metacritic.com: Favela Rising

Overall Metascore

This is a weighted, normalized average of all individual scores given by critics, on a scale of 0 (worst) to 100 (best).

65 / 100

80	Los Angeles Times Memorable and significant.
75	TV Guide The larger message remains clear: Unified communities have more power than they realize, and the most vicious enemy of progress is learned helplessness.
75	Seattle Post-Intelligencer An inspirational portrait of an unwanted kid who brought culture to a world that had known only violence.
70	LA Weekly Elevated by fantastic performance footage of Sa and his young protégés singing, dancing and rhythmically banging on cans, plastic bottles or anything else that can be fashioned into a drum -- and a cultural revolution.
70	The Hollywood Reporter Erik Pedersen A daring and emotional documentary.
50	Village Voice All in all, the movement turned out to be a godsend for Rio natives, but the film is merely a pep rally.
50	San Francisco Chronicle Steven Winn For all its drive and passion, Favela Rising is an uneven, spasmodic film.