more radical belief that the police are an inherently racist institution. Throughout the film, Lee never explicitly argues whether Stallworth or Patrice has the “correct” theory instead, the unforgettable, almost surreal ending portrays them as like-minded forces for good, fighting together against the creeping horrors of racism. BlacKkKlansman effortlessly draws a chillingly direct line between the political climate then and now. —Andy Herrera

The Hate U Give (2018)

Director: George Tillman Jr.

Starring: Amandla Stenberg, Regina Hall, Russell Hornsby

Based on the bestselling novel by Angie Thomas, The Hate U Give follows Starr (Amandla Stenberg), a black teenager stuck between two worlds: the poor, mostly black neighborhood she lives in and the rich, mostly white prep school she attends. When she witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend by a police officer, she finds these worlds clashing as she tries to stand up for what’s right. One of 2018’s underrated gems, The Hate U Give manages to seamlessly blend social justice and well-written teenage drama. Not many movies can both appeal to teenagers and introduce them to important political issues such as police brutality and private prisons, but The Hate U Give does so successfully. —Andy Herrera

Fruitvale Station (2013)

Director: Ryan Coogler

Starring: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Chad Michael Murray

Black Panther and Creed director Ryan Coogler’s debut Fruitvale Station made a critical and commercial splash despite its hard to watch subject matter. Fruitvale Station tells the real life story of the last day in the life of Oscar Grant III (Michael B. Jordan), who was shot and killed by a police officer in the early hours of New Year’s Day, 2009. Released around the time that Black Lives Matter gained mainstream traction, Fruitvale Station was a flashpoint in the recent boom in socially aware media. It also gave us Ryan Coogler, one of the best and most successful black film directors in Hollywood right now. Fruitvale Station is a landmark film. —Andy Herrera

Do The Right Thing (1989)

Director: Spike Lee

Starring: Spike Lee, Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello

Only Spike Lee’s third film, Do The Right Thing is considered one of the greatest films of all time. It centers on the racial tensions within a Brooklyn neighborhood and how they come to a tragic head on the hottest day of the summer. Many reviewers at the time protested the film, concerned that it would cause black audiences to riot because of its violent climax, a claim that Lee would later remark as “outrageous” and racist. The film ends with quotations from Martin Luther King, Jr and Malcolm X that contradict each other: one advocating nonviolence, the other advocating for violent self-defense. It’s this nuanced discussion of how best to counteract the racist actions of the state, along with its realistic portrayal of contemporary race relations, that makes Do The Right Thing just as powerful today. —Andy Herrera

13th (2016)

Director: Ava DuVernay

This critically-acclaimed documentary derives its title from the 13th Amendment, which banned slavery—except as punishment for a crime. (Seriously, it's right there in the Constitution.) From there, Ava DuVernay enlists the expertise of scholars, activists, ex-convicts, and politicians to connect the dots straight to today’s mass incarceration system, which disproportionately criminalizes African-Americans. This is a lesson you can get right on Netflix. —Dria Roland

John Q (2002)

Director: Nick Cassavetes

Starring: Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Kimberly Elise

John Q might be fictional, but it still taught us that, basically, the American healthcare system is f-cked.

In this drama, Denzel Washington plays John Quincy Archibald, a father who resorts to desperate measures after his son is diagnosed with an enlarged heart but is unable to receive a transplant because HMO insurance will not cover it. John decides to hold up the hospital and force them to to perform the transplant, no matter the personal cost. —Dria Roland

Dallas Buyers Club (2013)

Director: Jean-Marc Vallée

Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jared Leto, Jennifer Garner, Steve Zahn

The stars of this film, Matthew McConaughey and Jared Leto, swept awards season for their indelible portrayals of an electrician newly diagnosed with AIDS and an HIV-positive trans woman, respectively, who work together to smuggle unapproved drugs into the U.S. Set in the mid-'80s, Dallas Buyers Club confronts the homophobia, stigma, and rampant miseducation associated with HIV at that time, as well as the healthcare system that keeps treatment out of reach for many people. —Dria Roland

OJ: Made In America (2016)

Director: Ezra Edelman

ESPN does not lose with the 30 for 30 franchise. In this captivating look at race, class, sports, and celebrity director Ezra Edelman traces the life and career of O.J. Simpson, starting with his arrival at USA as an emerging football superstar, and ending with his incarceration in 2007 for robbery.

