The Last of the Unjust
Cohen Media Group | Release Date: December 13, 2013 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
16
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueD.W. MaultJan 8, 2015
The running time (like all Lanzmann's films) is not oppressive but allows for Murmelstein and his interlocutor to talk through, around and inside the context and reality of pragmatism, egoism, heroism and evil. Read full review
100
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerFeb 14, 2014
There is no need for Murmelstein to break down here. In The Last of the Unjust, it’s as if the whole world is weeping. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergFeb 5, 2014
The Last Of The Unjust is demanding but fascinating, both as history and as an intellectual volley on the lure of power, the ambiguities of perspective, and the difficulty of claiming moral high ground in a context where matters of life and death are so precarious. Read full review
90
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternFeb 13, 2014
The new film may not qualify for masterpiece status, but it's an enthralling portrait of a man — an exceptionally brilliant and articulate man — who personified the courage, complexity and moral ambiguity of his tortured time. Read full review
90
NPRElla TaylorFeb 7, 2014
Murmelstein died in Rome in 1989, and having witnessed the terrible dilemmas he suffered and the mass rescues he pulled off, we can only be glad that he escaped the snap judgments of the social-media age. Read full review
90
The New York TimesA.O. ScottFeb 6, 2014
“Shoah” remains a heroic reckoning with the limits of collective understanding, but The Last of the Unjust is something smaller, stranger and more paradoxical: the portrait of an individual whose actions still defy comprehension, and the self-portrait of an artist consumed by the past. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireFeb 7, 2014
My hunch is that most viewers, whatever their previous views on this fraught subject, will come away not only fascinated but largely convinced by Murmelstein. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric KohnDec 5, 2013
The Last of the Unjust rewards those willing to invest in Lanzmann's pensive technique with a complex tale that's alternately sad, enlightening, unexpectedly witty and ultimately exhausting, but carried along throughout by Lanzmann's commitment. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranFeb 6, 2014
The Last of the Unjust, like Lanzmann himself at his advanced age, is ungainly but powerful. Read full review
80
Time OutJoshua RothkopfFeb 4, 2014
Lanzmann’s feisty exchanges with Murmelstein, a brilliant talker, become an emotional symbol for the pursuit of slippery truth, while the filmmaker’s recently shot footage of Yom Kippur services show a way of life in robust continuation. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsFeb 20, 2014
Murmelstein answers his accusers in The Last of the Unjust. Over a compelling three hours and 38 minutes. Read full review
75
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeFeb 6, 2014
Lanzmann, for his part, begins the interview with a sharp, probing manner; by the end, the filmmaker’s questions and body language are conveying something altogether different. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineEla BittencourtFeb 1, 2014
Claude Lanzmann's film doesn't so much strive to elucidate the Shoah as to draw us into its infinite moral complexities. Read full review
70
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinFeb 3, 2014
The Murmelstein interview didn’t make it into Shoah, and Lanzmann sat on it, saying in a written prologue that he finally decided he had “no right to keep it to himself.” I wish he’d brought it out in Murmelstein’s lifetime. (The rabbi died in 1989.) He deserved the chance to be heard by the people who hated him most — who probably still would hate him but come away with ­respect. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneFeb 3, 2014
In short, The Last of the Unjust is every bit as quarrelsome as it should be. Murmelstein, recounting the circumstances in which he took mortally serious decisions, dares to ask us if we could have done any better. Read full review
70
Village VoiceMichelle OrangeDec 10, 2013
There are no simple denials, nor anything simple at all in Last of the Unjust. Only stories, recovered and retold, of a reality beyond their reach. Read full review
60
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierFeb 6, 2014
Though it’s more testimonial exhibit than movie, “Unjust” remains a crucial document. Read full review
50
The DissolveMike D'AngeloFeb 5, 2014
It’s a valuable historical document, to be sure; as a movie, however, it’s a dry, grueling experience, lacking Shoah’s monumental grandeur. Read full review
More From This Movie

80 Critic Reviews

tbd User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 77 Project Hail Mary
2 75 Send Help
3 73 Hoppers
4 72 The Sheep Detectives
5 68 Crime 101
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL