7 Prisoners(7 Prisioneiros)

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.

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.

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.

The Playlist by Monica Castillo

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

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.

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.