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Trudell
Balcony Releasing
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
John Trudell,
Robert Redford,
Kris Kristofferson,
Sam Shepard,
Amy Ray,
Val Kilmer, Jackson Browne,
Darelle 'Dino' Butler, Wilma Mankiller,
and
Bonnie Raitt
In this documentary filmmaker Heather Rae the engaging life story of Native American poet-prophet-activist John Trudell and his heartfelt message of active, personal responsibility to the earth, all of its inhabitants and our descendents. (Appaloosa Pictures)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Russell Friedenberg
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Heather Rae
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: March 20, 2007
Theatrical: February 24, 2006
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
75 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
USA |
Also known as "Trudell: The Lives and Words of John Trudell"; Documentary Special Jury Award, 2005 Seattle International Film Festival; Nominated, Grand Jury Prize (Documentary), 2005 Sundance Film Festival
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
75
San Francisco Chronicle
Walter Addiego
It's an intriguing portrait, but it makes no pretense at objectivity, erring on the side of hero worship.
75
Boston Globe
Erin Meister
A thought-provoking and graceful portrait of a tenacious peace warrior whose frankness is his greatest weapon.
70
Village Voice
Mark Holcomb
Unfortunately, Rae's film is split down the middle, and the appeal of its latter half depends on your tolerance for earnest politico-poetry set to wailing rock guitar and Native American chants and extraneously endorsed by celebrity talking heads. The backstory portion of the film, though, is riveting.
63
TV Guide
Ken Fox
Rae's 80-minute film isn't able to answer every question or flesh out important details of these events, and she spends more time on Trudell's artistic endeavors than on his direct political action.
60
The New York Times
Jeannette Catsoulis
No one in the film has a bad word to say about Mr. Trudell, despite his 17,000-page F.B.I. dossier; and by the time Robert Redford assures us that meeting him is not dissimilar to meeting the Dalai Lama, you may feel that all this worship does not do justice to an unusually stormy and complicated life.
60
Variety
Joe Leydon
More hagiography than history, Heather Rae's long-in-production portrait of Native American activist and poet John Trudell has the uncritically admiring feel of authorized biography.
58
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
Anyone looking for history lessons from Rae's documentary will have to be patient and alert enough to pick through the poetry.
50
The Hollywood Reporter
Sheri Linden
Feels padded in some places, truncated in others. It also feels too respectful, especially when its subject is such a deep thinker and questioner of authority.
50
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Rae does offer a riveting introduction to the American Indian civil rights movement.
50
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Unfortunately, absent a more objective context, Trudell's gnomic utterances do little to support those sentiments. By preaching so relentlessly to the choir, this film misses an opportunity to show what got them to sing in the first place.
40
LA Weekly
Tim Grierson
How could a movie about someone with one of the nation's longest FBI files be this dull?
40
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
The man whom the FBI described as "extremely eloquent, therefore extremely dangerous" here seems about as threatening as Mother Teresa.
40
Film Threat
Bob Westal
While Trudell has a few interesting and emotional moments in its second half, from the start it is badly hobbled by its worshipful tone.
25
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
Politics aside, Trudell plays like an infomercial for its subject rather than a serious examination of the man and his beliefs.
 The average user rating for this movie is 10.0 (out of 10) based on 2 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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