Welcome to Chechnya
HBO | Release Date (Streaming): June 30, 2020 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
86
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 17 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
TheWrapAlonso DuraldeFeb 2, 2020
Advocacy meets suspense in Welcome to Chechnya, a chilling examination of both the brutality that the Chechen LGBT community is forced to face on a daily basis and the difficulty of leaving the country for peace and safety. Read full review
100
Film ThreatNorman GidneyFeb 2, 2020
This masterful documentary from David France weaves high-stakes storytelling and investigative reporting to expose the ongoing situation, resulting in an unforgettable film. Read full review
91
The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayJul 1, 2020
What’s perhaps most remarkable about Welcome To Chechnya is the level-headed perspective many of these subjects have about what’s happening to them. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyLeah GreenblattJun 18, 2020
It's shocking, and it should be. But Welcome finds tender, funny moments too — and even, in the end, some kind of hope. Read full review
90
The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisJul 2, 2020
Welcome to Chechnya is a moving and vital indictment of mass persecution. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKevin CrustJul 1, 2020
As in his previous films, the Oscar-nominated "How to Survive a Plague” and “The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson,” France, an investigative reporter, presents ordinary citizens doing remarkable things. If only our governments could learn to follow suit. Read full review
90
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyFeb 2, 2020
Whether or not you identify as queer, Welcome to Chechnya will leave you shaken by the evidence of an amoral autocracy taking extreme action under the hypocritical guise of religious purity. Read full review
90
VarietyGuy LodgeFeb 2, 2020
The ironically inviting title only hints at part of the story in this wholly devastating documentary: The crisis, it turns out, is all around us. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comMonica CastilloJun 30, 2020
Welcome to Chechnya is both astonishingly groundbreaking in its use of technology, and difficult to watch. Read full review
83
The PlaylistWarren CantrellJul 6, 2020
Shocking without being exploitative, sad without veering off into depressing, and inspirational without a hint of the saccharine, David France’s documentary tells a difficult story well. Read full review
83
IndieWireJude DryFeb 2, 2020
Welcome to Chechnya is a vital and urgent portrait of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and the world needs to hear about it. Read full review
80
Vanity FairK. Austin CollinsJul 1, 2020
What comes across is the ease with which a person can disappear in plain sight, for obvious reasons, and a government—committed to its hateful pogrom—can simply shrug it off. And the world lets them get away with it—even despite documentaries like this. Read full review
80
SlashfilmAbby OlceseMar 26, 2020
With comprehensive access and a vital narrative, Welcome to Chechnya is an important work of journalism. Read full review
80
Screen DailyStephen Whitty Feb 2, 2020
Built on a potent mixture of quiet bravery and hard-won access, David France’s new documentary, Welcome to Chechnya, puts audiences in the middle of the literally life-or-death struggle of an already endangered minority. Read full review
75
The Film StageJoshua EnciniasJun 18, 2020
Welcome to Chechnya is certainly an empathetic look at a harrowing struggle, but the necessary secretive nature of every element in the making of this documentary can at times leave one feeling disconnected from what’s happening. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDiego SemereneMar 6, 2020
David France’s most remarkable accomplishment emerges from an aesthetic commitment of a very particular kind. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearJun 30, 2020
Welcome to Chechnya is a horror movie, but it’s also a collective profile in courage. You can’t say that “such people” are not here. They are, and they’re not just heroes, the movie suggests. They’re the last thing standing between survival and a purge. Read full review
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