Amandla! A Revolution in Four Part Harmony
Artisan Entertainment | Release Date: February 19, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 26 Critic Reviews
Positive:
20
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
Told with such sadness and exaltation, such mastery of image and sound, that watching it makes you feel renewed and hopeful. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
Magnificent. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleJonathan Curiel
A documentary that is as thoughtful and inspiring as the music it celebrates. Read full review
90
Village VoiceAnn Powers
Hirsch edits segments together to merge disparate voices, showing how for this movement, music was no universal language -- it was specific, pointed, and almost paranormal in its power. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
It leaves you stirred and uplifted not only by its music but also by the determination and courage of the people who sang and danced it on the way to a freer life. Read full review
90
Washington PostDesson Thomson
What songs, what people and what a triumph that their music won in the end. Read full review
90
The A.V. ClubNathan Rabin
In Amandla!, history doesn't just come alive--it sings, dances, and issues a passionate plea for justice and equality. The film joyously celebrates music as both a means to an end and an end unto itself. Read full review
90
VarietyDavid Rooney
Exhaustively informative and powerfully emotional. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
The film they have put together is dense with sound and information, but it moves with a swift, lilting rhythm that is of a piece with the musical heritage it explores. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Finds a way to impart this sad history while raising our spirits at the same time. Read full review
80
Washington PostPhilip Kennicott
Viewers will leave Amandla! moved by the music, impressed by the musicians and dubious about the possibility of political and social healing. Read full review
80
SalonJeff Stark
The soul of the film, in some ways, is singer Vuyisile Mini, a songwriter and anti-apartheid leader who was hanged in 1964. Amandla! (it's the Xhosa word for "power"). Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Peter Rainer
Scattershot but rousing documentary. Read full review
80
EmpireAlan Morrison
If your anti-Apartheid musical knowledge only goes as far as The Specials’ Free Nelson Mandela, this is a toe-tapping, thought-provoking education. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Music was the ANC's most dangerous weapon, and we see footage of streets lined with tens of thousands of marchers, singing and dancing, expressing an unquenchable spirit. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
The value of Amandla! is that the film helps the rest of the world understand, both with our ears and minds, where South Africans have come from. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
It's quite a celebration. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderHank Sartin
At times Hirsch seems afraid to trust the material's inherent drama and becomes unnecessarily manipulative, staging performances in striking landscapes and playing the footage in slow motion. Read full review
70
Dallas ObserverRobert Wilonsky
Cinema has done a fine job of documenting the anti-apartheid movement, even if too often the spotlight shone brightest on the white man through whom the black man's story was being told. Read full review
67
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The songs of the South African freedom fighters were a literal call to arms. The music succeeded -- magnificently. The movie, on the other hand, is only so-so. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Though overlong and repetitive, Hirsch's film is vitalized by the same music that helped keep the revolutionary spirit alive. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
The film itself is a bit on the talking-head side, evoking none of the passion and anguish that are the music's trademarks. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Watching the uncertain and disappointing new apartheid documentary Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony'' is like going to the lecture of an impassioned but really disorganized professor. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
Needs less talk, more music. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerBill White
Most successful as a tribute to the martyrs of the anti-apartheid struggle. It fails, however, as a well-reasoned documentary on the subject of the relationship of music to social change. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
There are lots of lively tunes in an excellent cause, but in the end you wish you'd either probed more deeply into historical events or heard more uninterrupted minutes of inspired performing. Read full review
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