75
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100Christian Science MonitorDavid SterrittChristian Science MonitorDavid SterrittThe result is a history lesson both invaluable and horrific.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanYet S21, unlike many documentaries about the Nazi era, isn't a sickening panorama of brutality. Shot on video, it's quiet and intimate.
- 80The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottMr. Rithy Panh makes telling use of a survivor whose ability to communicate lends itself to the subject. The tragedy is that Mr. Vann Nath's powers are used to illuminate these horrors.
- 80Village VoiceJ. HobermanVillage VoiceJ. HobermanS21 is understated and unforgettable; in its modest way, this movie is as horrific an exposure to evil as Lanzmann's "Shoah."
- 80TV Guide MagazineKen FoxTV Guide MagazineKen FoxShattering documentary.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoMan's inhumanity to man is gruesomely detailed in S21: The Khmer Rouge Killing Machine.
- 70The A.V. ClubNathan RabinThe A.V. ClubNathan RabinA harrowing, unblinking look at the crimes committed by the Khmer Rouge, the genocidal regime that by some accounts killed off more than a quarter of Cambodia's population between 1975 and 1979.
- 60Chicago ReaderChicago ReaderThe efforts of victims and victimizers to come to terms with historical trauma are admirable, but the film is too tough-minded to espouse a facile discourse of "healing" in the face of genocide driven by ideology run amok.
- 60Film ThreatPhil HallFilm ThreatPhil HallThis is clearly not a pleasant film to watch on many levels.
- 50VarietyDerek ElleyVarietyDerek ElleyThere's no shortage of existing docus on the subject, and Panh's doesn't bring either a fresh enough angle or enough new material to the table to justify its length.