We Come as Friends
| Release Date: August 14, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
80
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 10 Critic Reviews
Positive:
9
Mixed:
0
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
91
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 21, 2015
The ongoing tragedy in Africa is too nefarious, too complicated, for any one film to do it justice, but We Come as Friends opens a wide window into this mansion of horrors. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranAug 20, 2015
Because Sauper views himself as a storyteller first, as political as "We Come as Friends" may be, it is always dramatic, never didactic. Read full review
90
The New York TimesBen KenigsbergAug 13, 2015
With an eye for landscapes stunning and hellish, [Mr. Sauper] is the rare documentary filmmaker who not only takes on tough subjects but also explores them with a vivid visual and aural approach. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterBoyd van HoeijAug 13, 2015
The sobering message of the film is that independence doesn’t really mean anything in Africa if you’ve got resources that richer countries have an interest in and a general population that remains woefully poor and uneducated. Read full review
90
VarietyRob NelsonAug 13, 2015
A masterfully composed and suitably outraged look at the neocolonialist exploitation of South Sudan. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughAug 27, 2015
A fascination with serendipity, irony, and absurdity like that in Werner Herzog’s documentaries propels “Friends” into unexpected territory. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayAug 12, 2015
The big difference is that We Come As Friends is observational, while the institutions Sauper is watching here are actively tampering with Sudanese customs, in the name of improving their economy and living conditions. Read full review
80
Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlAug 11, 2015
Moments of pain and revelation keep coming, all varied and surprising. These accrete into a mountain of evidence for Sauper's thesis: South Sudan might be new, but the forces shaping it are the same that have damned Africans for centuries — the rest of the world's lust for resources and conversions. That everything is beautiful just makes it hurt all the more. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenAug 8, 2015
It grows increasingly hopeless as it contrasts the alien paradise of the opening with the wastelands that resemble corporate dump sites. Read full review
25
RogerEbert.comSimon AbramsAug 14, 2015
Viewers are not privileged with a more thoughtful, specific view of the institutionalized problems that Sudanese natives face because Sauper's not interested in making that kind of film. Read full review
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