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Balseros

EMAILPRINTSeventh Art Releasing

Balseros reviews
73
9.6 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 14 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 3 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info

Genre(s): Foreign

Written by: Carlos Bosch
David Trueba

Directed by: Carlos Bosch
José María Doménech

Release Date:
Theatrical: July 23, 2003
DVD: July 26, 2005

Running Time: 120 minutes, Color

Origin: Spain

Language(s): Spanish (with English subtitles)

Summary

RATING: Not Rated

Starring Guillermo Armas, Rafael Cano, and Miriam Hernández

This documentary profiles seven Cuban refugees who risked their lives in homemade rafts to reach the United States, and follows their stories over seven tumultuous years in their new country.

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

San Francisco Chronicle Jonathan Curiel

Full of drama, poignancy and some heartbreaking moments.

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100

Boston Globe Ty Burr

A heart-rending account of people trying to dodge the hurdles that politics puts in front of them. By the end of this humanist epic, some are ennobled by their struggle. Most are exhausted.

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90

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The creators of the magnificent Balseros stayed involved with its subject, a group of Cuban boat people who made it to the United States, for a full seven years. If you put in that kind of time, you witness life happening in front of you in all its compelling, confounding drama. What could be better than that?

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88

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The results, for the most part, aren't pretty. The newly expanded Balseros, which adds an hour of footage to the previous film, is an even more compelling, if grimmer, work than the original.

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80

Village Voice J. Hoberman

Becalmed or bobbing along, they remain balseros -- but then, as this engrossing documentary suggests, so are we all.

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80

The New York Times Dave Kehr

It remains a documentary at heart, full of astonishing glimpses of human resiliency that have nothing to do with artfulness and everything to do with patience, persistence and sympathy.

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80

TV Guide Ken Fox

Brilliantly edited from well over 100 hours of tape, the final two-hour film recalls Michael Apted's 7 UP series.

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75

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Poignant, spirited, revealing.

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75

New York Post V.A. Musetto

Well-done documentary.

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70

Variety Eddie Cockrell

Noteworthy for its detail and evenhandedness.

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60

Film Threat Staff [Not Credited]

An ambitious, smartly edited documentary epic by a pair of journalists who tenaciously followed their subjects over the course of seven years, the film is both intimate and sweeping.

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60

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Achieves a rare depth and intimacy in its portrait of dreams fulfilled and shattered.

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50

LA Weekly Ernest Hardy

What's fresh for these people is, frankly, old news for anyone who has seen even one or two documentaries on similar subject matter.

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50

The Onion (A.V. Club) Noel Murray

Balseros doesn't fully measure up to Michael Apted's work because of the dingy quality of its video-to-film transfer, as well as flaws inherent to a project that started as one type of documentary and ended up as another--namely, that the filmmakers didn't ask enough of the right questions in the first two installments to make the third fully connect.

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What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 9.6 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Nelson M. gave it a 10:
Talk about a reality show full of twists and drama; talk about a 7 year show about 7 lives condensed in 2 hours; talk about a masterpiece in this marvelous documentry.

Rio C. gave it a 10:
Graet view of human nature, benyon of political issues, was the cultural shock the key of this movie.

Cesar S. gave it a 9:
It made me cry, laugh, become indignant, become angry and ultimately, it makes one appreciate our political system and puts things in perspective.

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