Boston Globe

Alas, it aspires to be an epic drama but suffers from an acute identity crisis: It can't decide if it wants to be history, drama, or a cry for peace in the Mideast.

Variety

Features some first-rate cinematography and solid acting, but absolutely no sense of emotional boundaries.

Village Voice

Imagine watching Otto Preminger's equally silly 1960 "Exodus" now and you'll have O Jerusalem, minus Paul Newman's blue-eyed wink.

Miami Herald by Marta Barber

What is evident from the film is that there was never any chance these two peoples could make a peaceful coexistence.

TV Guide Magazine by Ken Fox

Formulaic film recounts the tumultuous birth of Israel.

The Hollywood Reporter

O Jerusalem has the virtue of energy, but it suffers from superficiality, particularly with regard to the characterizations.

Washington Post by Desson Thomson

Makes the mistake of including too sweeping a scope in too small a movie and with too few resources.

The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis

Whether on a Middle Eastern battlefield or the streets of New York, characters converse in stilted, expository mouthfuls that smother emotion.

Chicago Tribune

As a pocket history of the battles over Jerusalem in the ’40s, O Jerusalem is serviceable enough. But all the melodrama cheapens the real drama, and turns a war-torn region into a soap-opera stage.

Chicago Reader by Andrea Gronvall

This bloated 2006 historical epic flatlines early and never regains a pulse.