Battle for Brooklyn
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Metascore
71 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics What's this?

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  • Summary: Battle for Brooklyn is an intimate look at the very public and passionate fight waged by residents and business owners of Brooklyn’s historic Prospect Heights neighborhood facing condemnation of their property to make way for the polarizing Atlantic Yards project, a massive plan to build 16 6 skyscrapers and a basketball arena for the New Jersey Nets. The film focuses on graphic designer Daniel Goldstein whose apartment sits at what would be center court of the new arena. A reluctant activist, Daniel is dragged into the fight because he can’t accept that the government should use the power of Eminent Domain to take his new apartment and hand it off to a private developer, Forest City Ratner. The effort to stop the project pits him and his neighbors against Ratner and an entourage of lawyers and public relations emissaries, the government, as well as other residents who want the construction jobs, the basketball team, and the additional housing that the project might produce. (RUMUR Inc.)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 0 out of 11
  1. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Neil Genzlinger
    Jun 16, 2011
    90
    A documentary about the unending mess that is the Atlantic Yards project, is unabashedly slanted and as a result will probably be dismissed by those it portrays unflatteringly. That's unfortunate, because this film should be discouraging and dismaying for people on all sides of the project, for what it says about oversize expectations and missed opportunities.
  2. Time Out New York
    Reviewed by: S. James Snyder
    Jun 14, 2011
    80
    Battle offers both a sobering portrait of personal revolt (notably through activist Daniel Goldstein, whose eviction fight landed in the State Supreme Court) and a searing case study of a community dismantled by racial and economic tensions. Alas, it's not much of a battle; more like "Requiem for Brooklyn."
  3. New York Daily News
    Reviewed by: Joe Neumaier
    Jun 17, 2011
    80
    A gripping documentary about how unnecesary real estate development can change the soul of New York, brings us inside the lives it touches.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    Jun 17, 2011
    50
    Unfortunately for the film, it's clear from the outset this is a totally one-sided battle that well-connected developer Bruce Ratner is fated to win.

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  1. Flickbuff
    10
    Battle for Brooklyn is an engrossing documentary film that shows how a major real estate developer was able to co-opt state and city politicians in order to launch a $4 billion real estate project. Atlantic Yards was supposed to contain a basketball arena for the Nets and 16 huge office and residential skyscrapers. Besides being the nationâ… Expand

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