71
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 90The New York TimesGlenn KennyThe New York TimesGlenn KennyThis is a potent, vital film.
- 80Los Angeles TimesSheri LindenLos Angeles TimesSheri LindenIt’s the journo’s open gaze and natural inquisitiveness, his refusal to merely demonize his abusers, that give the film its discomforting power.
- 75The PlaylistAndrew CrumpThe PlaylistAndrew CrumpTheo Who Lived is a cross-pollination of performance art and self-purging, a cleansing act that allows Curtis to face the demons that still torment him today from within the safety of a film production.
- 70Village VoiceDaphne HowlandVillage VoiceDaphne HowlandThis film is valuable on account of its singular vantage point, and not just because of the firsthand description of the jihadist group’s brutality, which is unsurprising.
- 70The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeThe Hollywood ReporterJohn DeForeAn account of captivity and torture unlike most that have emerged from recent conflicts in the Middle East, David Schisgall's Theo Who Lived finds, in freed journalist Theo Padnos, a man with surprising empathy for those who beat and nearly killed him.
- 63Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenTheo Who Lived is fascinating, and Theo Padnos is an exacting storyteller, but the film pushes through one story point to the next, occasionally prizing velocity over texture.
- 50San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleTheo Padnos, who was kidnapped and held for nearly two years by al Qaeda in Syria, has a compelling story to tell. Unfortunately, it is not compellingly told in the documentary Theo Who Lived.