Television series
MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
Netflix's three-part documentary about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 reconstructs the 2014 disappearance through archival material and interviews with investigators, journalists, and grieving families. It examines competing theories without settling on one, treating the mystery with the seriousness it deserves while capturing how thoroughly it has haunted the people closest to it.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you want a patient, forensic documentary that treats an unsolved aviation mystery as a puzzle, lays out competing theories side by side, and lets the archive footage and the families' persistence do the emotional work.
Skip it if you already know the MH370 story well and are hoping for new revelations, or you find conspiracy-driven documentaries frustrating when they linger on theories without resolving them.
What it asks of you: Three short episodes, roughly ninety minutes in total, so it is a compact commitment. It moves at an investigative pace, asking you to hold several competing explanations in mind at once.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
The Toys That Made Us2017
Same archival-heavy Netflix documentary style: using photos, clips, and talking-head interviews to reconstruct how something became culturally massive. Tighter in scope but equally well-paced.
But The tone is considerably lighter. If you're seeking that same grave, searching quality, this won't provide it.
Unacknowledged2017
Investigates a massive mystery (UFO sightings) by interviewing credible witnesses and examining classified material. Builds the same 'we're not being told the whole story' atmosphere.
But It leans harder into conspiracy thinking. MH370 stays grounded; this one ventures into territory some will find speculative or frustrating.
20/201978
ABC's longstanding documentary series has tackled countless disappearances and unsolved cases with rigorous journalism. It's the professional baseline for this kind of investigative storytelling.
But Episodes vary wildly in quality and depth. Some feel rushed or sensationalized compared to MH370's careful approach.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from MH370: The Plane That Disappeared
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
The Act of Killing2012
Both films treat official silence and disputed history as central to the mystery itself—the question isn't just 'what happened' but 'whose version of events gets to exist'.
Indonesian documentary where perpetrators of a 1960s massacre reenact their crimes for the camera. Like MH370, it refuses easy answers and asks what it means to seek truth about atrocity when memory itself is contested and fragmented.
But It's disturbing and formally experimental. Watching people perform their own violence requires stamina and a strong stomach. Some will find it exploitative.
More like this (7)
The Staircase2022
Follows one mysterious death through years of investigation, trial, and doubt. Captures how obsession with a single case warps everyone involved—families, lawyers, the public.
But It's a legal procedural underneath. If you want pure mystery without courtroom mechanics, this trades some of that clean uncertainty for process.
Making a Murderer2015
Embedded documentary following a controversial conviction, raising questions about evidence, bias, and whether we'll ever know what truly happened. It has MH370's refusal to settle things neatly.
But The series is accused of presenting a one-sided version of events. Some viewers find it manipulative rather than investigative.
Unsolved Mysteries2020
Each episode is a self-contained mystery—disappearances, strange deaths, unexplained phenomena. Anthology format means variety; some cases hit harder than others.
But Shorter episodes mean less depth per story. You're sampling mysteries rather than living inside one the way MH370 lets you.
Murder on the Orient Express2017
A locked-room mystery where the question isn't who did it but how and why, with multiple plausible answers. Agatha Christie captured that same elegant uncertainty.
But It's a period detective story, not a documentary. The intellectual exercise is satisfying but lacks the real-world weight of actual loss.
The Deepest Breath2023
Documentary about the bond between a free diver and her safety partner, cut short by tragedy. Grief and mystery told with poetic restraint—it knows when not to explain.
But It's quieter and more intimate than MH370. Some will find it too small in scale to engage the same way.
The Accident2019
Both work the same investigative muscle: how you reconstruct events no one witnessed, using fragments, experts, and the reluctant testimony of those left behind.
Polish miniseries reconstructing a plane crash through testimony and investigation. Lean, serious, and structured exactly like a documentary inquiry—it has MH370's forensic patience but as drama rather than nonfiction.
But It's in Polish with subtitles. The narrative focus on a single crash is narrower than MH370's global scope, which some will find limiting.
I Don't Know How She Does It2011
MH370's most powerful moments are watching families keep showing up for answers they may never get. This film captures that same theme of people trying to hold it together when the system (airports, airlines, governments, time itself) makes it nearly impossible.
A frothy comedy about a working mother juggling impossible demands. Wildly different tonal register, but it shares MH370's commitment to showing us ordinary people undone by circumstances beyond their control—just traded the mystery for the mundane.
But It's broad and sometimes cynical in a way documentaries never are. The lightness can feel grating if you've just finished grieving a real tragedy.
