The most recent Netflix buzz has surrounded the release of a Netflix original documentary series entitled “How to Make a Murderer.” I’m a big fan Netflix documentaries, I’ve watched a few episodes and it’s vastly intriguing — it’s very alike to NPR’s podcast “Serial”,only it’s not a podcast. Anyway, with the hype of “How to Make a Murderer”, I’ve decided to highlight other Netflix documentaries instead of reviewing the show. Keep in mind: there are more documentaries than you could imagine and I cannot possibly watch them all and meet my deadline. I was tasked with picking five documentaries. I couldn’t narrow it down…so here are six 10/10 documentaries.

Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father
Grab a 12-pack of tissues because this documentary blasts the waterworks. In the early 2000s a young doctor was murdered by his girlfriend. This is not a spoiler. What’s interesting is that the alleged murderer is pregnant with his child. The documentary is a letter to the man’s son made by the man’s best friend. So real, so raw. Great cinematography matched with emotional interviews matched with harrowing storytelling. I’m not kidding about the tissues, I got very misty.

Alive Inside: A Story of Music and Memory
The best documentary I have ever had the pleasure of watching, my favorite on the list. This documentary follows a social worker’s hopes in getting music approved as a type of medicine for those with dementia and alzheimer’s. You’ll be smiling the whole time as you watch 90 year olds’ faces light up while they listen to Louis Armstrong and sing along. A true testament to the power of music in our lives.

Hoops Dreams
I think Mr. Duncan would ban this list if I didn’t add this documentary. Despite the frequent and uncomfortable film noir-esque smooth sax, it’s a quality documentary. Following two young Chicago basketball players as they commute an hour and a half round trip to school each day, the viewer goes through the two player’s high school years with them. It wasn’t the most intricate or aesthetically pleasing documentary I’ve watched, but given its age (22 years) and merit, it remains one of the most praised documentaries of all time (Roger Ebert dubbed it the best film of the 90s, so I mean…)

Meet the Patels
Its ratings are pretty average, but it had an unorthodox documentary theme which made it fun. Focused on an Indian-American man’s challenge of finding a wife to appease his traditional Indian parents, Ravi tries online dating, biodating, and even matchmaking to find the perfect wife. The filmmaking is similar to the documentary movie “Catfish” with the goal of finding love’s eternal glory.

The Central Park Five
A pretty disheartening exposé on one failure of the American justice system. In 1989 five young teenagers, all minorities, were wrongly convicted of a brutal rape in Central Park. The boys were manipulated by detectives to confess so that they could go home. The detectives made the boys believe that they would be able to leave if they accused the other boys in the group. The boys went home more than ten years later.

Fed Up
“Fed Up” isn’t your typical American obesity documentary. Instead of focusing on what consumers are doing wrong, it focuses on how food distributors and American media have really intensified America’s obesity problem. Which is to say, what the media says will get you “thin and fit” isn’t such reality. An intriguing perspective on a well-discussed issue.