77
Metascore
11 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- If there's anything missing from Bailey and Thompson's searing documentary, it's a consideration of the possible arguments against Campbell and Freeth.
- 80EmpireEmpireThis is one of those documentaries that stays with you for years. The injustice infuriates and the story, simply and deftly told, breaks your heart.
- 80VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibThe documentary sometimes bears an eerie resemblance to Claire Denis' brilliant "White Material" in its tense evocation of menace stalking the periphery of the frame.
- 80Village VoiceElla TaylorVillage VoiceElla TaylorAs their extraordinarily brave black female attorney points out, at stake are not merely the rights of this family or indeed of all white farmers, but the future of race relations and human rights in Africa.
- 80NPRMark JenkinsNPRMark JenkinsThe documentary is powerful, as far as it goes, but would be stronger if the filmmakers had been able to follow the story further.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckIts awkward title notwithstanding, Mugabe and the White African offers the sort of narrative drama rarely found in documentaries.
- 80Los Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinLos Angeles TimesGary GoldsteinThough much of the movie was shot in secret to protect the filmmakers, Bailey and Thompson managed to create a remarkably vivid portrait of a land and its people, while bringing us two unforgettable heroes in Campbell and Freeth.
- 75Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIt seems to me that Campbell has a good case here--good enough, anyway, to convince the judges on the African court.
- 70The New York TimesMike HaleThe New York TimesMike HaleThe courses of colonialism and racial strife were radically different in America and Australia than they were in Africa. That doesn't make Mr. Freeth's cause any less just, but it does mean that Mugabe and the White African needs to be approached with care.
- 60Time OutEric HynesTime OutEric HynesThe film clandestinely captures marauders in action while embedding itself in the imperiled home of aging farmer Michael Campbell. He's not the movie's ad hoc martyr, but something more compelling: a simple man whose fight for personal justice has matured into patriotism.