The Rachel Divide

Name: The Rachel Divide
Genre: Documentary
Released: April 27, 2018
Duration: 100 min
Rating: 59
Cast: Esther Dolezal, Izaiah Dolezal, Rachel Dolezal

2018

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Mixed or average reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 4 Ratings

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The Rachel Divide: What Am I Forgetting?

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Movie Details & Credits

Netflix | Release Date: April 27, 2018 | TV-MA

Starring: Esther Dolezal, Izaiah Dolezal, Rachel Dolezal

Summary: Rachel Dolezal ignited an unprecedented media storm when a local news station in Spokane, WA outed her as a white woman who had been living as the black president of the NAACP. Since the controversy erupted, director Laura Brownson and team exclusively filmed with Rachel, her sons and her adopted sister Esther, capturing the intimate,Rachel Dolezal ignited an unprecedented media storm when a local news station in Spokane, WA outed her as a white woman who had been living as the black president of the NAACP. Since the controversy erupted, director Laura Brownson and team exclusively filmed with Rachel, her sons and her adopted sister Esther, capturing the intimate, vérité life story of a damaged character who lands squarely in the cross-hairs of race and identity politics in America — and exploring how that character still provokes negative reactions from millions who see her as the ultimate example of white privilege. [Netflix]… Expand

Director: Laura Brownson

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: TV-MA

Runtime: 100 min

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Critic Reviews

Nick Schager

Apr 24, 2018

The portrait it paints is sure to confound and infuriate in equal measure. Far from simply a snapshot of a discussion about race, Brownson’s documentary is a riveting account of self-sabotage, misplaced priorities, and obstinacy run amok. Read full review

Sheri Linden

Apr 24, 2018

The result is a riveting portrait, one that doesn't quite dispel what's maddening about Dolezal. Read full review

Movie Nation Roger Moore

May 1, 2018

If you’ve made up your mind about her, it’s hard to see this intriguing documentary changing that made up mind. The movie turned my head, here and there. But the questions about her honesty linger, along with the notoriety. Read full review

Noel Murray

Apr 26, 2018

The Rachel Divide never quite cracks Dolezal's facade (if it even is a facade). But Brownson does move beyond the "think-piece" take on a real person — while also questioning whether she should. Read full review

David Edelstein

Apr 30, 2018

Early in The Rachel Divide, a commentator describes Dolezal as a Rorschach blot, and the movie is one, too. Some people think it’s a hatchet job, others that it gives its subject’s commitment to social justice too much credence. I found it pretty much down the middle. Read full review

Ben Kenigsberg

Apr 26, 2018

Basic sympathy is where the usefulness of The Rachel Divide ends. Ms. Brownson hasn’t figured out how to construct a movie around a figure who essentially owes her fame to the obfuscation of her past. Anything Ms. Dolezal says has to be taken with such a large grain of salt that it’s not clear why it’s worth listening. Read full review

Dan Callahan

Apr 24, 2018

Dolezal desperately tries to align herself with absurd terms like “trans racial” in order to try to find some way of making her way of life acceptable, but she always comes up short, and it is impossible to have any sympathy for her because she is so transparently a manipulator and a guilt-tripper. Read full review

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