GAMES: GameSpot | GameFAQs MUSIC: Last.fm | MP3.com MOVIES: Metacritic | Movietome TV: TV.com
Home | About Metacritic | About Metascores | What's New | Wireless Versions | Discussion Forums | Advertising Inquiries | Contact Us | RSS
Metacritic.com: We Deal With Criticism
     Help
> Switch to Advanced Search  
Film Video/DVD Music Games TV

Film

Upcoming Release Calendar
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

 

Wide Releases

sort by name sort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 

Limited Releases

sort by name sort by score

67 $9.99
75 24 City
66 Adoration
74 Afghan Star
48 Alien Trespass
56 American Violet
82 Anvil! The Story of Anvil
57 Away We Go
81 Beaches of Agnes, The
62 Big Man Japan
28 Big Shot-Caller, The
78 Boys: The Sherman Brothers' Story, The
55 Brothers Bloom, The
82 Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country
xx Call of the Wild
63 Cheri
62 Cherry Blossoms
63 Dead Snow
65 Departures
18 Downloading Nancy
58 Easy Virtue
70 End of the Line, The
77 Every Little Step
64 Examined Life
80 Food, Inc.
38 Gigantic
56 Girl from Monaco, The
67 Girlfriend Experience, The
87 Gomorrah
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Great Buck Howard, The
79 Harvard Beats Yale 29-29
xx Home
82 Hunger
91 Hurt Locker, The
16 I Hate Valentine's Day
81 Il Divo
54 Is Anybody There?
71 Jerichow
58 Julia
74 Lemon Tree
36 Life is Hot in Cracktown
40 Limits of Control, The
42 Little Ashes
64 Lymelife
50 Management
57 Merry Gentleman, The
66 Moon
35 New York
62 Not Forgotten
xx Offshore
78 O'Horten
64 Outrage
40 Paris 36
54 Pontypool
71 Pressure Cooker
52 Quiet Chaos
83 Revanche
67 Rudo y Cursi
86 Seraphine
65 Sex Positive
70 Shall We Kiss?
77 Sin Nombre
59 Sleep Dealer
74 Song of Sparrows, The
54 Stoning of Soraya M., The
82 Sugar
84 Summer Hours
61 Sunshine Cleaning
28 Surveillance
42 Tennessee
63 Tetro
64 Throw Down Your Heart
80 Tokyo Sonata
63 Tokyo!
70 Tony Manero
74 Treeless Mountain
88 Tulpan
74 Two Lovers
83 Tyson
83 U2 3D
60 Under Our Skin
69 Unmistaken Child
69 Valentino: The Last Emperor
22 What Goes Up
45 Whatever Works
57 Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

 



Printer-Friendly Version Email This Page Discuss In Our Forums

Agronomist, The
ThinkFilm Inc.

Agronomist, The reviews
Critic Score
Metascore: 82 Metascore out of 100
User Score  
8.7 out of 10
based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
based on 4 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

MPAA RATING: PG-13 for some violent images and brief nudity

Starring Jean Dominique

This documentary is a profile of Jean Dominique, a Haitian radio journalist and human rights activist who was assassinated in 2000.


GENRE(S): Documentary  
DIRECTED BY: Jonathan Demme  
RELEASE DATE: DVD: June 7, 2005 
Theatrical: April 23, 2004 
RUNNING TIME: 91 minutes, Color 
ORIGIN: USA 

