The Sentence
HBO Films | Release Date: October 12, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
69
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
2
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
The Film StageJohn FinkJun 6, 2018
The Sentence is a powerful film full of rich, raw emotions as all parties explore their vulnerabilities. Read full review
90
L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlOct 12, 2018
Here’s a true surprise in 2018: a documentary about an American injustice that will likely leave you, by its end, blubbering tears of relieved joy. Read full review
85
Film Journal InternationalChris BarsantiOct 11, 2018
This is a riveting, important story in which the personal can’t help but be political. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 11, 2018
What unnecessary imprisonment does to families is often written about in abstract terms, but to see what it did to one specific family runs an emotional gamut that the patience of this heroically committed filmmaker does full justice to. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterDaniel Fienberg
The Sentence is so committed to its concentration on emotion and heart that it's difficult not to get carried away, and it feels almost churlish to quibble with the intellectual responses it barely aspires to. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyOct 12, 2018
It's an emotionally exhausting film — but a little bit of perspective might have resulted in an even more politically urgent document. As it is, though, The Sentence is the beginning of a conversation that needs to continue. Read full review
60
The New York TimesKen JaworowskiOct 11, 2018
By making you feel deeply for his sister and her children, Valdez has fashioned his film to make the lapses less glaring. Read full review
60
VarietyDennis HarveyAug 2, 2018
It’s a dramatic portrait of institutionalized injustice, though the film is too narrowly focused to plead its case with maximum effectiveness. Read full review
38
Slant MagazineChuck BowenOct 9, 2018
Rudy Valdez has no distance from the material, which works simultaneously in the film's favor and, largely, its disfavor. Read full review
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