Sankofa
Netflix | Release Date: May 28, 1993 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
93
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Hollywood ReporterLovia Gyarkye
Sankofa’s marvels range from Gerima’s meticulous editing style and electrifying use of music to his liberating nonlinear storytelling techniques. But I find myself most consistently drawn to the film’s fluid embrace of language, what it reveals about rebellion and how it deepens our understanding of Gerima’s characters. Read full review
100
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
Sankofa unfolds as a kind of oratorio--the film’s music in itself is incredibly rich and intoxicating--in which people deal with terrible cruelty through ritual and incantations of the African gods. It is a celebration of the strength of black people, in drawing upon their spiritual roots, to defy their oppressors--past and present alike. Read full review
100
The New YorkerRichard Brody
With this intricate web of personal and family connections, and the brave maneuvering in the face of the overseers’ commands, Gerima is doing nothing less than reconstituting and affirming the full humanity of the enslaved. Read full review
100
RogerEbert.comRobert Daniels
Gerima’s Sankofa is an invocation not just to African ancestors, but also the present-day viewer. It calls to attention how history exists in the present, how the spirits of the long-gone can still affect today. Read full review
100
Original-CinLiam Lacey
The focus of [Germina's] story is rebellion and liberation and treating his story as a sombre fable of a soul’s journey through time, he turns the luridly familiar to something poetic and tragic. Read full review
80
The New York TimesCaryn James
[Mr. Gerima's] film is ambitious in its depiction of slavery and accomplished in its visual command. Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineStaff (Not Credited)
Sankofa succeeds, on both a personal and a political level, because of the immediacy with which it conveys human suffering. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger Moore
It’s a poetic, mystical and meandering immersion in the life-as-a-slave experience, both for the viewer and for our on-screen surrogate. Read full review
70
Time OutGeoff Andrew
While there's no doubting the sincerity of writer/director Gerima's film, one can't help sensing more than a little déjà vu in his account of the manifest evils of slavery. Read full review
More From This Movie

93 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL