As powerfully enthralling as it is emotionally resonant, Burning Bush is Holland's most rewarding film in years.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 30, 2019

The opening is sensational and, as if the narrative weren't compelling enough, [Agnieszka] Holland keeps trying to top it for the rest of the movie with a hectic, hyper dramatic camera style.

| Feb 25, 2019

... inert and has no sense of flow, and this despite the wavy dramatic effect caused by the three-part scrunching.

| Nov 18, 2017

Brilliant, ambitious, and moving.

| Mar 29, 2017

... a return to form for Holland, whose great films of the eighties and nineties (Angry Harvest, 1985, Europa Europa, 1990) combined the political, social and personal with a fiery volatility.

| May 22, 2016

It's a massive story of secret heroism, perfect for pop cinema-and with Holland's film, the time for movies to explore it may be nigh.

| Apr 12, 2016

In its focus on everyday citizens, Burning Bush kindles and then fans a flickering hope for the masses of individuals down and out, waiting and wanting to rise up, consumed not by hate or fear but a desire for a fairer system and better lives.

| Aug 31, 2015

Political thriller, procedural, emotional drama and rousing cry for basic human rights and values, "Burning Bush" is a deep investigative look at gross abuses of power in late '60s communist Czechoslovakia and those that fought against it.

| Original Score: B+ | Aug 24, 2014

Just because Eastern Bloc period pieces are almost always stately and elegiac doesn't mean a largely compelling movie like this shouldn't still manage to surprise us once or twice over the course of four hours.

| Aug 7, 2014

Enthralling ...

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jul 24, 2014

Beyond the history, keeps the focus intensely on the intimate and personal impact and political repercussions for those on all sides of Communist authoritarianism.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Jun 16, 2014

Holland never risks overlooking the hardship that comes with being on the right side of history. "Burning Bush" is a riposte to the idea that there's anything beautiful about dying for your beliefs.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Jun 13, 2014

Elegantly scripted with an edge of biting gallows humor by Stepan Hulik, Burning Bush blends an intimate domestic drama with a thrilling Cold War procedural ...

| Jun 12, 2014

[An] absorbing, intelligent account of the fallout resulting from a young Czech student's symbolic self-immolation at the close of the Prague Spring [...]

| Jun 12, 2014

An absorbing docudrama that maintains a gratifying equilibrium between hope and cynicism.

| Original Score: B | Jun 11, 2014

"Burning Bush" really isn't intended for American viewers, and you may need to do a little homework or scramble to keep up. Generally speaking, it's highly worth it.

| Jun 11, 2014

[A] thoughtful, gripping, crisply acted new film.

| Jun 10, 2014

It's tense, pained, unfailingly intelligent, and distinguished by the occasional visual flourish ...

| Jun 10, 2014

Don't be daunted by its length -- this historically rooted poetical thriller based on the events of the Prague Spring has a rare intelligence and drive that make the hours fairly fly by.

| Jun 10, 2014

'Burning Bush' is a rare accomplishment [...] and true to its HBO roots, it works as a fleet-of-foot juicy plot-delivery system.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 10, 2014