69
Metascore
9 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91The Film StageJohn FinkThe Film StageJohn FinkThe Sentence is a powerful film full of rich, raw emotions as all parties explore their vulnerabilities.
- 90L.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlL.A. WeeklyAlan ScherstuhlHere’s a true surprise in 2018: a documentary about an American injustice that will likely leave you, by its end, blubbering tears of relieved joy.
- 85Film Journal InternationalChris BarsantiFilm Journal InternationalChris BarsantiThis is a riveting, important story in which the personal can’t help but be political.
- 80The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Sentence is so committed to its concentration on emotion and heart that it's difficult not to get carried away, and it feels almost churlish to quibble with the intellectual responses it barely aspires to.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranWhat unnecessary imprisonment does to families is often written about in abstract terms, but to see what it did to one specific family runs an emotional gamut that the patience of this heroically committed filmmaker does full justice to.
- 63RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyIt's an emotionally exhausting film — but a little bit of perspective might have resulted in an even more politically urgent document. As it is, though, The Sentence is the beginning of a conversation that needs to continue.
- 60VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyIt’s a dramatic portrait of institutionalized injustice, though the film is too narrowly focused to plead its case with maximum effectiveness.
- 60The New York TimesKen JaworowskiThe New York TimesKen JaworowskiBy making you feel deeply for his sister and her children, Valdez has fashioned his film to make the lapses less glaring.
- 38Slant MagazineChuck BowenSlant MagazineChuck BowenRudy Valdez has no distance from the material, which works simultaneously in the film's favor and, largely, its disfavor.