Desert Dancer

The A.V. Club by

The whole thing resembles nothing more than the kind of video a well-meaning high-school teacher would put on to occupy their class while they catch up on some paperwork. It will almost certainly be used for this purpose in the future.

Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl

The film plays too safe with its narrative. Fortunately, like its characters, it's most daring when it's in motion.

Arizona Republic by Bill Goodykoontz

One of those message movies that never uses subtlety when a sledgehammer is handy.

Slant Magazine by Ed Gonzalez

The film's relentless turning of its characters' experience into platitudes and homilies is served for our too-easy consumption.

The Hollywood Reporter by Frank Scheck

Desert Dancer too often lapses into generic cinematic clichés, failing to live up to the dramatic potential of its subject matter.

Chicago Sun-Times by Mary Houlihan

The powerfully choreographed dances also address the idea that artistic vision is a potent antidote to repression.

The Dissolve by Nathan Rabin

Desert Dancer is blessed by a powerful sincerity. The filmmakers clearly believe the bromides offered about the life-affirming power of dance and artistic expression. The conviction that this story matters and deserves to be taken seriously gets the film over its occasional rough patches.

Movie Nation by Roger Moore

First time feature director Richard Raymond never quite lifts this above generic in tone and message.

New York Post by Sara Stewart

It may fall into some conventional paces as a triumph-over-adversity story, but Desert Dancer does manage to movingly convey the chilling, ultimately triumphant experience of Ghaffarian’s struggle for creative expression under a regime that tried to crush it.