TheWrap by Carlos Aguilar

Moratto’s concise firecracker of a movie is straightforward in its soul-crushing blows and an essential piece of social-realist cinema for our times.

The New York Times by Isabelia Herrera

Rather than being a simple examination of a social problem, the film excels at excavating the deep-rooted, sprawling violence that affects everyone living under hierarchies of power.

Washington Post by Alan Zilberman

7 Prisoners is an angry film, but Moratto, crucially, reserves his most intense judgment for an inhumane system, not the characters who are trapped by it, each in different ways.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Brad Wheeler

This could have been a thriller, but thrills are cheap and Moratto aims for something more documentative, sombre and meditative. It’s about paying debts and the illusionary concept of freedom.

RogerEbert.com by Roxana Hadadi

Survival is easier said that done, and 7 Prisoners is a fraught thriller that wonders at the fragility of the human soul.

The Playlist by Monica Castillo

The tightly wound human drama increases to a boiling point that simmers all the way to the credits.

Los Angeles Times by Noel Murray

While 7 Prisoners doesn’t pack many surprises, it is remarkably well drawn, featuring gripping performances and a vividly squalid setting.

The Guardian by Leslie Felperin

With a Brechtian approach that compels the viewer to question both their own ethical assumptions and tacit complicity in a worldwide consumerist culture that exploits people all over the planet, 7 Prisoners is deeply uncomfortable but utterly compelling viewing.

Screen Daily by Wendy Ide

This impressive feature from Alexandre Moratto takes the topic of modern-day enslavement as a jumping-off point for a morality tale which gets increasingly knotty and satisfying as it goes on.

The Observer (UK) by Wendy Ide

The rather on-the-nose storytelling grows increasingly complex and interesting the further that the protagonist ventures into morally ambiguous territory.

IndieWire by David Ehrlich

7 Prisoners is mostly powered by the natural tension of its premise, which is simple and gripping and develops along a linear arc from bad to worse.

Variety by Guy Lodge

7 Prisoners’ unfolds satisfyingly, precisely by not offering us complete satisfaction or certainty. The question hovers of whether Mateus can ever escape his prison altogether, or merely into one with more comfortable furniture.

Time Out by Phil de Semlyen

If the pay-off aims for the gut and misses, the journey to that point provides a searing microcosm of a corrupt and degrading system.