The 20 Essential Documentaries of the Century

The following documentaries from the 21st century were chosen for their abiding influence and/or “Wow!” factor. Most of them—not all—we also happen to love. But we did leave out some more obscure personal favorites to make room for the penguins, etc.

After Roger & Me, the Michael Moore doc with the most impact: part prosecutorial brief, part rabid editorial cartoon—a blend of insight, outrage, and innuendo. It’s not a documentary for the ages, but as an act of counter­propaganda against a monstrous government, it has a bullying force. (D.E.)

This boffo French doc about ­Antarctic penguins is a ­triumph of ­location, location, location. It’s the story of an instinct so primal that the movie feels like a creation saga. You watch these ­funny, stubborn little creatures and contemplate the ­endurance of all life. (D.E.)

This talking-heads doc broke through to a wide audience, and no wonder: It’s about how most of what we eat comes from, like, five companies and has little to do with nature, family farms, or anything else on the label. It’s the stuff of the most paranoid science fiction—The Matrix for the diet-conscious. (D.E.)

Like a molasses-voiced prophet of the apocalypse, Al Gore presents the case for climate change, and chills you to your bones. With one fell swoop, director Davis Guggenheim helped resurrect Gore’s image (remember when we all thought he couldn’t give a decent speech?), put climate change at the forefront of public discourse, and made the hero-driven social-issue doc the premier mode of American nonfiction filmmaking. (B.E.)

Morgan Spurlock got fat and depressed after a month of chowing down ­exclusively on McDonald’s—but his sacrifice inspired other docs starring guinea pigs (No Impact Man among them) and paved the way for other anti–Big Food screeds. Even better: So disastrous was Super Size Me for McDonald’s image that the chain was forced to discontinue their titular trough-size offerings. (M.S.)