“At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes — an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counter-intuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World (1975)
This list represents a growing collection of documentaries in need of a good debunking.
This is a controversial list, and there will likely be entries here that you disagree with. But, before you hit 'ᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴛ' to post a lengthy manifesto that I probably won't read, try looking up the film in question on rationalwiki.org, or Google it, followed by the words 'debunked' or 'fact checked'.
And if you still disagree, that's cool. If it makes you feel better, I actually have a film on here that I mostly agree with ('The Magic Pill'), but [1] it's been heavily criticized by the Australian Medical Association, [2] it makes some bold claims and [3] it doesn't do a good enough job of defending its position with current nutritional science, so I've listed it here.
Netflix Is The Last Place You'll Find A Pro-Science Documentary, via the ACSH: tinyurl.com/yby3losn
Watching a Documentary Does Not (Necessarily) Make You Smart, via jordandetmers: tinyurl.com/yck2lbpo
Notes on Bad Documentaries (Or, Can a Documentary Be So Bad It’s Good?), via Filmmaker: tinyurl.com/ya8vovrg
Streaming Services Have a Conspiracy Theory Problem, via Slate: tinyurl.com/y8oth75p
Doc or Crock: 6 Recent “Documentaries” Accused of Being Fake, via the AV Club: tinyurl.com/y9kvvvg9
There Is Almost No Good Science in the Movie 'What the Health', via Vice: tinyurl.com/y8p4tse3
That *#^% Sugar Film, via Slate: tinyurl.com/oyld5rm
6 Famous Documentaries That Were Shockingly Full of Crap, via Cracked: tinyurl.com/ly8o495
Debunking 'What the Bleep Do We Know', etc., via LudicFallacies: tinyurl.com/yc9zrlza
'Forks Over Knives', is the Science Legit?, via Denise Minger: tinyurl.com/zwjvvwc
Unfairenheit 9/11, The Lies of Michael Moore, via Slate: tinyurl.com/88tbrq5
Correcting the 'Fed Up' Record, via foodinsight.org: tinyurl.com/yczcaemr