Samson & Delilah demands of us patience, attention and empathy - not just for the characters but also broadly into the world. The fearlessness in existing 'as is' as opposed to what 'should be' reflects an 'Australia' that feels possible and essential.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 22, 2025

Samson & Delilah quietly peels away life’s veneer, exposing heartbreak, resilience, and some brutal realities. A powerful and unforgettable film.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Jan 22, 2025

Outdated gender politics and iffy animal antics aside, this is a solid retelling elevated by a great performance.

| Mar 12, 2024

Anyone who cares about Australian cinema should see this film. I’d go further and suggest that anyone who cares about Australia should see it. Samson and Delilah is, quite simply, one of the finest films ever made in this country.

| Jan 3, 2024

This is one of my favourite Australian films of all time. Maybe even the favourite.

| Jul 8, 2022

This is a haunting and heartbreaking tale that almost rivals the Oscar-winning Leaving Las Vegas for its sheer sense of hopelessness and descent into darkness.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Jul 6, 2022

Samson and Delilah is impossible to ignore.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 29, 2019

A love story, and somehow, a joyous one.

| Sep 7, 2019

A heart-wrenching work and a landmark piece of Australian filmmaking, Samson & Delilah brims with tenderness and tragedy, matching its moving story with devastating meaning.

| Jul 29, 2018

One of the great political films, masked as one of the best personal films, of 21st-century cinema. For all its unsparing, quietly condemning look at Australia's treatment of Aborigines today, it ends on a grace note of devotion and tender care.

| May 6, 2013

Director Warwick Thornton's artistic choices alienated me as viewer and made me pray for the end.

| Original Score: 2/5 | Sep 29, 2012

Spare and beautiful, Samson & Delilah gives viewers a peephole into two characters' struggle in a corner of the earth not visited enough on film.

| Aug 15, 2011

This lovely, aching film opts for romance in the face of modern ruin.

| Original Score: B+ | Feb 25, 2011

This sterling 2009 debut by Warwick Thornton is harrowing and tragic but has a stoic, stately realism that elevates the material way above victim politics.

| Jan 4, 2011

There's little dialogue in Samson and Delilah and the film has a gritty, sun-baked poeticism to it.

| Dec 10, 2010

The film may be hard as hell to watch, but it's even harder to look away from.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 19, 2010

Thornton's grip on familiar narrative tropes comes to more and more resemble a choke-hold up until the film's lovely final moments

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5 | Oct 21, 2010

Thornton isn't concerned about filling in the lines, requiring viewers to make the connections for themselves. The film is all the more engaging for it.

| Oct 19, 2010

A poetic, tender and unflinchingly real love story. Its powerful visuals, music and raw, captivating performances will leave you feeling deeply moved.

| Original Score: 9.0/10 | Oct 18, 2010

How do you know you're looking at a pretty good piece of filmmaking? When the director and actors can make you care about the central characters even though they exchange almost no dialogue.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 15, 2010