Darwin's Nightmare
International Film Circuit | Release Date: August 3, 2005 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
L.A. WeeklyErnest Hardy
But for all its bleakness, Nightmare is a film that demands to be seen. In unflinching terms, it captures the hellish existence endured by the many so that the few may wallow in privilege. Read full review
100
The New YorkerDavid Denby
If Sauper is fired up by anti-globalist conviction, his instincts as an artist and as a man rule out any kind of rhetoric or cheapness. Darwin’s Nightmare is a fully realized poetic vision. Read full review
90
The New York TimesDana Stevens
Mr. Sauper has produced an extraordinary work of visual journalism, a richly illustrated report on a distant catastrophe that is also one of the central stories of our time. Read full review
90
Village VoiceDennis Lim
Darwin's Nightmare strings together cruel ironies into a work of harrowing lucidity. It illuminates the sinister logic of a new world order that depends on corrupt globalization to put an acceptable face on age-old colonialism. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
Filmmaker Sauper put himself in harm's way numerous times to get so inside the situation, and the intimacy of his technique, his willingness to avoid hectoring voice-overs and simply talk quietly with his subjects, adds compelling believability. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMarc Savlov
Sauper's delicately horrific documentary is a short, sharp slap in the face of the developed world, and a long overdue one at that. Read full review
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Both blunt and complex, Sauter's illustration of economic Darwinism at its most primal and unforgiving is a harrowing vision of human life as collateral damage in the modern global economy. Read full review
80
VarietyDavid Rooney
Somewhat haphazardly organized yet fascinatingly detailed and enriched by the candor and dignity of its shockingly deprived interview subjects. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Far more than mere fish tale, Sauper's dark, devastating documentary profiles a socio-ecological nightmare with unimaginable consequences, and it's one of the best films about the ugly reality of the global marketplace. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
An uncompromising portrait of how global capitalism can exploit an area's resources to the point of near annihilation. Read full review
80
Washington PostAnn Hornaday
What gradually comes into focus is a terrifying, appalling, infuriating cycle of exploitation and corruption. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Among the most depressing films ever made...It's a stomach-turning tale of globalization at its very worst, though what any of this has to do with Darwin is unclear to me. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jennie Punter
As confusing, horrific and unsettling as a nightmare can be, at least you wake up and the memory fades. Darwin's Nightmare, tragically, is not a dream, but rather a haunting, beautifully made reality check well worth waking up to. Read full review
75
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
Sauper captures a world in which life and death are treated with equal practicality - and disregard. His camera is unflinching; your gaze may not be quite so steady. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleG. Allen Johnson
At times quite powerful. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Darwin's Nightmare points an all-purpose finger at globalization, yet the movie, as raw and vivid as it is, meanders terribly and - bigger problem - never hints at how the disasters it shows us are rooted in Africa's colonial past. Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Darwin's Nightmare would be just another "ain't it a shame" piece were it not for the way Sauper gradually reveals how all this human misery might play out. Read full review
63
New York PostKyle Smith
The documentary tries to pin Africa's suffering on capitalism, but dances around the real problem. Africa starves because corrupt governments own the natural resources and export them to buy weapons to keep their people at bay. Read full review
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