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Agronomist, The

Universal acclaim
Based on 29 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 4 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Directed by: Jonathan Demme
Release Date:
Theatrical: April 23, 2004
DVD: June 7, 2005
Running Time: 91 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
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.
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Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database
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...
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 >Slate David Edelstein
Demme's movie exuberantly crosses the border from documentary into hagiography and from hagiography into celebration.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >Washington Post Ann Hornaday
Has important things to tell viewers about global politics, and in an eerily resonant way.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >Chicago Reader Meredith Brody
Demme's moving documentary turns the story of his dead friend into the story of Haiti.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Remarkable, melancholy, and ultimately hopeful documentary.
Read Full Review >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >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 >Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum
As Demme's audienc we're at the mercy of political passion overshadowed by style.
Read Full Review >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
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.
