82
Metascore
7 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- Check your cynicism at the ticket booth. To Be Heard is one of the best documentaries of the year.
- 91Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerChristian Science MonitorPeter RainerIn the end, the power poetry workshops, as the teachers are first to admit, are not about creating Shakespeares. They are about survival.
- 80Village VoiceVillage VoiceHowever uplifting, To Be Heard, shot over the course of several years, takes a surprisingly unflinching look at the home lives of the three high schoolers.
- 80New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierNew York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierThis brisk but full documentary about students at a Bronx high school taking a class that promotes literacy and poetry slams is, like its subjects, multifaceted, sometimes sad but ultimately inspiring.
- For how well this finely crafted work captures the pressures of inner-city poverty, single-parent families and abusive relationships, one of its strengths lies in its ability to also gracefully locate the drama in filling out a college application.
- 63Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.Slant MagazineGlenn Heath Jr.This arc may sound particularly familiar on paper, but To Be Heard finds the unique passions and heartaches in all three stories, allowing the viewer to become invested in whatever outcome befalls each subject.