A Film Unfinished
Oscilloscope Pictures | Release Date: August 18, 2010 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
88
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
19
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
A profoundly unnerving historical document. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Hersonski quietly and insistently unravels reality from "reality"; her commitment to archival authenticity is its own tribute to those no longer able to testify. Read full review
100
Boston GlobeTy Burr
It's the only film that exists of the Ghetto, and it's both revelatory and profoundly suspect. Read full review
90
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzDec 7, 2010
To say that the film is uncomfortable to watch is an understatement. It's searing. Yet it's also invaluable. Read full review
90
MovielineMichelle Orange
The imperatives of history are manifold, and this film is among the most urgent of them. You cannot look, and you must look: This happened. They were human beings. All of them. Read full review
90
Village VoiceElla Taylor
The artificial look of the added footage, counterpointed by the commentary of inmates and survivors, only underscores the unending shock of the film's unadulterated images, even though we have seen them in other Shoah documentaries. Read full review
90
New York Magazine (Vulture)David Edelstein
It becomes a meditation on the dual nature of film, on a "reality" at once true and false, essential and tainted. Read full review
90
VarietyTodd McCarthy
It stands as a unique film-within-a-film, of significance for the historical value of the raw images, the memories they spur and internal evidence of how the Nazis staged scenes long assumed to be real. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette Catsoulis
Remarkable as much for its speculative restraint as for its philosophical reach. Read full review
90
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
The first Holocaust movie that's actually about another Holocaust movie, and in some peculiar way it brings us closer to the terror and tragedy of the original event. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovDec 7, 2010
Amid the increasingly horrific images of daily ghetto life are moments of utterly unexpected, haunting beauty, including a reel of color film that does more to humanize an inhuman situation than anything I've ever seen. Read full review
88
New York PostLou Lumenick
Extremely unsettling and thought- provoking. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianShawn LevyOct 21, 2010
If it can seem like there's no end of films about the Holocaust, it might be because there is no bottom to the well of crime, inhumanity and evil described by that ghastly event. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsJoe Neumaier
A kind of historical detective story made up of haunting montages, including a theater performance featuring a heartbroken musician that's absolutely chilling. Read full review
80
Time OutKeith Uhlich
It will test your faith in humanity, but Hersonski's film is nonetheless a brilliant reminder of the importance of bearing witness. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Hersonski enriches this evidence by bringing in survivors of the ghetto, who tell stories of life there while watching the film themselves. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
A Film Unfinished is affecting as a rare document of a terrible place and time, and those who lived there. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleLeba Hertz
A history lesson about the Holocaust well worth teaching. Read full review
70
Boxoffice MagazineMark Keizer
Just when we thought there were no new twists to the story of the Warsaw Ghetto comes this documentary: focused, sorrowful and revelatory. Read full review
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