This one is a no-brainer—it's basically what JAY-Z was rapping about in "The Story of O.J." —Dria Roland

An Inconvenient Truth (2006)

Director: Davis Guggenheim

Is climate change real? Former VP Al Gore certainly thinks so. In this doc, he hits the lecture circuit to raise awareness of the dangers of global warming. Al didn't win the 2000 election, but he did win a Nobel Peace Prize for his environmental activism, and the film scored an Oscar and a Grammy. —Dria Roland

Milk (2008)

Director: Gus Van Sant

Starring:​​​​​​​ Sean Penn, James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch

This is the Academy Award-winning story of Harvey Milk (played by Sean Penn), who became a pro-gay rights activist later in life. Milk became California's first openly gay elected official in the 1970s. Less than a year into his tenure, he was assassinated by another city official, making him something of a martyr for the LGBTQ community. —Dria Roland

Hidden Figures (2016)

Director: Theodore Melfi

Starring: Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Costner

Starring Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monae, this film highlights the U.S. space program's unsung heroes: the black female engineers and mathematicians of NASA who helped launch the first American into orbit in outer space. It's adapted from the nonfiction book of the same name by Margot Lee Shetterly. —Dria Roland

Tangerine (2015)

Director: Sean Baker

Tangerine is a nonfiction movie where two transgender sex workers in LA set out to get revenge on the pimp that was cheating on one of them while she was locked up. The main thing, though, is that it's funny—and a little humor can go a long way toward normalizing people society largely marginalizes. The New York Times described it as "a female-friendship movie about two people who each started life with an XY chromosome set." —Dria Roland

Dear White People (2014)

Director: Justin Simien

Starring: Tessa Thompson, Tyler James Williams, Brandon P. Bell, Teyonah Parris

Calm down, everybody! If you read past the title, you'll understand this is a satire. Described early on as a dramedy about "being a black face in a white space," Dear White People explored escalating racial tensions at a fictional Ivy League college from the perspective of several black students. It's worth watching if only to understand the ways in which the college experience can be different for marginalized people. It might be even more surprising to see the internal and intraracial conflicts that arise, as every student chooses to navigate the setting differently. The 2017 Netflix series picks up where the film left off, which takes the story even deeper. —Dria Roland

Time: The Kalief Browder Story (2017)

Director: Jenner Furst

JAY-Z himself co-produced this documentary on one of the most heartbreaking cases of injustice in recent history. Kalief was a Bronx teen who, after being accused of stealing a backpack, spent three years in jail despite never being convicted of the crime. He endured horrific abuses at Rikers Island that haunted him so badly he took his own life shortly after his release. This one's available on Netflix, too. —Dria Roland

Short Term 12 (2013)

Director: Destin Daniel Cretton

Starring: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Dever

Based on director Destin Daniel Cretton’s own experiences working at a group home, Short Term 12 follows group home workers Grace (Brie Larson) and Mason (John Gallagher Jr. ) as they do their best to help the children they work with, as well as deal with their own personal traumas. The film puts a refreshingly humane and complex face on group homes, and treats every character with nuance, including Lakeith Stanfield’s Marcus (one of his earliest roles). Short Term 12 is an emotional and empathetic ode to children who live in group homes, and those who make it their life’s work to help them. —Andy Herrera

Harlan County, USA (1976)

Director: Barbara Kopple

The Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature in 1976, Harlan County, USA is a landmark film in documentary cinema. The film documents the “Brookside Strike,” in which 180 coal workers stood up to the Eastover Coal Company after their refusal to sign a contract recognizing that said workers had joined the United Mine Workers of America. The strike led to violence from Eastover against the striking workers, through both thugs hired by the company and scabs. Harlan County, USA is hard to watch, but Kopple’s directing lends every person in the film empathy, carefully capturing their steely resilience in the face of impossible odds. Harlan County, USA is not only a brilliant documentary, but a powerful elegy to worker’s rights and the necessity of unions. —Andy Herrera

Food, Inc. (2008)