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
As a documentary, The Agronomist, in its excitingly fractured, modern manner, does what Lawrence of Arabia and The Leopard do: It traces the upheaval of a civilization in the profile of a magnificent individual. It's a 90-minute nonfiction film with the impact and the greatness of an epic.
Read Full Review
90
Slate David Edelstein
Demme's movie exuberantly crosses the border from documentary into hagiography and from hagiography into celebration.
Read Full Review
90
New York Magazine Peter Rainer
Free speech isn't merely a shibboleth in The Agronomist. As embodied by Dominique, it's a fire-breathing force.
Read Full Review
90
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Driven by Dominique's personal magnetism, The Agronomist is a haunting, inspirational valentine to free speech and human resilience.
Read Full Review
90
Village Voice J. Hoberman
This affecting eulogy underscores not only Demme's own tribute to Dominique but also the film's homage to radio. This is a motion picture that's in love with the magic of airborne speech.
Read Full Review
90
Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
Director Demme has done other potent and meaningful films, but The Agronomist defers to none of them in its effectiveness and its power.
Read Full Review
90
The New York Times Dana Stevens
It seems almost unthinkable that such a charismatic, generous and lively man could be gone. It also makes you understand what it means for a country like Haiti to lose a citizen like Jean Dominique.
Read Full Review
88
Miami Herald Marta Barber
Enlightening documentary.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This film--one of the best and most memorable documentaries of the year so far--brings that truth-teller to us once again.
Read Full Review
88
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
After his murder, Michele Montas goes on the air to insist that Jean Dominique is still alive, because his spirit lives on. But in this film Haiti seems to be a country that can kill the spirit, too.
Read Full Review
83
Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker
A rousing celebration of a genuine people's hero and a timely reminder that a free press is the greatest weapon in the arsenal of democracy and freedom.
Read Full Review
83
Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
The film verges on hagiography as one interviewee after another testifies to Dominique's positive influence on his nation, but in this case the cynical notion that there must be another side to the story is easy to tamp down.
Read Full Review
80
Dallas Observer Melissa Levine
Demme's film is as inspiring and moving as its subject, a man who brought critical news and information to the people of Haiti even as a series of dictatorships sought violently to shut him down.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Has important things to tell viewers about global politics, and in an eerily resonant way.
Read Full Review
80
Washington Post Desson Thomson
We are left with vivid images of Dominique, whose desire to change his country, despite formidable intimidation, is an inspiration to any supporter of democracy.
Read Full Review
80
The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck
Compelling.
Read Full Review
80
LA Weekly Marc Cooper
Although the film may be about 20 percent overweight, the human story of a man who -- for four decades -- spat in the eye of his tormentors and gleefully accepted his role as a latter-day Sisyphus commands the viewer's attention.
Read Full Review
80
Variety Robert Koehler
Melds a great cause and Dominique's incandescent charisma with care using research from nine years of filming and reporting.
Read Full Review
80
Chicago Reader Meredith Brody
Demme's moving documentary turns the story of his dead friend into the story of Haiti.
Read Full Review
78
Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Remarkable, melancholy, and ultimately hopeful documentary.
Read Full Review
75
Boston Globe Ty Burr
Smartly filmed (aside from a few distracting editing fripperies), but it's so dazzled by its subject and saddened by his martyrdom that it never moves past the heroic politics of dissent.
Read Full Review
75
Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Watching Demme's documentary is both a crash course in the nation's tumultuous past and a provocative visit with one of its most colorful citizens.
Read Full Review
75
New York Daily News Jack Mathews
Until he was shot to death in 2000, Haitian radio journalist Jean Dominique was a lone voice for truth and freedom in his politically riven country.
Read Full Review
75
New York Post Lou Lumenick
The Agronomist uses archival footage and music to tell a moving story that's all too common in the Third World.
Read Full Review
75
San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel
The story of an amazing life.
Read Full Review
70
TV Guide Ken Fox
Jonathan Demme gets personal with this affectionate tribute to courageously outspoken radio broadcaster Jean Dominique, the pro-democracy advocate whose unflagging support for president Jean-Bertrand Aristide eventually cost him his life.
Read Full Review
70
Film Threat Merle Bertrand
The film reveals a man whose wiry build, relentless passion, fearless guile, and bravery made him a beloved human rights activist in his strife-ridden country.
Read Full Review
67
Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
As Demme's audienc we're at the mercy of political passion overshadowed by style.
Read Full Review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
Not an extraordinary portrait, but it does portray an extraordinary man.
Read Full Review

What Our Users Said

Vote Now!The average user rating for this movie is 8.7 (out of 10) based on 4 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Acuati A. gave it a 10:
Excellent Movie!

Chad S. gave it a 7:
Is it just me, or do you expect a film you paid full admission for, to fill the screen? Don't get me wrong, "The Agronomist" is a must-see, but it could've very well been must-see TV. Jean Dominique did brave things, without a discernible trace of megalomania, and he probably didn't have any romantic notions about being a martyr; like, the perhaps, studied Tupac Shakur. "The Agronomist" reminded me of "Tupac: Resurrection" when Dominique predicts his own death, and Demme's unobtrusive technique of allowing the deceased to pull a William Holden. To an American, a radio travesty is Howard Stern not being allowed to speak because of censorship, and if you're American, you have to concur it is. In "The Agronomist", Jean Dominique doesn't speak for the horny, he speaks for the poor, and Clear Channel isn't riddled with bullet holes like Radio Haiti. "The Agronomist" is merely, a good film, not good enough for wandering eyes to notice the 4 X 3 screen ratio, about an extraordinary man.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page
Home | FILM | DVD/VIDEO | MUSIC | GAMES | TV | Forums | About Metacritic metacritic.com

Popular on CBS sites: iPhone 3G | Fantasy Football | Moneywatch | Antivirus Software | Recipes | E3 2009

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy | Terms of Use