The Raft is a powerful documentary…a fascinating insight into one man's determination to get results and assert his authority.

| Oct 11, 2024

Genovés ... thought he would be studying violence in other people, yet found that what he really needed to do was look in the mirror.

| Original Score: 6/10 | May 19, 2020

The Raft remains a fascinating look into human relationships that's even more relevant in the wave of sensationalized television.

| Mar 24, 2020

By constructing an alternative to this narrative and giving a voice to the wounded yet resilient people left in its wake, Lindeen brings empathy and perhaps something like justice to what would otherwise be nothing more than a sex raft.

| Feb 25, 2020

[T]he documentary is beautifully choreographed and genuinely hypnotizing audiovisually, and it might remind some of the viewers of The Visit (2015) by Danish filmmaker Michael Madsen.

| Feb 22, 2020

This documentary is fascinating... It's really worth a watch.

| Oct 1, 2019

[A]n enlightening documentary that shows how one man was driven mad by his quest for answers to the mysteries of human behavior.

| Original Score: B | Sep 20, 2019

This is a science experiment from 1973 that nearly 50 years later holds every ounce of its initial intrigue. An anthropological time capsule.

| Original Score: B+ | Jul 15, 2019

A risky and complex film, like the adventure that has inspired it. [Full Review in Spanish]

| Jul 8, 2019

This will understandably be disappointing to some, but for those in the market for something that plays with assumptions to tell a story of people coming to terms with their shared past, The Raft is a very rewarding watch.

| Jul 3, 2019

Blinded by his ego, acting like the captain of the Bounty, Genoves apparently never realized the experiment was valuable and was yielding interesting if surprising results.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 28, 2019

The Raft ... revives the journey and the memories in a way that seems shockingly relevant at a time when no one on earth seems to get along.

| Original Score: 3.5/4 | Jun 28, 2019

A strange but fascinating film.

| Jun 20, 2019

Director Marcus Lindeen richly intersperses these staged interviews with archival footage filmed during the journey, as the documentary itself becomes an experiment in memory-making and revelation.

| Jun 17, 2019

A document, as well as a documentary, of genuine consequence. The news is surprising, and pretty darned good.

| Jun 13, 2019

Favored with copious amounts of footage shot during the voyage, as well as Genovés' collected data and writings, Lindeen forged a riveting and illuminating study of the unscrupulous endeavor.

| Jun 13, 2019

You wonder why The Raft hasn't been turned into a drama yet, since it's got everything: a high-concept premise, big ideas, conflict, base urges, twists, action, and a diverse cast in which looking good with little on is historically accurate.

| Jun 13, 2019

The Raft is a strange, oddly engrossing piece of non-fiction filmmaking, a film that has the atmosphere of a true crime thriller and the style of a von Trier film. A doozy.

| Jun 10, 2019

The Raft presents two story lines concurrently, each riveting in its own way. On the one hand, it re-creates the voyage itself, but it also repeatedly cuts to the present day, where... survivors get long-held feelings and secrets off of their chests.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 8, 2019

If the Acali's voyage was an experiment that happily failed the expectations of its creator, The Raft brings the hybrid documentary back from festival cinema cliché.

| Jun 7, 2019