Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl

You’re right not to trust a film critic who calls a movie “stunning.” But let me say this about Human Flow, the epic new documentary surveying the scope of the global refugee crisis, from Chinese artist-activist Ai Weiwei: It stunned me, in the truest sense of the word.

RogerEbert.com by Matt Fagerholm

Though Donald Trump is never mentioned by name in all 140 minutes of Ai Weiwei’s new documentary, Human Flow, the picture is, quite simply, the most monumental cinematic middle finger aimed at his scandal-laden administration to date.

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

Human Flow is an epic portrait of mass migration that understands how a lack of empathy often stems from a failure of imagination.

Los Angeles Times by Robert Abele

The overall effect is of something too large to fully comprehend, yet also too intimately sad to ignore, the kind of dilemma that Ai believes speaks directly to who we are as human beings — that ingrained desire to better ourselves, the right to migrate toward safety and prosperity, and the belief we’ll find solidarity in that quest.

The Telegraph by Robbie Collin

Human Flow makes a virtue of its vastness, creating an epic tapestry of souls that stretch from as far away as Syria, Kenya and Burma to the Calais ‘Jungle’ encampment on Britain’s doorstep.

The Hollywood Reporter by Deborah Young

Shot in 23 countries, the film has an amazing breadth and a relentless moral drive that will make it a reference point for this subject, whatever the audience response may be.

The Guardian by Jordan Hoffman

This is an urgent, deep soak in the current refugee crisis.

CineVue by John Bleasdale

With its epic scale and global reach, Human Flow is a powerful testament to a shameful crime against humanity.

Time Out by Dave Calhoun

Human Flow is rooted in specific current national and political situations, yet it offers a portrait of forced human movement and suffering that feels almost timeless.

The New York Times by Manohla Dargis

What Mr. Ai seeks is to go far beyond the nightly news; he wants to give you a sense of the scale of the crisis, its terrifying, world-swallowing immensity. And so he jumps from one heartbreak to the next.

The A.V. Club by Noel Murray

Ai’s approach occasionally tips too far toward aestheticizing a dire situation.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Kate Taylor

Human Flow ventures further into pure documentary than Ai's previous work in that field but it's still an art film, with a circular rhythm to its scenes, lingering imagery and a prolonged running time of 140 minutes.

Screen International by Lee Marshall

This sprawling, meandering compendium of dispossessed people in transit is a profoundly human film, a heartfelt call to empathy, but also something of a politicised nature documentary.

Variety by Jay Weissberg

Lost among the bulletins and traveling shots is any sense of the individuals whose distinctiveness is eliminated under the crushing word “refugee.”