Young Ahmed

"Feels like little more than a pained shrug, elegantly made, yes, but vaporous and virtue-signaling an empathy that's more gestural than heartfelt."

"What the Dardenne brothers are showing here amounts to just the thing those shaken by terrorism fear most: the idea that normal people... can be brainwashed and body-snatched into agents of jihad."

"At times, one can practically see the brothers pulling the strings on the movie's potent themes, but they're such expert puppeteers that it's easy enough to ignore them and absorb the ride."

"It's reasonably gripping on a scene-by-scene level, and about as starkly unsentimental as any of the Dardennes' lean, urgent moral thrillers."

"The Dardennes maintain a distance from Ahmed as a way of celebrating their refusal to reduce him to any easy psychological bullet points."

"Even adjusting for their typical brevity, Young Ahmed feels like a cursory examination of the social issues [the Dardennes] raise."

"Suspenseful and economical, with a clear sense of what's at stake..."

"One of their most extraordinary masterpieces."

"Just as Ahmed never questions the word of his mentor, Imam Youssouf (Othmane Moumen), so too do the Dardennes neglect to question exactly how Ahmed fell into the man's grasp. He's simply there."

"The performances are uniformly naturalistic and beautifully poignant."

"A riveting, beautifully made character study that provokes compassion and controversy in equal measures."

"Glib and unconvincing, and topped off by a profoundly stupid ending."