79
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- This is a documentary that reminds you of the resiliency of the human spirit. The resourcefulness that can take place when you have nowhere else to run.
- 90Village VoiceAlan ScherstuhlVillage VoiceAlan ScherstuhlWinter on Fire's thrilling rebellion is neither the beginning nor the end, but it is at least a truly heartening middle.
- 90The New York TimesA.O. ScottThe New York TimesA.O. ScottWhat Winter on Fire lacks in journalistic detachment it more than makes up for in fidelity to the feelings and motives of the participants. It’s more than just a portrait of terror, anger, desperation and resolve; it communicates those emotions directly, into the bloodstream and nervous system of the audience.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranWinter on Fire never takes its eye off the story's underlying and very dramatic theme, and that would be nothing less than revolution.
- 75Slant MagazineOleg IvanovSlant MagazineOleg IvanovThis is activist filmmaking that manages to be both angry and elegiac in its recounting of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
- 75RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireRogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireThough the film is limited by a point of view that’s too polemically reductive, the idealistic, difficult, sometimes lethal struggles it covers are undeniably revelatory and moving.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberThe Hollywood ReporterStephen FarberAlthough the film might have benefited from a deeper investigation of the background to the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the vivid scenes of protest in the capital city of Kiev supply undeniable power.
- 70Screen DailyDan FainaruScreen DailyDan FainaruMore like the testimony of an enthusiastic, fully committed supporter watching, in close-up, a populatoon reclaiming its rights, Afineevsky’s film accepts as a basic premise that Yanukevych is the villain. Anyone who differs should look elsewhere.
- 60VarietyJay WeissbergVarietyJay WeissbergGetting swept up in the immediate excitement is entirely understandable, but ignoring the less savory elements, such as ultra-nationalist rhetoric, is problematic at best.