84
Metascore
5 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanA powerful and important documentary.
- 90Los Angeles TimesLorraine AliLos Angeles TimesLorraine AliThe 100-minute film does a phenomenal job detangling the numerous scenarios that led to Syria’s civil war and current bloodbath, dispelling the notion that this conflict is too complicated for those not versed on the Middle East to understand.
- 90The New YorkerDavid DenbyThe New YorkerDavid DenbyThe movie dramatizes the destruction of a society from within that society. Watching “Hell on Earth” is not an easy experience; I can’t recall another documentary with so many corpses. It’s a grief-struck history of cruelty, haplessness, and irresponsibility—a moral history as well as a history of events.
- 80The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyA mostly impressive array of experts (including, in the movie’s one unfortunate off note, Michael T. Flynn, who was forced to resign as national security adviser) adds to the merciless clarity of this tragic picture.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeA useful primer for those who haven't paid enough attention and a synthesis for those who've been overwhelmed by years of upsetting news reports, the film explains cause-and-effect relationships that, while hardly unexplored, merit continued attention.