82
Metascore
17 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100NewsweekDavid AnsenNewsweekDavid AnsenUrgently, without sentimentality, "La Promesse" shows us the birth of a conscience, and its cost. This fleet, powerful movie may prove to be a classic. [30 June 1997, p.79]
- 100Chicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonChicago TribuneMichael WilmingtonBoth sides of the story -- the larger context and the intense and intimate drama -- are painted with an absolutely unswerving sense of truth. And, as we watch this movie, full of violence, injustice and compassion, there is barely a moment that seems calculated or contrived.
- 88ReelViewsJames BerardinelliReelViewsJames BerardinelliDespite being a low-key production, La Promesse speaks volumes about how we treat other human beings and what it means to truly grow up.
- 88Boston GlobeJay CarrBoston GlobeJay CarrHurtling from the screen with a vigor and importance that are all but absent from contemporary film, it's a deeply moving social drama, raw and gritty in style, shining with moral purpose as it delivers a scathing take-it-into-the-streets critique of feral capitalism and racism. [18 July 1997, p.D1]
- 80The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenThe integrity of the film, whose directorial team has collaborated on numerous Belgian documentaries, extends to its sad final moments, in which nothing is left neat and tidy.
- 80Washington PostStephen HunterWashington PostStephen HunterBleak and post-industrial, this is no easy film to watch. It hasn't a conventional image of beauty anywhere within its grim 93 minutes, being shot in harsh natural light that somehow plays up the grime and chill of back-alley life. But by the end, it's suffused with something utterly rare: moral beauty. [27 June 1997, p.D6]
- 78Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenAustin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenLa Promesse is a penetrating coming-of-age story, one that argues that adulthood begins with the emergence of moral convictions.
- 75Miami HeraldRene RodriguezMiami HeraldRene RodriguezLa Promesse (The Promise) makes filmmaking look easy. The movie is deceptively simple, a tight little drama about guilt and conscience in which the creators' strings are completely invisible. It's fine storytelling in its purest form. [31 Jan. 1997, p.27G]
- 75San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSan Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleThe world of this film is like nothing most Americans have seen. But we know what it's about. It's about greed and guilt and how inconvenient it can be to have a soul.
- 75Baltimore SunBaltimore SunLa Promesse...presents an unflinching view of the victimization of vulnerable people, but the center of the film is not the immigrant experience. It is the portrayal of a father-son relationship and that turning point where a child must choose between a loved parent and his own sense of morality.