Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Balcony Releasing | Release Date: November 7, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
78
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
15
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
San Francisco ChronicleStaff (Not credited)
This illuminating film by director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail Disney is a much-needed attempt to put the spotlight on a moment of history that still inspires, especially because that moment led to Taylor's exile and to Liberia's election of Africa's first female head of state. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
If this were a fictional Hollywood movie, it would be criticized for being too upbeat. But sometimes truth is not only stranger than fiction, it's also a whole lot better. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is at once inspiring and horrific. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Gini Reticker's simply made, affecting documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell reveals how these heroic ordinary women prodded the factions to peace and literally brought down Taylor, a leader of sociopathic cruelty. Read full review
80
VarietyRonnie Scheib
Gini Reticker's lucidly impassioned film, filled with strong, eloquent spokeswomen, garnered Tribeca's docu award. Read full review
80
NPRBob Mondello
Without their guns, the men prove surprisingly helpless. And when a representative of a larger pan-African community tells them that if they want the women to stop treating them like children, they must behave responsibly, you sense a corner has been turned. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterFrank Scheck
Powerful enough to make even the most cynical believe in the ability of ordinary people to induce political change. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
One of the truly heartening international political stories of recent years. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
Fleet, gripping documentary. Read full review
75
New York PostV.A. Musetto
Gini Reticker's embracing documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell shows how Taylor got his comeuppance from a coalition of tenacious Christian and Muslim women armed only with matching T-shirts. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel Murray
Overly conventional as a documentary, but it's inspiring as a rebuttal to the declining state of the world at large. It's encouraging to know that the endurance of institutions like marriage and family could hold the key to keeping civilization intact. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The longer the film goes on, the more you crave a vaster history of modern Liberia, originally a colony founded by former slaves from the United States. Read full review
70
Village VoiceTim Grierson
Reticker offers perhaps a too-narrow focus on this historical moment, but Pray the Devil remembers the golden rule of moviemaking--rather than tell, it shows, and what it shows is quietly affecting. Read full review
70
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Uplifting, disheartening, inspiring, enraging -- the mind reels while watching the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, even as the eyes water, the temples pound and the body trembles. Read full review
70
Washington PostNeely Tucker
"Peace is a process, not an event," one unnamed activist says toward the end. Amen, sister. Read full review
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