The Playlist by Gregory Ellwood

If not for Sareum’s charismatic performance the film might fold like a house of cards.

Entertainment Weekly by Leah Greenblatt

It’s an artful, quietly affecting piece of filmmaking, more than worth the lessons learned.

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

The result is relentless and involving even when it stumbles. Jolie may not be a full-fledged auteur yet, but she unquestionably possesses a singular aesthetic that courses through her work and exists completely apart from her high-profile acting career.

Village Voice by Bilge Ebiri

This is Jolie’s most accomplished work yet.

The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw

The film’s real ferocity is saved for the ideologues of terror.

Screen Daily by Allan Hunter

We only see what Loung sees, feel what she experiences but through her ordeal there develops an emotional connection to a country undergoing some of its darkest hours.

Screen International by Allan Hunter

We only see what Loung sees, feel what she experiences but through her ordeal there develops an emotional connection to a country undergoing some of its darkest hours.

The New York Times by Ben Kenigsberg

It is gorgeous and suspenseful, and it rushes heedlessly into dangerous terrain.

Variety by Peter Debruge

The film is so understated with regard to Loung’s basic predicament that we don’t recognize her driving desire...until the movie is over.

The Hollywood Reporter by Stephen Farber

What the film doesn’t have is the visceral impact that would take it from a well-intentioned treatise to a searing work of art.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by Emily Yoshida

Amid all the important facts, I longed for something unnecessary from the filmmaker, some expressive flourish whose sole purpose isn’t just to convey information. Again I find myself typing the words, “It’s an unquestionably worthy story, I just wish it was told with more inventiveness.”