On Her Shoulders
Oscilloscope Laboratories | Release Date: October 19, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
84
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 18 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
0
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueLucy PopescuJan 25, 2019
Bombach’s camera captures Murad’s extreme courage, her dignity, humility and sorrow – she is wise beyond her years and the weight of her loss hangs heavily on her. Read full review
90
Screen DailyTim GriersonNov 2, 2018
The result is that rare documentary that works equally effectively on the head and the heart, only making Murad’s heroism more remarkable in the process. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranOct 24, 2018
On Her Shoulders is an intimate, empathetic documentary, made with discretion and power. Read full review
90
VarietyJay WeissbergOct 18, 2018
It’s one thing to tell a traumatic story, and another to capture how that trauma impacts a life. What makes Alexandria Bombach’s On Her Shoulders so powerful — besides the profound dignity of its subject, Yazidi massacre survivor Nadia Murad — is the way she reveals Murad’s distress at having to take on the role of activist. Read full review
90
The New York TimesKen JaworowskiOct 18, 2018
Alexandria Bombach’s direction and editing are exceptional; she captures images that are both subtle and formidable. Her film is, first and foremost, a profile of Murad and her mission. Yet it’s also a comment on the media and on government aid. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleMatthew MonagleOct 31, 2018
On Her Shoulders offers some limited insights into the politics of international refugees, but the film keeps its focus on a woman of humble origins who willingly takes on the pain of millions. Read full review
88
Washington PostVanessa H. LarsonOct 30, 2018
The powerful and affecting documentary On Her Shoulders doesn’t rehash Murad’s suffering in painful detail. Instead, filmmaker Alexandria Bombach, who made the 2015 Afghanistan documentary “Frame by Frame,” chronicles Murad’s more recent life, revealing her to be a compelling and inspiring subject. Read full review
85
Film Journal InternationalMaria GarciaOct 18, 2018
Bombach’s respectful distance from her subject allows the audience to see in a way that one does watching a Robert Bresson film; in the slowly unfolding narrative, stripped of drama but not of emotion, Nadia’s spirit emerges. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichOct 18, 2018
If On Her Shoulders struggles for an ending, perhaps that’s because we have to supply our own. People like Nadia can’t fix the world, but this vital documentary is proof that it’s heroic enough just to be heard. Read full review
80
EmpireIan FreerJan 28, 2019
On Her Shoulders is a compassionate, level-headed portrait of a remarkable woman. What it lacks in filmmaking fireworks, it makes up for in the sheer magnetism and moxie of its hero. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawJan 24, 2019
Nadia is shown always surrounded by crowds, almost crushed by them. But her utter loneliness is heartbreaking. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeOct 18, 2018
Less a portrait of accidental activist Nadia Murad than a sensitive witnessing of the way she has endured life in the public eye, Alexandria Bombach's On Her Shoulders is passionately attentive to the plight of the Yazidis while making broader observations about the call to public service. Read full review
80
Village VoiceBilge EbiriOct 18, 2018
Even though she never loses her focus on Nadia, Bombach subtly shifts her attention from Nadia’s specific requests from the international community to the thornier question of what happens to the Yazidis from here onward. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comNell MinowOct 19, 2018
The film’s most affecting moments are when Murad speaks directly to the camera. Read full review
75
The Film StageJohn FinkOct 18, 2018
On Her Shoulders is an essential documentary about an inspiring young woman and allies that still have a lot more work to accomplish. Read full review
75
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 16, 2018
On Her Shoulders also gets to the essence of Nadia. Her speeches (in English and Arabic with English subtitles) move audience after audience to tears. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineDerek SmithOct 15, 2018
The film is most interested in homing in on the ways Nadia Murad's fragility and self-doubt arise as collateral damage from her fame and steadfast activism. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlOct 25, 2018
Especially wrenching are scenes of the Yazidi, torn from the land of their birth, separated from one another in camps, confronting the question of how to remain unified when scattered across the globe. Read full review
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