Director: Robert Kenner

There are a number of shock-and-awe food docs. 2017's What the Health, for example, scared all your friends into going vegan. Food, Inc. is a little less salacious as it examines where our food really comes from in the U.S. It details the effects of agribusiness on the environment, employees, animals, and consumer. —Dria Roland

Titicut Follies (1967)

Director: Frederick Wiseman

Celebrated documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s first film, Titicut Follies, portrays the patients at Bridgewater State Hospital, a home for the criminally insane, who live in empty cells and are often mistreated by hospital staff. Titicut Follies is shot in the cinema verite style that Wiseman went on to use with all of his films: there is no narration, music, or commentary, only pure footage. The state of Massachusetts sued to get the movie banned, making Titicut Follies the first movie in American history to be banned for reasons other than obscenity and national security. Wiseman repeatedly appealed to the United States Supreme Court to have the film released, and didn’t get his wish until 1991, almost thirty years later. Titicut Follies is largely credited for the increased concern over the state of American mental healthcare in the decades since its release. —Andy Herrera

Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004)

Director: Michael Moore

From the Bush administration to Donald Trump's Muslim ban, some government officials have used the War on Terror to perpetuate Islamophobia and intolerance against certain groups of people. We'd never promote conspiracy theories, but filmmaker Michael Moore raised legit questions about the motives behind the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, and he did so through investigative journalism and humor. —Dria Roland

Central Park Five (2012)

Director: Ken Burns, Sarah Burns, David McMahon

Starring: Antron McCray, Kharey Wise, Raymond Santana, Yusef Salaam

This documentary examines the high-profile Central Park Jogger case, in which five teenagers from Harlem were convicted of raping and assaulting a woman jogging through Central Park in 1989.

At the time, Donald Trump took out full-page newspaper ads calling for the teens to receive the death penalty. Thankfully that didn't happen, since after they'd spent six to 13 years in prison, a serial rapist confessed to the crime and the world learned the teens had been wrongfully convicted. This film finally gives the perspective of these victims and delves into how such an egregious miscarriage of justice could occur. —Dria Roland

Dark Girls (2011)

Director: Bill Duke, D. Channsin Berry

Starring: Viola Davis, Soren Baker, Joni Bovill

If you've ever uttered a sentence like, "She's pretty for a dark girl," you should sit down and watch this doc. In Dark Girls, filmmakers set out to examine the taboo subject of skin-color bias among people of African descent, and especially how it affects the lives of women on the receiving end. —Dria Roland

RESIST (2018)

Director: Tani Ikeda, Natalie Johns, Mobolaji Olambiwonnu

OK, this is technically a docuseries, but each episode is so short it makes the cut. It centers on Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of Black Lives Matter, as she and a group of community organizers work together to shut down a new jail L.A. county is trying to break ground on. If you want to see how grassroots activism really works, this is a firsthand account. Rosario Dawson and other recognizable figures make an appearance as well. —Dria Roland

Bowling For Columbine (2002)

Director: Michael Moore

Michael Moore has an inflammatory style, this is true. But he popularized a style of in-your-face documentary-making with this Oscar-winning film that dissects American gun culture and the events surrounding the 1999 Columbine High School shooting. —Dria Roland

The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)

Director: Howard Alk

The Murder of Fred Hampton was originally supposed to be a portrait of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther party and its chairman Fred Hampton. During production of the film, however, Fred Hampton was murdered during a police raid, and the film instead became an investigative report into his death. The assassination of Hampton is a dark, violent chapter in civil rights history that continued to haunt activists after a blue-ribbon panel found the death of Hampton to be “justifiable homicide” in 1970. Released in 1971, this documentary astonishingly manages to capture the murder in its immediate aftermath through re-enactments, evidence from the scene, and interviews, and alleges that the Chicago police willingly murdered him, contradicting the findings of the earlier panel. The Murder of Fred Hampton is a haunting piece of cinema that expertly captures the spirit of the Black Panther party and pokes holes in the police department’s official story of Hampton’s death (Hampton’s family wouldn’t receive any modicum of justice until 1982). Unfortunately, The Murder of Fred Hampton feels just as relevant now as it did 42 years ago. —Andy Herrera