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Bisbee '17

2018

Documentary

Documentary An old mining town on the Arizona-Mexico border finally reckons with its darkest day: the deportation of 1200 immigrant miners exactly 100 years ago. Locals collaborate to stage recreations of their controversial past.

	Media	Author	Review
		A. O. Scott The New York Times	"Mr. Greene’s sympathetic method (...) allows the viewer to discover unstated ironies and resonances. And also, most of all, to appreciate the humanity of both the re-enactors and the long-gone figures they are impersonating."
		Nick Schager Variety	"A bracing documentary that blends fiction and reality in ways that both complicate and enhance the material’s core themes (...) [It] is as audacious as it is timely"
		David Ehrlich IndieWire	"A fascinating and dream-like mosaic about a forgotten American tragedy (...) The director creates an unreal vibe that never cleanly aligns with traditional modes of narrative or documentary cinema"
		Anthony Lane The New Yorker	"Greene's movie (...) grows into an adventurous exercise in drama-documentary; what could have seemed arch or awkward is handled with grace and tact"
		Ann Hornaday The Washington Post	"A fascinating exercise (…) as well as a provocative inquiry into how selective memory, ideology, shame and unspeakable trauma shape what we come to accept as official history (…) Rating: ★★★½ (out of 4)"
		Sheri Linden The Hollywood Reporter	"[Greene's] intense focus on individuals can feel limiting in terms of the overall truth-and-reconciliation dynamic, but it also leads to some powerful moments."
		Bilge Ebiri Village Voice	"It’s a staggeringly ambitious way to confront the sins of history (...) [It] has some urgency in our current moment, as a humanitarian crisis gathers along our border"
		Brian Tallerico rogerebert.com	"Beautiful and haunting (...) There’s something about 'Bisbee '17' that feels especially resonant given the way it addresses facing our dark pasts to achieve a more empathetic present."
		Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Greene offers a passionately ambitious, patiently empathetic mapping of modern times."
		Ben Sachs Chicago Reader	"The film is rich and multifaceted (...) The mosaic-like approach is fresh and surprising"

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