75
The sensation is dizzying, and you may feel relieved -- certainly the filmmakers do -- when Chavez re-enters the picture. There's a feeling of order restored, but the depiction of political free fall has been unnerving.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
80
In addition to reporting a scoop, Bartley and O'Briain do an excellent job in deconstructing the Venezuelan TV news footage of blood, chaos, and rival crowds.
75
New York Daily News by Jami Bernard
The remarkable footage includes damning evidence of how the media, the people and the army were manipulated. Which leads to that eternal question - if it's not on TV, did it really happen?
80
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
Proves again that the best documentaries currently outshine Hollywood features as the most watchable, energizing, and relevant movies around.
80
A gripping example of "You Are There," on the spot journalism, even if it is a little slim when it comes to motives and back stories.
88
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
A remarkable documentary by two Irish filmmakers that is playing in theaters on its way to HBO. It is remarkable because the filmmakers, Kim Bartley and Donnacha O'Briain, had access to virtually everything that happened within the palace during the entire episode.
90
A superior example of fearless filmmakers in exactly the right place at the right time.
80
Stunning you-are-there account of a grand swindle in the making. Were the coup not such an outrageous and chilling affront to democracy, their documentary would be a gut-busting comedy along the lines of Woody Allen's "Bananas."
80
The New York Times by Stephen Holden
As these tumultuous events play out in the film... they generate the suspense of a smaller-scale "Seven Days in May."
75
A fascinating front-row seat for what could be history's shortest-lived coup.