On Her Shoulders

Released Oct 19, 2018

1 hr. 34 min.

Documentary

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96%

54 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

50+ Ratings

Audience Score

Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi genocide and ISIS sexual slavery survivor, is determined to tell her story. As her journey leads down paths of advocacy and fame, she becomes the voice of her people and their best hope to spur the world to action.

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Critics Consensus

On Her Shoulders traces one woman's incredible journey to offer an inside look at modern political advocacy - and a challenge to viewers yearning to effect their own change.

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dave d

Frightening, enlightening, harrowing, yet hopeful, 'On her Shoulders' is a wonderful documentary chronicling the Yazidi people of Iraq and the young lady who is trying to carry them to freedom Nadia Murad. Murad was taken by ISIS who did horrible things to her, luckily she escaped and is telling her horrific story in order to get safety for her friends, family, and fellow Yazidis. The story does not at all go into who helped create ISIS by starting a needless war which I think everyone must understand how much that poor decision led to a genocide. This movie works on many levels, but perhaps the best is the reluctance of Murad to be a hero. She has a genuine charm and innocence that make her someone to root for. It's dreary and at times a tearful watch, but it's important to be informed and enlightened or else we all end up in the dark. Final Score: 9.0/10

Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Moving account of the extraordinary work by this campaigner for an important cause

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/11/23

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Audience Member

This could be the best movie I have seen in years.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/30/23

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Audience Member

‪On Her Shoulders is a powerful reminder of the devastation happening across the world that we just don’t talk about. It’s also a portrait of one woman’s remarkable courage and pain.‬ ‪The film accomplishes both things so well: informing us of the genocide and showing us a hero.‬

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

01/19/19

Full Review

Audience Member

Tonight I went to the Curzon Bloomsbury to watch 'On Her Shoulders', a documentary that follows the journey of Nadia Murad, a survivor of the 2014 Yazidi genocide, activist, and the co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize 2018. It's a film that I recommend you all to watch. 'On Her Shoulders' is the story about the interplay between desperation and determination. It is the story of Nadia's quiet but persistent fight for the recognition of, and justice for, herself, her family, and the Yazidis people. It's the story of a reluctant leader, who chose to shoulder this unyielding burden, to stand as a symbol of hope, when many others have abandoned theirs. Before I watched this film, I knew a little about the Yazidis, I knew that genocides are happening around the world, even at this very moment. There's the ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar, and the genocide in South Sudan is still ongoing. I knew all that. But these issues are always placed on the back of my mind. After all, talking and thinking about refugees, death, enslavement, and rape are very heavy and uncomfortable topics. And we tend to shy away from difficult and uncomfortable things. Nadia's story comes from a very different (and more difficult) part of the world than we're accustomed to; and initially, it can seem very detached from our everyday lives. But by attending the screening, it forced me to confront this uncomfortable reality, and realise that someone else's reality is actually our collective reality. The cinematography, film score and editing of the film were OK, nothing spectacular. I believe the director (Alexandria Bombach) purposefully striped everything back to not take anything away from the story. This would explain the 7.1/10 score (good, but not great) it currently has on IMDb. But you should watch it not because of how it's directed/edited, but because of the importance of the story. It's an invitation for you to spend 95 minutes to walk in her shoes and understand their struggle. It'll help you to be more empathetic, to see everything in a broader perspective, and perhaps even inspire you to act.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/24/23

Full Review

Audience Member

The best documentary I have ever seen not only for the content but for what content was left out. The director does a phenomenal job portraying a side that we simply don't see/hear when people sacrifice their life. Do yourself and humanity a favour and go watch this documentary.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/19/23

Full Review

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Alexandria Bombach

Director

Nadia Murad

Self

Amal Clooney

Self

Brock Williams

Producer

Hayley Pappas

Producer

Adam Bardach

Executive Producer

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On Her Shoulders: Trailer 1

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Ben Sachs

Chicago Reader

Director Alexandria Bombach (Frame by Frame) shot this documentary portrait of human rights activist Nadia Murad not long before her subject received the Nobel Peace Prize, and the movie argues persuasively that the prize was well deserved.

Mar 11, 2020

Full Review

Ed Potton

Times (UK)

Be ready for tears, on screen and your own.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 25, 2019

Full Review

Ian Freer

Empire Magazine

On Her Shoulders is a compassionate, level-headed portrait of a remarkable woman. What it lacks in filmmaking fireworks, it makes up for in the sheer magnetism and moxie of its hero.

Rated: 4/5

Jan 24, 2019

Full Review

Richard Propes

TheIndependentCritic.com

At its most emotionally impactful when Bombach simply plays observer to everything that's unfolding.

Rated: 4.0/4.0

Sep 18, 2020

Full Review

Lisa Trifone

Third Coast Review

Bombach's film, and Nadia's willingness to participate in it, reminds us that what happens a world away is happening to us, to all of us as humankind.

Rated: 3/4

May 29, 2019

Full Review

Pat Mullen

POV Magazine

lexandria Bombach won a directing prize at Sundance for this portrait of Murad, but On Her Shoulders might just as well have been made by Murad's publicist.

May 24, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

Nadia Murad, a 23-year-old Yazidi genocide and ISIS sexual slavery survivor, is determined to tell her story. As her journey leads down paths of advocacy and fame, she becomes the voice of her people and their best hope to spur the world to action.

Director: Alexandria Bombach
Executive Producer: Adam Bardach, Marie Therese Guirgis, Matt Ippolito, Alison Klayman, Bryn Mooser
Distributor: Oscilloscope Laboratories
Production Co: RYOT Films
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Oct 19, 2018, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 7, 2018
Box Office (Gross USA): $27.8K
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital
Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

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