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In the Pit
Metascore
61 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11
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  1. Entertainment Weekly
    Reviewed by: Lisa Schwarzbaum
    83
    The soft-spoken, impressionistic documentary (with a hypnotic score built from the sounds of construction) climaxes with a six-minute helicopter-cam view of the colossal structure to which these somebodies have been dedicating their sweat, and sometimes their very lives.
  2. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: Manohla Dargis
    80
    With In the Pit [Rulfo] isn't advancing any totalizing theory, a treatise on transportation or an argument about alienation; he is, rather simply and elegantly, revealing the secret human face of a seemingly inhuman world.
  3. Variety
    Reviewed by: Robert Koehler
    80
    Leo Heiblum's pulsating music and Samuel Larson's dense, fascinating sound editing rewardingly compliment Rulfo's electrifying visuals.
  4. New York Post
    Reviewed by: V.A. Musetto
    75
    Rulfo adds punch to his material with speeded-up visuals and an eye-popping, six-minute helicopter shot of the entire 10-mile project - which alone is worth the price of admission.
  5. Seattle Post-Intelligencer
    Reviewed by: Bill White
    75
    Life on the freeway is hell, but what comes next for these workers might be worse.
  6. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Scott Tobias
    75
    Rulfo's simple strategy of sticking close to his subjects and allowing them to wax philosophical about their lives and labors pays off.
  7. Boston Globe
    Reviewed by: Wesley Morris
    63
    It's an interesting, if dissatisfying rumination on the working people of industry -- how they labor, how they rest, what they think and feel.
  8. Washington Post
    Reviewed by: Philip Kennicott
    50
    What Rulfo needs, unfortunately, is what too many trendy directors forsake: some social context, some succinct voice-overs and some talking heads to put the serious issues (urban poverty, urban stress, environmental degradation, corruption) into perspective.
  9. Film Threat
    Reviewed by: Don R. Lewis
    40
    Captures the building of the freeway as well as the lives of the people working on it. The problem is, the lives of the people aren't all that interesting and the freeway being built isn't either.
  10. Village Voice
    Reviewed by: Nathan Lee
    40
    In the Pit's empathy feels strictly skin-deep, its insight even shallower.
  11. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Alex Chun
    30
    Equally as perplexing as its lack of perspective is the film's overall shortage of information.
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