5 Broken Cameras
Kino Lorber Films | Release Date: May 25, 2012 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Total FilmPhilip KempOct 1, 2012
A hugely powerful, moving study of a small village's stand against overwhelming state power. Despite all the suffering and injustice, the final message is one of optimism that feels neither facile nor tacked-on. Read full review
100
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottJun 29, 2012
A captivating portrait of the frailty and the failures of humanity. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottMay 31, 2012
5 Broken Cameras deserves to be appreciated for the lyrical delicacy of his voice and the precision of his eye. That it is almost possible to look at the film this way - to foresee a time when it might be understood, above all, as a film - may be the only concrete hope Mr. Burnat and Mr. Davidi have to offer. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 21, 2013
5 Broken Cameras is short on facts and, like the demonstrations themselves, provocative by nature. Still, it casts a baleful light on anguishing, seemingly incessant scenes of tear gas hurled, bullets fired, villagers fleeing for their lives and, on one shocking occasion, a life lost as the camera rolls. This is how the conflict looks from the other side of the barrier. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonOct 15, 2012
A touching and revelatory piece of film-making about the plights of real people living in an uncertain world. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenSep 14, 2012
The immediacy with which it bears witness to injustice is powerful and affecting, as are the images of joy he captures amid the burning olive trees. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeMay 29, 2012
The result is uniquely powerful, putting faces and human consequences to a political dispute that seemingly will never end. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfMay 29, 2012
There has to be room for this kind of plea, especially a work that, obliquely, captures so many largely unreported details: the night raids rounding up children, the torn-up olive trees and kids' soccer games in the battle zone. Read full review
80
Village VoiceElla TaylorMay 22, 2012
What makes 5 Broken Cameras stand out is its insistence on nuance and its refusal to get caught up in the self-defeating war of words over who is the bigger victim. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam LaceyJun 21, 2012
Both a moving first-person essay and an artful exercise in political advocacy, 5 Broken Cameras is about the experience of West Bank protests from the inside. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleWalter AddiegoJun 21, 2012
The film's sense of intimacy, its closeness to real people and painful events, allows it to reach a deeper place than more conventional pieces of political rhetoric. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. MusettoJun 1, 2012
The issues are complex and not easily solved. But no matter which side you are on, you'll be moved by this intimate work. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubAlison WillmoreMay 30, 2012
That intertwining of Burnat's home life and his political one make 5 Broken Cameras an unusual, moving work about a much-explored topic. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChris CabinMay 29, 2012
The documentary provides a birdsong of perseverance in the face of irrational violence, immense historic anger, and grim, seemingly insurmountable realities. Read full review
50
VarietyLeslie FelperinMay 29, 2012
An undeniably powerful record of the Palestinian village of Bil'in's course of civil disobedience from 2005 to the present...the pic is also shamelessly sentimental and manipulative in its construction. Read full review
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