Critic Reviews

• Tom Huddleston, Time Out

  It's superbly structured and consistently suspenseful, offering keen insight into a conflict most of us won't even be aware of. Welcome back, Mathieu.

• Philip French, Observer [UK]

  An intelligent political drama, part thriller, part war movie, and informed by something of the anger against established authority that fuelled La Haine.

• Rich Cline, Contactmusic.com

  French actor-filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz (Gothika) takes on a major event in his nation's colonial history with this true action-adventure set on the lush South Pacific island of New Caledonia.

• Derek Malcolm, This is London

  It is clearly well-researched but not made with La Haine's flair.

• Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]

  The movie doesn't delve too deeply into the mentality of Legorjus or indeed anyone else, but it's a tense, involving tale of France's forgotten imperial trauma.

• Jack Jones, Little White Lies

  harrowing and gripping account of a horrifying true story.

• Jennifer Tate, ViewLondon

  Rebellion contains impressive cinematography and strong dialogue, and Mathieu Kassovitz shines as its director and star.

• Allan Hunter, The List

  Kassovitz deftly negotiates the complexity of what happened but his sympathies clearly lie with the islanders in a politically-charged tale with an approach similar to the work of Costa-Gavras.

• Siobhan Synnot, Scotsman

  It gets bogged down in detail at times, but there's no mistaking its sense of injustice.

• Andrew Osmond, Empire Magazine

  It's an absorbing political drama, eloquent and angry.

• Matt Glasby, Total Film

  At a compassion-sapping 136 minutes, it's far too long, and Kassovitz's characterless central turn makes a worthy personal statement veer close to vanity project.

• Tom Clift, Moviedex

  Rebellion walks the line between earnestness and self-righteousness, and in doing so unseats The Hurt Locker as the most affecting war drama of the century so far.

• Julie Rigg, MovieTime, ABC Radio National

  Rebellion is a rare piece of film making, a triumph from a director who has the skill, and the will, to commit his cinema to truth telling without compromise.

• Leigh Paatsch, Herald Sun (Australia)

  As a director, [Kassovitz] throws some great moves -- a sequence where a gendarme explains how the station was invaded is a kind of 360-degree whirl of memories brought back to life.

• Simon Foster, sbs.com.au

  Kassovitz's examination of the compromises our leaders embrace to further their own slanted view of democracy is both vibrantly intelligent and entertaining.

• Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald

  There are few French films about France's role in her colonies, almost none set in this part of the world. This one makes some trenchant claims, in a powerfully direct story.

• Margaret Pomeranz, At the Movies (Australia)

  The dialogue tends to be declamatory on occasions, the characters are either black or white, no pun intended, and it's all a little bit earnest and overlong. But nevertheless, this is history at its most fascinating.

• Cara Nash, FILMINK (Australia)

  Tense, impressively shot and free of any showy heroics, this is an incisive and affecting look at the way war and politics tragically intersect.

• Andrew L. Urban, Urban Cinefile

  Superbly made in every respect, Rebellion is both a tragic indictment of the French politicians and the army command at the time, as well as a carefully researched document

Read all 19 critic reviews