80
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergThe A.V. ClubBen KenigsbergThe Last Of The Unjust is demanding but fascinating, both as history and as an intellectual volley on the lure of power, the ambiguities of perspective, and the difficulty of claiming moral high ground in a context where matters of life and death are so precarious.
- 80Time OutJoshua RothkopfTime OutJoshua RothkopfLanzmann’s feisty exchanges with Murmelstein, a brilliant talker, become an emotional symbol for the pursuit of slippery truth, while the filmmaker’s recently shot footage of Yom Kippur services show a way of life in robust continuation.
- 75Slant MagazineSlant MagazineClaude Lanzmann's film doesn't so much strive to elucidate the Shoah as to draw us into its infinite moral complexities.
- 75New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNew York PostFarran Smith NehmeLanzmann, for his part, begins the interview with a sharp, probing manner; by the end, the filmmaker’s questions and body language are conveying something altogether different.
- 70Village VoiceMichelle OrangeVillage VoiceMichelle OrangeThere are no simple denials, nor anything simple at all in Last of the Unjust. Only stories, recovered and retold, of a reality beyond their reach.
- 70The New YorkerAnthony LaneThe New YorkerAnthony LaneIn short, The Last of the Unjust is every bit as quarrelsome as it should be. Murmelstein, recounting the circumstances in which he took mortally serious decisions, dares to ask us if we could have done any better.
- 70New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinNew York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinThe Murmelstein interview didn’t make it into Shoah, and Lanzmann sat on it, saying in a written prologue that he finally decided he had “no right to keep it to himself.” I wish he’d brought it out in Murmelstein’s lifetime. (The rabbi died in 1989.) He deserved the chance to be heard by the people who hated him most — who probably still would hate him but come away with respect.
- 60New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThough it’s more testimonial exhibit than movie, “Unjust” remains a crucial document.
- 50The DissolveMike D'AngeloThe DissolveMike D'AngeloIt’s a valuable historical document, to be sure; as a movie, however, it’s a dry, grueling experience, lacking Shoah’s monumental grandeur.