50
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 70The Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckThe Hollywood ReporterFrank ScheckArriving three decades after the fact, this docudrama doesn't quite do justice to its important subject.
- 70Los Angeles TimesMartin TsaiLos Angeles TimesMartin TsaiThrough "Bhopal," the filmmaker argues that the promise of jobs and prosperity all too often trumps environmental and safety concerns, and it leads government to ignore corporate wrongdoing.
- 63Chicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramChicago Sun-TimesBruce IngramWhile Bhopal: A Prayer for Rain, an earnest account of the world’s worst industrial accident, certainly has its heart in the right place, it’s not good that the closing titles about the cold, brutal facts of the aftermath stir more outrage than the preceding docudrama.
- 50Village VoiceSam WeisbergVillage VoiceSam WeisbergIt's an unsolved mystery in Hollywood why so many based-on-true-life polemical films end up so unremarkable.
- 50Slant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneSlant MagazineSteve MacfarlaneThe film places its characters in a reflexive historical continuum that dooms them to be mere demonstrative types from start to finish.
- 50Washington PostStephanie MerryWashington PostStephanie MerrySome of the portrayals are over-the-top in their villainy, and the dialogue, acting and music all tend to be melodramatic. But all of the overt heartstring-pulling doesn’t add much. Given the awful calamity, the truth would have been enough to amp up the emotions.
- 30The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergThis is crudely mounted, earnest advocacy, getting its points across at any cost.