Amen.
Kino International | Release Date: January 24, 2003 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
57
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
80
Washington PostDesson Thomson
It's not every day that movies present a Teutonic character in SS uniform as an unambiguously moral hero, so enjoy this rarity. And the film. Read full review
80
L.A. WeeklyElla Taylor
Subtle distinctions have not been Costa-Gavras' long suit, but urgency becomes him in this forceful and intelligent evocation. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A handsome period production of fluidity and subtlety, intimate and large-scale. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldMarta Barber
Although the unrelenting pursuit of making the Vatican listen becomes a bit tiresome, the portrayals of the two men by Tukur and Kassovitz are engaging. Read full review
70
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
Costa-Gavras provides a post-war postscript to make clear that honesty is punished; cynicism survives. Read full review
70
VarietyDavid Stratton
Despite fine performances and the care lavished on the production, Amen. is never as emotionally powerful as it should be. Read full review
70
SlateDavid Edelstein
The movie is repetitious, crudely dramatized, and awkwardly acted -- in English, which seems to be the second or third language of everyone involved -- Yet the movie, heavy-handed as it is, serves as a powerful rejoinder to “Blind Spot.” Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
An absorbing and compelling account of a historical episode that should be better known. Read full review
63
Chicago TribunePatrick Z. McGavin
Costa-Gavras' powerful, awkward Amen is a dramatically uneven historical thriller. Read full review
60
SalonStephanie Zacharek
Tricked up with so many points that there's barely any flow to it. Read full review
60
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
About as subtle as a hammer blow to the skull and marred by a heedless mixture of fact and fiction. Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
While Amen works as a history lesson, it's less effective as a thriller, since the outcome is sadly all too well-known. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
Amen is propelled by a most dubious assumption -- Gerstein's belief that if the German people knew of the Holocaust, they'd stop it. Read full review
50
The New York TimesDana Stevens
In the end Amen is neither as moving nor as illuminating as it should be. It suffers especially when compared -- as is inevitable, given the closeness of their release dates -- with "The Pianist," Roman Polanski's movie about a Polish Jew during the Nazi occupation. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Unfortunately, structural flaws and a built-in lack of suspense keep it from being nearly as moving as it was intended to be. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Amen should be a powderkeg of a movie, yet the urgency and force that defined Costa-Gavras' earlier work has been drained away, along with his invigorating newsreel craft. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
It's regrettable that director Costa-Gavras puts more of his storytelling energy into simplistic psychology and suspense-movie action than historical depth and philosophical insight. This prevents Amen. from becoming a Holocaust drama for the ages. Read full review
40
The New RepublicStanley Kauffmann
The picture as a whole lacks the energy and incisiveness --the sheer anger-- that have marked Costa-Gavras's best films. A pity, because it is a true Costa-Gavras subject. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarrit Ingman
Too bloodless to satisfy except as a political exercise. Read full review
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