From financial fraud in the cryptocurrency industry to unethical practices of an aviation company, Netflix offered a variety of crime documentaries in 2022. Here are five must-watch true crime documentaries that hit Netflix this year.
The Tinder Swindler
Felicity Morris’ The Tinder Swindler is a gripping true-crime documentary that sheds light on the dark side of online dating.
It tells the story of Israeli conman Simon Leviev, also known as Shimon Hayut, who met multiple women using the dating app Tinder. Then, he would cook up stories to emotionally manipulate the women to lend him money and support his extravagant lifestyle.
The Emmy-nominated documentary follows the investigation carried out by a Norwegian media outlet that was contacted by several women with accusations of fraud against a man posing as the son of Israel’s biggest diamond tycoon.
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing
Directed by Rory Kennedy, this documentary examines aircraft manufacturing company Boeing’s alleged profit-over-safety outlook that resulted in two crashes within months. Kennedy, along with writers Mark Bailey and Keven McAlester, explores the company’s urge to stay on top of the competition and how it led to the mishaps.
Downfall: The Case Against Boeing examines incidents throughout the company’s history and zeroes in on the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302. It includes archived film and interviews of staff, experts and technicians. The documentary was praised for its narrative structure and editing.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King
Amid widespread debates over cryptocurrency, this documentary by Luke Sewell aims to examine one of the biggest scams in digital currency. It follows a group of cryptocurrency investors who investigate the untimely death of Gerry Cotten, the founder of Canada’s biggest exchange QuadrigaCX. Halfway through the investigation, they realise that Cotten had stolen $250 million from them.
Trust No One: The Hunt for the Crypto King discusses the long-standing debate regarding the safety of cryptocurrency, especially due to its decentralised system which evades government screening and leaves the door open for financial fraud. This documentary follows the victims as they unearth an elaborate web of lies spun by a criminal mastermind.
Our Father
Directed by Lucie Jourdan, Our Father focuses on Indianapolis-based fertility doctor Donald Cline, who used his own sperm to impregnate his patients without their knowledge. The director of the documentary is also one of the biological children of the doctor. A DNA test and months of research and conversations with various people later, Jourdan was faced with the possibility that she might have an endless roster of half-siblings within a 25-mile radius.
Highlighting how a doctor abuses the trust of his patients, Our Father features interviews of the victims and Cline’s numerous biological children who share his genetic illness.
The Girl in the Picture
Based on two non-fiction books by Matt Birkbeck, A Beautiful Child and Finding Sharon, this documentary is centred around Sharon Marshall, a child who was abducted by a federal fugitive, Franklin Delano Floyd. Director Skye Borgman uses archival footage and interviews with journalists, law enforcement officials and the family members of the girl to reconstruct what had happened.
The Girl in the Picture follows Sharon’s story after her abduction and her ordeal in the following two decades. She was sexually and physically assaulted by Floyd and later forced to marry him. In 1990, Sharon died in a suspicious hit-and-run accident.
