- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
100Captivating and essential viewing.
-
100Filmmaking at its most fearless, with Ostergaard creating a suspenseful, harrowing account of his original key subject, known only as "Joshua."
-
There was no happy ending, but if Burma VJ's account of the efficacy of dictatorship threatens to crush you, the sight of a sturdy young back disappearing into the mountains, returning from a Thailand hideout for another round of bearing witness, should make your heart burst.
-
90A rich, thought-provoking film.
-
89It's the truth, unshackled and captured against all odds, and it's one of the most powerful documentary films I have ever seen, period.
-
88Burma VJ’ retorts that eyes and ears are everywhere in our ever-tightening global communications mesh. Voices, too, and they get heard. The generals and the ayatollahs have every right to be scared.
-
In preparing Burma VJ, Ostergaard decided to reconstruct some scenes with scripted dialogue -- in part to explain events, but also to protect the participants. This material, shot in darkened offices and apartments, feels both accurate and necessary.
-
80Anyone who doubts that a single individual can make a political impact should see Anders Østergaard’s gripping documentary.
-
80Thanks to the new guerrilla narrative, the world has a constant flow of images to file in its collective consciousness. And that camera-testable accountability slowly becomes a global civic right that fulfills the noblest purpose of journalism -- to bring truth to power.
-
75The most compelling footage was taken during the uprising of August and September 2007, which put a bad scare into the government because a large number of Buddhist monks played a prominent role.
-
It's a very sad film to watch.
-
70Has some style as well as compelling content.
-
50The news footage, so powerful on its own, needs no enhancement. The dramatized scenes only slow the film's momentum.