80
This educational and moving film is must-viewing for anyone who craves a glimpse of the best qualities of a country that many have coveted but which has never been colonized.
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What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
70
The New York Times by Dana Stevens
I was struck by how personal this movie is, and by the delicate symbiosis that develops between biographer and subject. Mr. Ponfilly's presence in the film (mostly on the soundtrack and once or twice on camera) does not overshadow Massoud so much as filter our understanding of him.
100
Christian Science Monitor by David Sterritt
The movie doesn't reach any deep insights, but its mixture of psychology, philosophy, and realpolitik is downright riveting.
70
It's not the least of Afghan tragedies that this noble warlord would be consigned to the dustbin of history.
38
New York Daily News by Jack Mathews
A weak documentary. There's very little here to demonstrate the personality and leadership qualities that made Massoud both a legend and a martyr. Raw, sloppily edited, unfocused and without any sense of scale, it's personal journalism with its heart in the right place, and that's about it.
75
New York Post by Jonathan Foreman
A unique, priceless portrait of the now legendary leader, and of his beautiful country when it was in the grip of a disastrous civil war.
70
History has since overtaken Ponfilly's film, which now more than ever seems like but one chapter in a much larger story -- the ongoing tragedy of Afghanistan -- and a tragic tribute to all that might have been.
30
A series of non-answers isn't enough to build a documentary on, especially when they're strung together by insufferably self-congratulatory voiceover narration (de Ponfilly plays up his agony over whether documentary filmmaking helps or hurts its subjects) and corny stylistic effects.