80
This is Iron Curtain porn at its most shameless--a rousing industrial rock song plays in the background every time Schlöndorff wants to invoke the Spirit of Labor--but Thalbach's Agnieszka is irresistible.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
The New York Times by A.O. Scott
Schlöndorff calls the film "a ballad inspired by true events," and its occasional bouts of clumsiness and sentimentality are inseparable from its power.
70
If Thalbach's fiery performance is the heart of Strike, her costar is the vast and impressive Gdansk shipyard itself.
70
Continuing the late-career renaissance of historically urgent, politically engaged fiction filmmaking that began with 1999's "The Legend of Rita" and 2004's "The Ninth Day" German vet Volker Schloendorff stumbles slightly, but doesn't fall, with Poland-set Solidarity saga Strike.
75
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
The dubbing from German to Polish is off-putting, but it is Schlondorff's best film since his classic "The Tin Drum."
80
Los Angeles Times by Kevin Crust
Despite the grim Cold War environment, Schlöndorff blends, mostly successfully, goofiness and melodrama into the overall social realist tone.
75
TV Guide Magazine by Maitland McDonagh
Thalbach's passionate performance is the film's center, but she's aided by a strong supporting cast, Jarre's propulsive score and the gritty locations: It was shot at the very shipyard where real-life history was made.
67
Christian Science Monitor by Peter Rainer
It's all a lot closer to melodrama than drama, but Thalbach is a dynamo.
63
The script plays fast and loose with the facts and adds soap-operaish touches, but Thalbach is a feisty delight.