Green Border
Kino Lorber | Release Date: June 21, 2024 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
90
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
28
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireJun 28, 2024
A searing drama about a European refugee crisis that resonates with similar crises in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and yes, America’s southwestern border, Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border” strikes me as the best and most important film to be released in the U.S. so far this year. Read full review
100
Original-CinLiam LaceyJun 27, 2024
Shot in black and white, with scenes of razor-wire barriers and terrified families hiding in the forest, Green Border evokes images of the Second World War and the Holocaust, the subject of Holland’s films Europa Europa (1990) and In Darkness (2011). Read full review
100
The New YorkerJustin ChangJun 27, 2024
Scene by scene, Green Border is a work of devastating intelligence, striking visual clarity, and extraordinarily propulsive anger. Read full review
100
The A.V. ClubNatalia KeoganJun 25, 2024
What’s most marvelous about Green Border—aside from its resounding commitment to humanization, buttressed by a thrilling and harrowing narrative—is that it doesn’t let anyone off the hook. Read full review
100
TimeStephanie ZacharekJun 24, 2024
It’s a work that blends compassion with artistry so purely that there’s no way to separate them. This is bold filmmaking that makes us feel more courageous too. Read full review
100
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeJun 24, 2024
It’s a supremely accomplished work. Read full review
100
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJun 24, 2024
By replicating the process of dehumanization, the film’s form forces us to confront our own inaction. Green Border is unforgettable, in all senses of the word. Read full review
100
The Irish TimesTara BradyJun 20, 2024
The cross-cutting between activism, brutish military figures and merciless degradation doesn’t always work. But the haunted faces of actors such as Jalal Altawil are hard to forget. Read full review
100
Time OutPhil de SemlyenSep 12, 2023
A gripping, visceral human drama that occasionally turns shakycam thriller to excellent effect, it’s a small victory for empathy over coarseness. Like Michael Winterbottom’s prescient 2003 docudrama In This World, it demands that you witness the treatment of refugees with your own eyes. Read full review
100
VarietyJessica KiangSep 8, 2023
While you’re still in the vice-like grip of its multilevel narrative it may not feel like it, but a film like Agnieszka Holland’s bruisingly powerful new refugee drama ultimately comes from a place of optimism. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterLeslie FelperinSep 8, 2023
If cinema is an empathy machine, to paraphrase the late Roger Ebert, then Agnieszka Holland’s new film is one precision-tooled specimen. Read full review
100
Screen DailyWendy IdeSep 8, 2023
There has been no shortage of films that deal with Europe’s current refugee crisis over the last decade or so. Still, this picture, with its supremely confident handling of a fractured, fragmented structure and its twin driving forces of compassion and fury, is undoubtedly one of the best. Read full review
96
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 26, 2024
If enough people end up watching the masterful and soul-shaking Green Border – and absolutely everyone should, as soon as possible – the collective conscience of the world could very well shift, even just a bit. And sometimes a little bit is all we need to effect urgent change. Read full review
90
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerJun 28, 2024
What grounds the overflow of incident are the many human touches that personalize both the anguish and the stray glimpses of freedom. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesTim GriersonJun 27, 2024
What lingers is a collective misery and the invisibly masterful choreography of chaos, rage and death. Read full review
90
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 20, 2024
All Holland asks here is that viewers contemplate this headline-generating tragedy happening “over there” from the point of view of those within it. After you’ve sat through this devastating film, it’s impossible not to. Read full review
90
The New York TimesManohla DargisJun 20, 2024
The fury that radiates off Agnieszka Holland’s Green Border is so intense that you can almost feel it encasing you in its heat. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 15, 2024
Holland has honed an impressive ability to sustain nerve-fraying tension, and her brutal, field-level depictions of trauma orchestrated by oppressive political structures seeking to manipulate the hearts and minds of some, while dehumanizing others renders Green Border an angry, visceral masterpiece. Read full review
83
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezSep 12, 2023
Holland has made a righteous, masterful work, arguably her best since “Europa Europa,” but it’s not for the faint of heart or those inclined to turn a blind eye to suffering. And again, that’s the point. Read full review
80
Little White LiesCharles BramescoJun 20, 2024
A brilliant and tense allegory on the human paradoxes of violent conflict. Read full review
80
The Daily BeastNick SchagerOct 5, 2023
Its anger is matched by its empathy, both of which abound in its tale of woe set in the nightmarish region between Belarus and Poland. Read full review
80
CineVueJohn BleasdaleSep 8, 2023
Green Border is a powerful and necessary film. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawSep 8, 2023
Green Border is a tough watch: a punch to the solar plexus. But a vital bearing of cinematic witness to what is happening in Europe right now. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJul 9, 2024
Green Border has the directness and truth of a documentary and the emotional immediacy of a narrative feature. Read full review
75
ObserverLaura BabiakOct 19, 2023
Aside from the odd character work in the latter portion of the movie, Green Border remains a righteous, infuriating and woefully compelling watch. Read full review
75
IndieWireAdam SolomonsSep 8, 2023
Its three narratives never fully work together, even as they begin to interlink. Its moments of true emotional poignancy work well, but are all too rare in a film that otherwise has plenty to say. Read full review
73
Paste MagazineHafsah AbbasiJun 21, 2024
In a world marred by the tragedy of displacement—casualties of myriad geopolitical, colonial and economic interests—Green Border’s resonance speaks for itself. Read full review
63
Slant MagazineMarshall ShafferOct 9, 2023
The journeys that Jan and Julia undergo feature such obvious narrativization that they cannot help but feel a bit out of sync with the more observation segments featuring the refugees. Read full review
40
The Film VerdictBoyd van HoeijSep 8, 2023
Hindered by extremely predictable character development and a mosaic-like approach to narrative, making it hard to really get to know and empathise with any of the characters. Read full review
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