100
The New York Times by Jeannette Catsoulis
Dropping us into a perfect storm of avarice, this cool and incisive snapshot of global capitalism at work is as remarkable for its access as for its refusal to judge.
Big Men
Critic Rating
(read reviews)User Rating
- United Kingdom,
- Denmark,
- United States
- 2014
- · 99m
Director
Rachel Boynton
Cast
George Owusu-Afriyie,
Bill Hayes,
Jeffrey Harris
Genre
Documentary
In this gripping documentary, filmmaker Rachel Boynton examines the oil industries of Ghana and Nigeria from inside Dallas-based oil company Kosmos Energy. Boynton's access to Africa’s oil companies is unprecedented, and this access allows her to investigate the causes — and corruption — behind Africa’s resource curse.
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What are critics saying?
100
Village Voice by Alan Scherstuhl
This film, a great one, demands a follow-up.
100
Variety by Scott Foundas
Rachel Boynton’s extraordinary Big Men should come tagged with a warning: The side effects of global capitalism may include dizziness, nausea and seething outrage.
100
Los Angeles Times by Kenneth Turan
When on-the-ground reality is conveyed with the complexity and fascination it is here, unforgettable documentaries are always the result.
91
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Rachel Boynton’s gripping doc shows you what happens when the greed of oil companies meets the chaos of postcolonial Africa.
88
Slant Magazine
No one corporation or person plans to trample over the wellbeing of the Ghanaian people, but as the story of the development progress, the breadth of Rachel Boynton's research shows how it will occur regardless.
88
Slant Magazine by Alan Jones
No one corporation or person plans to trample over the wellbeing of the Ghanaian people, but as the story of the development progress, the breadth of Rachel Boynton's research shows how it will occur regardless.
88
Washington Post by Stephanie Merry
Boynton’s most impressive feat in Big Men is how she takes an impossibly convoluted scenario, makes sense of it and tells a story that’s riveting on its own but also serves as a parable about greed and human nature.
83
The Playlist by Kevin Jagernauth
Boynton's film is refreshingly complex.
75
RogerEbert.com
It's those bigger questions about our nature and our capacity to think beyond self interest that will stick with you.
75
RogerEbert.com by Hank Sartin
It's those bigger questions about our nature and our capacity to think beyond self interest that will stick with you.
70
The Dissolve by Nathan Rabin
Thankfully, Big Men doesn’t have heroes or villains. It’s a deep dive into an endless pool of moral and political ambiguity in which very little is clear-cut, except that the desire for wealth and power.
60
The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore
Despite its successful attempts to show how oil has affected everyday citizens in nearby Nigeria, the film remains fairly dry.
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