63
Metascore
12 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 86The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzThe Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzMisha and the Wolves is as much a documentary as it is a wrestling match: filmmaker versus subject, truth versus fiction. Ultimately, the viewer comes out the winner.
- 83Entertainment WeeklyMary SollosiEntertainment WeeklyMary SollosiThe insights of the doc don't reverberate far beyond the story it's telling. But oh, what a story.
- 80Screen DailyAllan HunterScreen DailyAllan HunterThe combination of archive footage, fresh interviews and extensive dramatic reconstructions is tightly edited. Hobinkson makes the most of a hugely involving story and a collection of fascinating individuals.
- 80VarietyOwen GleibermanVarietyOwen GleibermanMuch of the lure of Misha and the Wolves is that it’s simply a tricky good yarn spun around the unbelievable things that human beings will do. But the movie also, in its way, taps into the soul of an era when fake reality is threatening to dislodge actual reality.
- 75The Film StageChristopher SchobertThe Film StageChristopher SchobertThe film is a slick affair––a little too slick. There is little subtlety here, and more would have made for a stronger film, especially when the onscreen interviewees include someone as extraordinary as Evelyne Haendel. Nevertheless, there is no denying the engaging watchability of Misha and the Wolves.
- 60The Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergThe Hollywood ReporterDaniel FienbergMisha's actual story is fascinating in its own way, but within the relative levity of Hobkinson's framework, her truth and trauma get lost in a detective yarn. The film lacks the heft to adequately explain the nuance of Misha's truth
- 60The New York TimesBen KenigsbergThe New York TimesBen KenigsbergMisha and the Wolves plays best on first viewing, with its surprises intact.
- 60The GuardianCath ClarkeThe GuardianCath ClarkeIt’s propulsively watchable if a tad light on reflection. And you may feel hoodwinked by one late reveal.
- 50RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyRogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyEventually, the documentary turns into a more traditional investigative narrative, as genealogists and wolf experts and Holocaust historians put different pieces together in an attempt to determine what was and was not true about Misha's tale.
- 42IndieWireDavid EhrlichIndieWireDavid EhrlichExploiting now-familiar techniques of documentary misdirection in the service of easy suspense, Misha and the Wolves wastes a golden opportunity to interrogate the slippery nature of historical truth (and a Herzog-worthy heroine along with it), opting instead to spin a self-satisfied yarn that offers little insight into anything beyond our natural tendency to believe the most ecstatic truths.