Critic Reviews

• Bill Stamets, Chicago Sun-Times

  Her teachings are trite.

• Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune

  You may walk away from Darshan, if it moves you at all, smiling yourself. After all, we could all use a hug.

• John Anderson, Newsday

  Less National Geographic and more personal history would have added a dimension to Darshan.

• Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune

  Director Jan Kounen clearly reveres his subject, too; you begin yearning for some skeptics to restore the balance, but they never appear.

• Ted Fry, Seattle Times

  Kounen captures the squalor of Indian everyday life, as well as the tranquil faces and holy places of everything that passes his camera's gaze.

• John McMurtrie, San Francisco Chronicle

  A loose and often not-so-engrossing assortment of scenes intended to showcase Amma's hold on her followers.

• Eric Monder, Film Journal International

  Lacks both narrative edge and a complex world view.

• Keith Breese, Filmcritic.com

  a beautifully filmed portrait of a woman who embodies a human love that is nothing short of miraculous

• Phil Villarreal, Arizona Daily Star

  It may have been Ari Gold on HBO's "Entourage" who coined the phrase "hug it out," but it's Indian guru Amma who lives it.

• Tim Grierson, L.A. Weekly

  Unless you're already a true believer, Amma comes across in Darshan as a perfect angel, a frustrating enigma and a rather dull cinematic subject.

• Bill White, Seattle Post-Intelligencer

  Works better as a sad meditation on the spiritual hopes of a poverty-stricken people than as a portrait of a charismatic guru.

• Ken Fox, TV Guide's Movie Guide

  Even if the idea of spiritual gurus and personality cults make you slightly uncomfortable, Jan Kounen's beautifully filmed portrait of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi offers enough beautiful shots of India to seduce even the least spiritual of travelers.

• Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice

  A documentary about Amma, India's hugging saint, that reveals her large reserves of unconditional love, playfulness, compassion, and service of the poor.

• Ed Gonzalez, Slant Magazine

  Jan Kounen's Darshan- The Embrace extols the healing power of touch, revealing, cinematically and without condescension, the appeal of Sri Mata Amritanandamayi Devi.

Read all 14 critic reviews