After Innocence
Metascore
74 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 18 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 18
  3. Negative: 0 out of 18
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  1. Portland Oregonian
    Reviewed by: Marc Mohan
    91
    Powerfully explores the struggles faced by those whom DNA testing has exonerated after years behind bars.
  2. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Jennifer Gonnerman
    90
    Both riveting and disturbing.
  3. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Jeremy Mathews
    80
    Jessica Sanders has observed a collection of lives dramatically altered by a flawed legal system.
  4. Dallas Observer
    Reviewed by: Melissa Levine
    80
    One of the powerful things about After Innocence is that, no matter what your position on punitive justice, you can't argue with the film's position.
  5. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Carina Chocano
    80
    What emerges from these stories is a picture of the fallibility of the system and the vulnerability of innocent citizens, whom even scientific evidence cannot protect from incompetence, ego and prejudice, and of the courage of the exonerated victims to make meaning of their tragedies.
  6. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Stephen Holden
    80
    Calm, deliberate and devastating, Jessica Sanders's documentary After Innocence confirms many of the worst fears about weaknesses in the American criminal-justice system.
  7. Variety
    Reviewed by: Scott Foundas
    80
    A powerfully affecting documentary.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Stephen Hunter
    80
    The moral purity of After Innocence is so overwhelming that it simply leaves you with nothing to say or do. It's kind of beyond criticism.
  9. Austin Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Marrit Ingman
    78
    There's also a little something smarmy about the interactions between the lawyers and their clients, all of whom are poor.
  10. Philadelphia Inquirer
    Reviewed by: Carrie Rickey
    75
    In her clear and compelling film, Sanders lets the innocents do the talking.
  11. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Ruthe Stein
    75
    Gut-wrenching.
  12. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Ty Burr
    75
    After Innocence isn't bravura filmmaking, and it doesn't have to be -- this is one of those documentaries where the subject is compelling enough to do the legwork.
  13. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    75
    The embittered men make fascinating subjects.
  14. The Hollywood Reporter
    Reviewed by: Sheri Linden
    70
    Puts a human face on the failings of the American judicial system and the growing importance of DNA in legal proceedings.
  15. L.A. Weekly
    Reviewed by: Ella Taylor
    70
    Rousing, quietly outraged documentary.
  16. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Jack Mathews
    63
    Though Jessica Sanders' rambling documentary about the damaged lives of wrongfully imprisoned men would have made a better subject for an hour-long "Dateline" special, it's still a powerful indictment of a judicial system too anxious to close cases, and then close ranks when someone tries to reopen them.
  17. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Kyle Smith
    63
    Exploring the lives of several wrongly convicted men exonerated by DNA evidence, the documentary After Innocence makes a reasonable case that compensation is due them.
  18. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Noel Murray
    60
    Taylor does her cause no real favors by trotting out only the most articulate, most clearly railroaded exonerees. It should be just as chilling to learn that even the shady get screwed.

User Reviews

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User Score
8.8 out of 10

Universal acclaim- based on 5 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 1
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 1
  3. Negative: 0 out of 1
  1. RalphusJ.
    9
    Bothered by Barry Scheck's role (he helped get O.J. off), but otherwise this is a nice piece of work.
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