75
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
Heartfelt acting and a sometimes tragic but ultimately life-affirming story make this an unusually touching Israeli production.
We hate to say it, but we can't find anywhere to view this film.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
This poignant film about an Israeli family rendered dysfunctional by the sudden death of the husband and father is a strongly emotional experience despite its tendency toward cryptic dramatics.
90
Exquisitely calibrated domestic drama.
75
Bergman wants the viewer to empathize more with the characters’ perseverance than their pain, and he pulls it off, thanks to his sharp eye, compassion, and humor, and of course to the performances. [March 2004, p. 26]
80
This poignant, acutely observed movie is eloquent and suggestive in dramatizing a particular trauma in the context of an ordinary Haifa family.
75
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
This film is an autopsy of a family that has been sundered by the death of the father and primary care-giver.
80
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
When the melodrama does get strong, and it does, when bad things happen on a dark and stormy night, we go with it rather than resisting. The film has won our trust, given some heft to its characters and involved us in their lives, come what may.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Lisa Schwarzbaum
That the story is so oldfashioned and domestic and the family so average and secular is, in its way, the wind beneath this Broken Wings.
75
New York Post by Megan Lehmann
There is much sadness in this finely wrought drama, winner of nine prizes at the Israeli Academy Awards, but the family's hard-won escape from emotional lock-down is ultimately uplifting.
70
Broken Wings doesn't stray far from the common melodrama in its setup and resolutions, but Bergman's uncommon sensitivity makes the film feel specific, intimate, and utterly plausible at every turn.