The Territory
National Geographic Documentary Films | Release Date: August 19, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
83
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Amil NiaziAug 19, 2022
Pritz has managed to make this often abstract and far-away subject feel anything but removed. It’s urgent, desperate and terrifying and the words of the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau ask us not to look away. Read full review
100
ColliderChase HutchinsonAug 17, 2022
While there is often a necessity to condense potentially decades of context to fit within a bounded runtime, history is much broader and more expansive than that. What makes The Territory such a stunning and standout work is that it never loses sight of this history that is inexorably intertwined with those living with its repercussions now. Read full review
90
TheWrapKatie WalshAug 19, 2022
It is indeed harrowing to watch — to bear witness — and while the film is inevitably heavy with existential dread, Pritz delivers an emotionally engaging story filled with heart, heroes, and a bit of hope to hold onto. There is no more urgent film that demands your attention this year. Read full review
90
The New York TimesClaire ShafferAug 18, 2022
To see the villagers take matters into their own hands, capturing proof of the encroachment on their land that the government chooses to ignore, is a special kind of thrill. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterSheri LindenJan 29, 2022
Its strength lies in the way it offers intimate access to people on several clashing sides of the situation, making for a complex, layered and thoughtful examination. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTara JudahJan 29, 2022
Though it centres human rights and environmental themes, The Territory is more than just an issues doc. It is moving precisely because it goes right to the heart of what filmmaking can be – a tool to capture, control and explicate a unique world view. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeJan 29, 2022
This short, sharply crafted Sundance premiere makes an impact with both its bleak, blunt messaging and its muscular formal construction, as the turf war in question takes on the heated urgency of a thriller. Read full review
83
IndieWireSiddhant AdlakhaJan 29, 2022
Set at the explosive intersection of technology, politics, and indigenous persecution, the film is gorgeously and sometimes ingeniously conceived, painting an intimate first-hand portrait of joy, pain, and community, before bursting with rip-roaring intensity as it captures a high-stakes struggle for survival unfolding in the moment. Read full review
81
Paste MagazineNatalia KeoganAug 19, 2022
There is plenty of upsetting evidence concerning humanity’s vile indifference to ecological disaster and genocide in The Territory, but there is just as much hope for the future, even if all we have is a meager fighting chance. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeSep 4, 2022
A must watch. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradySep 2, 2022
Pritz collaborates commendably and sensitively with his subjects. Read full review
80
The GuardianCath ClarkeAug 31, 2022
The film is grimly depressing in places. I covered my eyes during Google Earth time-lapse sequences showing the pace of deforestation in the Amazon; the violence of it is too much. And yet, there is Bitaté: still a teenager, he’s already a skilled communicator. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 18, 2022
It assuredly can’t be easy for a filmmaker to choose whether to leave viewers motivated by warmth or woe. Yet your capacity to be both awed and enraged is ultimately well-served by “The Territory,” a gripping portrait of an endangered community for whom nature is both their precious environment and the facet of humanity that can all too easily be turned malicious. Read full review
80
SlashfilmBen PearsonJan 29, 2022
A gripping snapshot of crimes in progress and an engrossing piece of cinematic activism, The Territory is a testament to the importance of being able to preserve your own history and tell your own story, as well as a call to action for the world to notice what's happening in the Amazon ... before it's too late. Read full review
78
Austin ChronicleJosh KupeckiAug 18, 2022
There are no easy answers in The Territory, just a plea for awareness, for intervention. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussAug 22, 2022
The filmmaker’s default setting is to tell each person’s story with dignity, a significant achievement that goes a long way. Read full review
75
Original-CinKim HughesAug 19, 2022
The story it tells — of environmental assault, mistreatment of Indigenous people, corrupt government and business — is woefully familiar. But the brutality of it all never ceases to amaze. Read full review
75
Slant MagazinePat BrownAug 15, 2022
Alex Pritz’s documentary provides an affecting look at indigenous lives at the frontline of deforestation in the Amazon. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comNick AllenAug 19, 2022
This is a frustrating documentary, in that it honors the work of its subject with wide-screen cinematography and leaves-crunching sound design, but as a viewing experience cannot shake the overall feeling of a dirge. Read full review
More From This Movie

83 Critic Reviews

7.8 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL