The Grey Zone
Lions Gate Films | Release Date: October 18, 2002 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
58
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
14
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Pitiless, bleak and despairing -- The Grey Zone refers to a world where everyone is covered with the gray ash of the dead, and it has been like that for so long they do not even notice anymore. Read full review
100
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
No dramatic feature has ever come quite this close to the matter-of-fact ugliness of the Nazi crimes. Read full review
91
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
Explores cloudy, discomforting realities of the Holocaust not usually addressed in such films. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Gives life and meaning to an event that is little more than a footnote in history books (if that). Read full review
80
TV Guide MagazineKen Fox
Extremely difficult but worthy film. Read full review
75
USA TodayMike Clark
Grimly claustrophobic movies can make viewers put up a shield, yet Tim Blake Nelson (who directed O) invests this unusual Holocaust drama with dramatic intensity that in no way cheapens its subject matter. Read full review
75
Boston GlobeTy Burr
Should be seen: It's a worthy ordeal, with flaws that, ironically, make grist for later arguments. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
It's grim stuff indeed, but somehow the horror never quite overwhelms Nelson's sure-footed approach to raising all manner of frankly unanswerable questions -- in particular, what would or could one have done in such circumstances? Read full review
70
The A.V. ClubKeith Phipps
The atmosphere makes a deeper impression than the drama, which might represent a failing on Nelson's part, but could it be avoided? His film portrays the pinholes of light in a place of otherwise unrelenting darkness. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Liam Lacey
When the larger question cannot be answered, the lesser one -- "What would you have done?" -- seems beside the point. Read full review
63
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie Rickey
I would like to be able to report that Nelson's directorial vision is grim and uncompromising. Grim it most surely is. But his movie about morally compromised figures leaves viewers feeling compromised, unable to find their way out of the fog and the ashes. Read full review
63
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
There are better holocaust dramas than Grey Zone -- "Schindler's List" for one, and due later this year, Roman Polanski's magnificent "The Pianist." But few will disturb you like The Grey Zone -- mostly because it won't try for tears. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJami Bernard
It's an intelligent, chilling movie, but one that can't quite shake those stage origins. Read full review
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