- Critic Score
- Most active
- Publication
- Most clicked
-
100The movie doesn't reach any deep insights, but its mixture of psychology, philosophy, and realpolitik is downright riveting.
-
80This educational and moving film is must-viewing for anyone who craves a glimpse of the best qualities of a country that many have coveted but which has never been colonized.
-
75A unique, priceless portrait of the now legendary leader, and of his beautiful country when it was in the grip of a disastrous civil war.
-
70History has since overtaken Ponfilly's film, which now more than ever seems like but one chapter in a much larger story -- the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan -- and a tragic tribute to all that might have been.
-
70It's not the least of Afghan tragedies that this noble warlord would be consigned to the dustbin of history.
-
70I was struck by how personal this movie is, and by the delicate symbiosis that develops between biographer and subject. Mr. Ponfilly's presence in the film (mostly on the soundtrack and once or twice on camera) does not overshadow Massoud so much as filter our understanding of him.
-
38A weak documentary. There's very little here to demonstrate the personality and leadership qualities that made Massoud both a legend and a martyr. Raw, sloppily edited, unfocused and without any sense of scale, it's personal journalism with its heart in the right place, and that's about it.
-
30A series of non-answers isn't enough to build a documentary on, especially when they're strung together by insufferably self-congratulatory voiceover narration (de Ponfilly plays up his agony over whether documentary filmmaking helps or hurts its subjects) and corny stylistic effects.