15 Best Documentaries Of 2020
8. Cheer
An eye opening look into an intensely competitive sport that can so often be dismissed in pop culture as mere tassel waving, Cheer was Netflix’s first documentary triumph in 2020. A six part series about high school cheerleaders competing at the top level, this was exhausting just to watch, sensitively made, and also boasted compelling arguments throughout.
The subjects are Texas kids in their final years of schooling. Like most amateur sports, Americans take it a whole lot more seriously than other places might, but unlike football or basketball, there’s no next step for these competitors. Their eye is on the National Cheerleading Championships in Florida - but for serious cheerleaders, there’s no higher competitive league than this.
As such, Cheer captures a bunch of incredibly talented kids giving it their all, one final push at glory. There’s a great cast of characters, an immersive, kinetic shooting style, and even some political intrigue when the creators broach the subject of the money sloshing around the industry, the majority of which is controlled by one somewhat shady company. Bring It On this most certainly is not.