83
Metascore
14 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 100San Francisco ChronicleSan Francisco ChronicleThe movie feels more like a thriller and a mystery than a documentary. Perhaps someday, someone will be inspired to dramatize this astonishing story.
- 90Village VoiceVillage VoiceIn families, this fascinating film suggests, acknowledging or denying the darker truths of one's legacy is a choice that must be made again and again, each and every day.
- 90Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWhat makes The Flat mesmerizing is its wealth of historical detail. What makes it universal is what it says about families everywhere - that children, being children, don't want to know what their parents are up to, and that grown-ups, being human, don't want to credit troubling facts that conflict with what they need to believe.
- 90The New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisThe New York TimesJeannette CatsoulisA film that begins as a family quest but evolves into a gripping study of know-don't-tell reticence and the umbilical tie of a lost homeland.
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertIs something being hidden? No. It's more that something doesn't want to be known.
- 83Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerGoldfinger happened upon a story far larger than he must have anticipated. The Flat is about the persistence of denial, and of hope.
- 80New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanUltimately, this is not a film about one specific event but about human nature - most notably, the instincts toward denial and delusion, acceptance and forgiveness. From start to finish, revelations abound.
- 80Los Angeles TimesKenneth TuranLos Angeles TimesKenneth TuranNo definitive answers are possible to the questions The Flat raises, which makes them all the more provocative.
- 63Slant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierSlant MagazineJoseph Jon LanthierAccusation is the rhetoric of outrage, and Arnon Goldfinger can't bring himself to experience even conservative anger, regardless of its appropriateness.
- 40Time OutTime OutThe Flat details his efforts to understand this unusual situation, and although the film suggests that his relatives may have maintained this odd friendship as a denial of their homeland's betrayals, there's only so deep Goldfinger can dig.