Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train
Howard Zinn: You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train Image
Metascore
65 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 15 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.4 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 7 Ratings

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0 out of 10
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  • Summary: This film documents the life and times of Howard Zinn, the historian, activist and author of the best selling classic A People's History of the United States. (First Run Features)

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: David Sterritt
    100
    Thoughtful, exciting, moving.
  2. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Jonathan Curiel
    75
    With this film, we see the Zinn who has changed thousands of lives with his work.
  3. New York Post
    Reviewed by: Lou Lumenick
    75
    It's a far more effective leftist argument than the bombastic "Fahrenheit 9/11."
  4. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: J. Hoberman
    60
    Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller's fond portrait, less documentary than infomercial, is unrelentingly and in the end self-defeatingly positive--albeit effective in showcasing Zinn's charismatic personality.

See all 15 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. ShannonP.
    4
    Whatever Zinn's contribution may (or may not) be, this film is like Tiger Beat for the PBS crowd. It isn't much more than an oppotunity for collective gushing about a man whose ideas are presented in only the most cursory and superfical way. For that matter, Zinn can hardly lay claim to the ideas that war is bad, that traditional "history" is often one-sided and misleading, and that the government cannot be trusted--although amazingly the film suggests otherwise. What are his original ideas? If they exist, you won't find them here. Nor does this "documentary" present a trace of serious criticism about Zinn's life or work. Ultimatley, it is trite propaganda about a man who purports to be fighting, among other things, exactly that!… Collapse

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