38
On both levels of the film, the archival and the textual, there’s much that’s fascinating and worthwhile. What’s regrettable is the refusal to contextualize and explore the ongoing ramifications of what we see and hear.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
100
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
A commanding indictment of the exploitative nature of geopolitics, and of Europe's and the U.S.'s abuse of native peoples around the world.
80
The Hollywood Reporter by Boyd van Hoeij
It's a tough and cerebral but finally illuminating film.
80
A powerful and provoking take on a violent and volatile era.
80
Olsson requires us to connect the dots to today's struggles (a missed opportunity), but his discoveries are more than sufficient.
75
Slant Magazine by Kenji Fujishima
Here is a film that isn't afraid to risk didacticism in order to put across its vision of the debilitating physical and psychological effects of colonialism.
91
The Playlist by Kevin Jagernauth
Not only a searing look at Europe's painful involvement in participating, encouraging and backing regimes of oppression, Concerning Violence makes it clear that not much has changed in the fifty years since Fanon's powerful words were first printed.
70
The New York Times by Nicolas Rapold
The energy here feels more like that of a lecture than of a film; it’s an analytical tonic that’s potent to the point of bitter.
100
An exercise in assigning valuable historical context to scenes of brutality, Concerning Violence is a lesson in understanding a continuing colonial condition, the roots and complexities of which are often concealed and simplified by news coverage of poverty and conflict.