Avis des critiques

Rather than being a simple examination of a social problem, the film excels at excavating the deep-rooted, sprawling violence that affects everyone living under hierarchies of power.

Clasping his artistic maw, Moratto’s concise firecracker of a movie is straightforward in its soul-crushing blows and an essential piece of social-realist cinema for our times.

The rather on-the-nose storytelling grows increasingly complex and interesting the further that the protagonist ventures into morally ambiguous territory.

A fraught thriller that wonders at the fragility of the human soul... a familiar but still engrossing film.

The movie’s plot is a little thin, and its message quite blunt... But while “7 Prisoners” doesn’t pack many surprises, it is remarkably well drawn, featuring gripping performances and a vividly squalid setting. It captures the hopelessness of these men, trapped in a city where even the authorities who might help have no idea they exist — and no incentive for finding them.

Moratto leads the tense, absorbing story ever closer to thriller territory, but this means the subdued ending is a touch disappointing.

Moratto and his cinematographer João Gabriel de Queiroz dance discreetly around the performers, letting the actors drive the drama forward in a way that’s authentic without being gratuitously violent or self-consciously gritty. If anything, the respect for the complexity and dignity of all its characters is palpable throughout.

An aching coming-of-age story wrapped in a harrowing examination of human trafficking in Brazil... Through a pointed script and propulsive storytelling, Moratto smartly makes the stakes of living within such a perverse system clear.

Moratto’s sophomore feature may not back down on his humanitarian concerns over poverty and exploitation in Brazil’s favelas, but it’s plain to see why Netflix hopped aboard this efficiently gripping, just-thoughtful-enough genre piece as its global distributor.

Moratto’s unfussy but visceral direction chokes every scene with a feeling of the walls closing in on all sides... Its to Moratto’s immense credit that he lets us do our own math, the writer-director eventually bringing this story to a close with an unsparing honesty that refuses to insult all the other kids in Catanduva who are waiting for their chance in São Paulo, a city that waits for no one.

This impressive feature from Alexandre Moratto takes the topic of modern-day enslavement as a jumping-off point for a morality tale which gets increasingly knotty and satisfying as it goes on.

7 Prisoners establishes [Moratto] firmly as a talented filmmaker telling important stories from the region — and it’s as engaging as it is depressingly, brutally educational.