The Salt of the Earth
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: March 27, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
2
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireDavid HughesJul 14, 2015
Some of his Salgado's depictions of human suffering are not for the faint-hearted but, like this fine film, demand to be seen. Unmissable. Read full review
100
Philadelphia InquirerTirdad DerakhshaniApr 10, 2015
The Salt of the Earth, has the power to draw you into its world, transfix, and perhaps eventually transform you. Read full review
100
Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMar 26, 2015
Stunning and, in the aggregate, almost overwhelming. This is not a feel-good travelogue, and Mr. Salgado has never pretended to be a cockeyed optimist. Read full review
100
New York PostSara StewartMar 25, 2015
Many of the images — and Salgado’s accounts of taking them — are as soul-shattering as they are breathtaking. Read full review
91
Charlotte ObserverLawrence ToppmanMay 28, 2015
This Oscar-nominated documentary does everything you want a documentary to do. It introduces us to a compelling character and, by the finish, allows us to feel we know him well. It makes larger points about the human toil and suffering he shot for most of his career, before he turned to nature to refresh himself. Read full review
91
Portland OregonianJeff BakerMay 14, 2015
The Salt of the Earth presents not just a passing of time through one man's remarkable life but a change of perspective. Read full review
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerMar 27, 2015
Most of the photographs on view in The Salt of the Earth bear witness to great suffering, and what they exalt is not the photographer’s eye but the fearful humanity that binds us all. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatyMar 25, 2015
With this heartbreaking yet hopeful new documentary about his life’s work, Salgado shares the stories behind these split-second black-and-white moments, giving them even more dimension. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRodrigo PerezDec 11, 2014
The Salt of The Earth is a mesmeric and unforgettable look at the world and it sufferings through the eyes of a remarkably insightful and honorable artist. Read full review
90
NPRBob MondelloMar 31, 2015
Healing the land helped heal Salgado. It also provides an eloquent closure to The Salt of the Earth, as landscapes of human misery give way to ... landscapes. Read full review
90
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekMar 24, 2015
The movie Wenders and Juliano have made is a tribute that feels both grand and modest in scale: Just as Salgado's photographs do, it extends the notion of friends and family to include every citizen of the world. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranDec 11, 2014
The Salt of the Earth deals with two kinds of journeys the photographer made. The outward one may have literally taken him to the furthest corners of the Earth and resulted in the stunning images the film features, but it is the inward journey that paralleled it that completely holds our attention. Read full review
90
VarietyJay WeissbergDec 11, 2014
Wim Wenders’ mastery of the documentary form is again on display in The Salt of the Earth. Read full review
88
Miami HeraldRene RodriguezApr 16, 2015
The Salt of the Earth is a celebration of the power of art to change the world, as well as an exploration of the considerable toll gifted artists sometimes pay for their talents, and their courage to push forward regardless. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesBill StametsApr 2, 2015
This moving, Oscar-nominated documentary is an odyssey of a tragic observer. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comPeter SobczynskiMar 27, 2015
The result, though not without flaws, is an invigorating and interesting observation of the man, his work and the entire medium of photography. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 9, 2015
It is a fascinating film, and if it skimps somewhat on the moral complications of this kind of art, it holds nothing back in terms of volume: Image after image grabs our eye and often grips our throat. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriApr 4, 2015
It’s a fascinating meeting of three minds, and perspectives. Chief among them is Salgado himself. Read full review
80
The DissolveScott TobiasMar 26, 2015
Showing the best of humanity and the worst of humanity doesn’t mean denying one in favor of the other; taken together, Salgado’s photographs have the scope and perspective of someone who can genuinely say he’s seen it all. Read full review
80
The GuardianAndrew PulverDec 11, 2014
The co-operation between Wenders and Salgado Jr works well, mixing the former's heavyweight presence as both interviewer and storyteller, and the latter's ability to harvest intimate, deep-buried subtleties that may otherwise not have seen the light of day. Together they have made a moving tribute to a peerless talent. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijDec 11, 2014
The Salt of the Earth doesn’t reveal so much as gracefully confirm that the empathy and humanism that make Salgado’s photojournalistic work so special are also a part of the artist’s outlook on life. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiApr 29, 2015
The Salt of the Earth travels to the heart of darkness, but thankfully comes out on the other side and leaves you with a hopefulness that no matter what kind of madness and repression happen in the world, there is still hope for humanity. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Geoff PevereApr 9, 2015
This much we know: The photographer takes the picture. Less clear is the reverse process – what the picture takes back. And this, to a large and illuminating extent, is the subject of Wim Wenders’s The Salt of the Earth. Read full review
75
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsApr 2, 2015
Is what we see grief porn or an epic, careerlong study in the best and worst we can find on Earth? See the film and decide for yourself. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubKeith UhlichMar 25, 2015
Whether snapping single-person portraits or expansive group shots, each of Salgado’s subjects is a unique and distinctive being. Their individuality resonates despite the fact that the world weighs heavy on them, threatening anonymity. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineClayton DillardMar 24, 2015
It evolves into an intimate reverie on family and aesthetics, while remaining sporadically attuned to the reflexive and ethical dimensions of ethnographic discovery. Read full review
63
Washington PostAnn HornadayApr 4, 2015
The Salt of the Earth remains worshipful when it should be more probing, especially around questions of ethics, privacy and consent. Read full review
60
Time OutDavid EhrlichMar 26, 2015
Wenders’s reverent enthusiasm for his subject is evident throughout the film, and he details every chapter of Salgado’s life with an acolyte’s inability to separate the wheat from the chaff. Read full review
60
The New York TimesA.O. ScottDec 11, 2014
The Salt of the Earth leaves no doubt about Mr. Salgado’s talent or decency, and the chance to spend time in his company is a reason for gratitude. And yet his pictures, precisely because they disclose harsh and unwelcome truths, deserve a harder, more robustly critical look. Read full review
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