Tom Dawson The List Apr 24, 2019 4/5

Shooting with hand-held digital video cameras, Costanzo achieves a powerful immediacy, particularly when conveying the chaos and terror of the nighttime raids endured by the family.

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John Hartl Seattle Times Apr 7, 2006 3/4

A sketchy but compelling Italian movie about Middle East power struggles.

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Sean Axmaker Seattle Post-Intelligencer Apr 6, 2006 B

... as politically defiant a metaphor for Israeli-Palestinian relations in the occupied territories as you'll ever see on screen.

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Marjorie Baumgarten Austin Chronicle Mar 18, 2006 3/5

Costanzo's debut feature film is potent stuff.

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Steve Schneider Orlando Weekly Mar 9, 2006

The movie is more noteworthy for the intimate suspense it brings to the subject of Israeli occupation than for any dramatic conclusion it chooses to reach.

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Shlomo Schwartzberg Boxoffice Magazine Jan 1, 2006 2/5

Rather than evincing some subtlety in its depiction of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the movie's Italian makers prefer to engage in melodrama and simplistic Israel-bashing.

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Andy Klein Los Angeles CityBeat Dec 15, 2005

Costanzo is...successful in creating an emotional attachment to his characters.

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Kevin Thomas Los Angeles Times Dec 2, 2005 3/5

... involving and provocative ...

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Frank Scheck The Hollywood Reporter Dec 2, 2005

While the film is ultimately too limited in its scope to have much lingering impact, it does make for a thoughtful addition to the growing list of films dealing with the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.

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Rich Cline Shadows on the Wall Dec 2, 2005 4.5/5

Not only is it a compelling and gripping drama, but it dares to take a balanced look at the conflict through the eyes of the people in the middle of it.

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Ella Taylor L.A. Weekly Dec 1, 2005

The young Italian director Saverio Costanzo puts an unnervingly intimate twist on the costs of military occupation in this aptly claustrophobic drama.

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Boyd van Hoeij european-films.net Nov 23, 2005

The film's dramatic potential is never fully exploited, as if the filmmakers too never dared to explore what happened on the first floor.

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Maitland McDonagh TV Guide Nov 18, 2005 3/4

Costanzo evokes a world of human complexities in his characters' relationships, and the film's sadly ironic ending is anything but simplistic.

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Kyle Smith New York Post Nov 18, 2005 1/4

The Palestinian characters are so thinly conceived that they might as well be named Victims One through Seven, and they're far more developed than the Israeli characters.

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Jack Mathews New York Daily News Nov 18, 2005 3/4

Private, Italian director Saverio Costanzo's stunning human drama, would seem like something out of Kafka if it weren't based on real events and a relatively common fact of contemporary Palestinian life.

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Dave White Movies.com Nov 18, 2005 B

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Stephen Holden New York Times Nov 17, 2005 3.5/5

A midnight raid by Israeli soldiers turns the home of a Palestinian family into an occupied territory in Saverio Constanzo's politically loaded allegory.

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John Anderson Newsday Nov 17, 2005 3.5/4

A wrenchingly well-acted, minimalist trip into a small circle of hell.

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Ben Kenigsberg Village Voice Nov 15, 2005

Never acquires the emotional weight it should.

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Harvey S. Karten Compuserve Nov 11, 2005 C-

Murky, dark, grainy, barely readable subtitles.

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