The Dissident
Briarcliff Entertainment | Release Date: December 25, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
81
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinLiam LaceyJan 8, 2021
Although The Dissident is, arguably, unnecessarily juiced-up with the editing and scoring of a Hollywood thriller, the excesses are balanced by the procedural rigour worthy of a crack prosecutor. Read full review
100
The PlaylistChristian GallichioDec 24, 2020
While not the sweeping historical exploration of “Kingdom of Silence,” Fogel’s film vigorously interrogates the reasons and methods behind Khashoggi’s murder, creating a humane portrait of a fiercely political journalist. Read full review
90
TimeStephanie ZacharekJan 14, 2021
The Dissident feels essential. This is a somber piece of work; it’s not likely to cheer anyone up. But if the details of the Khashoggi case aren’t for the faint of heart, facing the facts squarely is at least somewhat cleansing. And as the story of a man who put his life on the line for his ideals, it’s as bracing a narrative as any novelist could invent. Read full review
90
VarietyOwen GleibermanJan 25, 2020
The Dissident is riveting, but it’s also a moving testament to a man whose courage burned too brightly to die with him. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterTodd McCarthyJan 25, 2020
This is a documentary both tragic and poignant, not to mention maddening in that only a few underlings, and not the perpetrators, will pay for the crime committed in Istanbul. The evidence is all here for the world to see. Read full review
88
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJan 12, 2021
It should be required viewing for anyone who cares about free speech and democracy. Read full review
80
CineVueChristopher MachellMar 22, 2021
Bryan Fogel’s new documentary painstakingly – and painfully – traces the moments up to and following Khashoggi’s murder. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMar 12, 2021
What with all this material, and the focus on Cengiz and Abdulaziz as key players in the ongoing story, The Dissident has a lot to juggle. We can forgive Fogel if his portrait of Khashoggi himself seems a touch incomplete: with its restless style of activism, the film arguably builds on his legacy better than it would have done as a work of retrospective biography. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawMar 5, 2021
Bryan Fogel’s documentary about the Khashoggi murder may not reveal anything substantially new, but it’s a fierce, forceful and highly illuminating film, set out with clarity and verve. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerFeb 25, 2021
The Dissident explodes genres by combining them, equal parts political analysis, murder investigation, cyber thriller and paean to free speech. It also celebrates the life of late journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who tirelessly gave a voice to the voiceless.  Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzJan 7, 2021
We are daily reminded of the importance of a free media, of free speech. The Dissident is a reminder of how far some governments will go to suppress it. Read full review
80
Screen DailyAnthony KaufmanJan 25, 2020
The Dissident holds few new revelations but presents its case with enough infuriating evidence and storytelling power to make it worthwhile. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 29, 2021
The Dissident is a solid recap of Jamal Khashoggi’s demise, but it left me wanting more than Fogel is able to provide, even though he hints at an issue of vastly greater importance than the death of one dissident. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJan 5, 2021
For all its wealth of detail and thematic ambition, The Dissident is a good documentary that never quite becomes great. Because Fogel spends a lot of this film re-reporting a story that was in all the papers, all over the world, for months, watching The Dissident at times feels like hearing someone summarize a bestselling murder-mystery novel, while ominous “true crime” music plays incessantly on the soundtrack. Read full review
75
Washington PostMichael O'SullivanDec 23, 2020
Jamal Khashoggi was a complex, even contradictory human being, and his death an affront to freedom and decency. Does the world need two documentaries about him, coming in rapid succession? Maybe not. But you wouldn’t go wrong by watching either one. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnJan 25, 2020
It makes up for a dry and sometimes stilted filmmaking approach through sheer clarity of purpose. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleJenny NulfDec 24, 2020
Thorough and competent, The Dissident works as an essential political documentary. It covers Khashoggi’s assassination in detail, and very clearly makes it known that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is the one behind it. However, it’s certainly a step down for Fogel, and while its production is glossy and polished, the lack of inertia keeps The Dissident from reaching its full potential. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriJan 14, 2021
Amid all these narrative threads Fogel occasionally loses sight of what should be the beating heart of this film: Khashoggi himself, who often comes through as an ill-defined figure with relatively ill-defined politics and views. Read full review
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