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CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
9
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews
Oct 1, 2020
Season 1 Review:
The invaluable documentary “Kingdom of Silence” reminds us Khashoggi’s life was so much more than the shocking details of his death. Told in a straightforward, historically and journalistically sound manner, director Rick Rowley’s documentary is as much about the complicated, co-dependent and sometimes toxic relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia as it about the man himself.
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Oct 2, 2020
Season 1 Review:
It is extraordinary to view the trajectory of modern relations between the Middle East and the United States through one man's career. But Rowley's assessment of Khashoggi through "Kingdom of Silence" acknowledges the profile's incompleteness, as any truthful portrait of a man and his contradictions would be. ... So many aspects of the man are unknowable and a wealth of him left unsaid. Such ambiguity only makes the film that more absorbing and visceral to experience.
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The PlaylistOct 5, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Rowley, a veteran director and producer of PBS documentaries, jolts his story along with crisp editing and a dense lattice of in-the-know interviewees. ... here “Kingdom of Silence” is most effective is using his [Khashoggi's] story as a personal mirror to the geopolitical dramas that crash all through this movie.
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Oct 2, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Whether you believe Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi journalist assassinated in Istanbul in 2018, to have been idealistic, naive or foolish, “Kingdom of Silence” is likely to spur a slew of emotions. A compelling profile not just of Khashoggi, but of the United States’ relationship with Saudi Arabia, the documentary charts a quixotic path, from young reporter to self-exiled critic of his homeland.
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RogerEbert.comOct 2, 2020
Season 1 Review:
With a lot of ground to cover, “Kingdom of Silence” wears too many hats. It’s a history lesson, a biography, and a true crime tale all at once because the parts are understandably inextricable, but more evenness in the distribution of time spent on each would have helped. More than just an homage to Khashoggi’s life, what’s most notable about Rowley’s work here is how direct he is in calling out American hypocrisy through the interviews or the facts disclosed.
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Oct 1, 2020
Season 1 Review:
Rowley’s impressive access, and the film’s brisk contextualization of relationships and political alliances, can make it difficult to assess how much weight to accord each statement, or to decide what to think of Khashoggi — which may be part of the point. ... But the film’s primary virtue is in presenting many friends and colleagues of Khashoggi who illuminate his ideals, ventures and personal relationships. ... Khashoggi’s international life, often lived warily, means that no one documentary could capture the full picture.
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