Every character in Bethlehem has their reasons, and that is what makes the Israel-Palestine conflict so tragic and confounding

| Jun 30, 2019

Bethlehem is compelling for its regional exposure, but a tendency for narrative velocity and plot machinations gives away the film's ultimate agenda as genre-dependent. Credit to Adler though for the necessarily unhappy ending.

| Oct 10, 2017

The moral murkiness of the Israel-Palestine conflict sets the scene for a blistering espionage thriller.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 19, 2014

In the light of what has been happening in nearby Gaza, this small but memorable film assumes an even greater impact.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 11, 2014

Its most compelling element, however, is the relationship between informer and informant.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Aug 7, 2014

The movie loses momentum when the strong central duo gets split up, undermining both the suspense and the emotional center of the story.

| Original Score: 2.5/5 | May 1, 2014

Bethlehem's plot is nothing new; it's the oft-told Cain and Abel story updated for the age of suicide bombers and tactical strikes, as a tautly structured mix of melodrama and ticking-clock thriller.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Apr 4, 2014

Cinematographer Yaron Scharf shoots Bethlehem like a modern western, every grimace, twitch and drop of sweat playing in stark relief against an implacable landscape that has seen much spilled blood.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Apr 4, 2014

Bethlehem negotiates a tangle of loyalties that's as complex as the Middle East itself.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Apr 3, 2014

The politics of "Bethlehem" are complex, but the relationship at its heart is simple: a kid who needs some kind of stability in his life, even if it comes from a most unlikely, and dangerous, place.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Mar 27, 2014

A rich, multilayered character study cleverly garbed as an action thriller, Bethlehem is a searing critique of the conflict and its toll - not just in human lives, but also in two peoples' gradual, overall loss of humanity.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 21, 2014

[The similar] 'Omar,' a recent Oscar nominee, is better directed, with assured long takes by an established talent, Hany Abu-Assad ('Paradise Now'). 'Bethlehem' has the better, cleaner script, and the best performance of the two.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 20, 2014

Because most of the characterizations are so shallow, it's hard to care too much about what happens to whom, so the action scenes become merely mechanical...

| Original Score: 5/10 | Mar 14, 2014

Extremely suspenseful, with a terse screenplay.

Full Review | Mar 14, 2014

Might not offer new insights into a terrible conflict, but it depicts its human cost on the ground with often starling power.

| Original Score: B | Mar 13, 2014

As it is, it's a strong and eye-catching debut, but one that doesn't quite mark its ground as the next big thing in Israeli cinema.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 7, 2014

A harrowing account of how many lives can be ruined when hatred is allowed to rule.

| Original Score: B | Mar 7, 2014

Bethlehem never really comes together as a revelatory experience until an incredible, wince-inducingly savage finale that leaves a strong aftertaste.

| Original Score: B- | Mar 7, 2014

In a spy story, Bethlehem insists, there are no good guys or bad guys, and no victor-just day-in, day-out deceit and betrayal, the weary work of hate.

| Original Score: 4.5/5 | Mar 7, 2014

Bethlehem remains a fairly powerful experience because so much of what we see is inflamed by a violence that seems to have no end.

| Original Score: B | Mar 7, 2014