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      Watchers of the Sky

      Released Oct 17, 2014 2h 0m Documentary List
      86% 21 Reviews Tomatometer 76% 500+ Ratings Audience Score The life of Raphael Lemkin, the man who first used the term genocide. Read More Read Less Watch on Fandango at Home Premiered Aug 11 Buy Now

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      Watchers of the Sky

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      Watchers of the Sky

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      Critics Consensus

      Watchers of the Sky offers a consistently gripping look at one man's incredible legacy, even if it can't hope to offer a comprehensive overview of a huge, complicated subject.

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      Critics Reviews

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      Steve Greene indieWire Belzberg presents a view of modern challenges in combating genocide that, while not entirely thorough, is a sobering reminder of the difficulty of those efforts. Rated: B Oct 16, 2015 Full Review Ben Sachs Chicago Reader The movie feels too short at two hours; it offers a worthwhile overview of the subjects but doesn't treat any of them in much depth. Nov 6, 2014 Full Review Stephanie Merry Washington Post Even at two hours - an eternity for a doc - the movie never feels too long. Rated: 3.5/4 Oct 30, 2014 Full Review C.J. Prince Way Too Indie The way the film smoothly transitions from live-action to animation, from today's struggles to Lemkin's past, shows how much of Lemkin's experiences, including what he fought against, remain tragically relevant to this day. Rated: 8/10 Jun 11, 2019 Full Review Nora Lee Mandel Film-Forward.com Moves beyond outrage at singular atrocities. . .to credit Lemkin's prescience in demonstrating difficulty in identifying genocide, to stop it, and meting out punishment. Rated: 8/10 Dec 9, 2014 Full Review Dann Gire Chicago Daily Herald Anyone possessed with even a fleeting sense of social justice should be amazed and appalled by what he/she sees and learns in Edet Belzberg's Watchers of the Sky. Rated: 4/4 Nov 6, 2014 Full Review Read all reviews

      Audience Reviews

      View All (5) audience reviews
      Audience Member Great documentary about the life of Raphael Lemkin, the man who coined the word 'genocide' and campaigned for the establishment of the International Court of Justice Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member 7/5/15 Netflix A moving and frustrating story of a man, Raphael Lemkin, who pushed a boulder uphill for 50 plus years to see that genocide was recognized and punished in the world court. It follows Lemkin and four others who work tirelessly to see that country leaders do not get away with massive, indiscriminate killing of racial, social or tribal groups they want to totally eliminate. It is amazing there is so much opposition in the world to this and that their are still leaders of countries in the world who still carry out programs similar to Hitler and get away with it. The ICC has had some success and it is encouraging that there are people who devote their lives to Lemkins goals. A really great doc. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/12/23 Full Review Audience Member If you ever wondered how world leaders get away with genocide in this day and age, you should watch this film. Raphael Lemkin fought to unite the world in peace, others wipe out minority races in the open as if to say; try and stop me. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Audience Member The goal of WATCHERS OF THE SKY is partially a history lesson, but also to shed light on a very current problem in the international community. That problem is just how difficult it is to prosecute genocide as a crime when there are so many nations with vested interests in different things that it often keeps them from agreeing on even simple things. The film also works at a visceral gut level as we are treated to actual footage from a few of the countries where genocides have taken place, like Serbia, Rwanda and Sudan. Whenever I watch films like this, people's testimony of how horrific acts were perpetrated on them and their families just makes me really emotional, and seeing footage of the perpetrators inciting people to violence turns my stomach and makes me angry. I'm pretty certain that this film will do that for a lot of people. On a technical level, I thought the documentary did a good job of moving between the different narrative threads it wanted to get across although, outside of the common theme, they didn't do the best job tying all of them together. There was also a lot of animation with onscreen text from Raphael Lemkin's (who coined the word 'genocide') diary/writings. It's not that I don't like reading, but when I'm watching a movie, even if it is a documentary, if they have that much reading they might as well have gotten a voiceover actor to do those parts. Of course, they did have some archival footage of Lemkin, but not nearly as much as they had for the other parts. Overall, it must be said that isn't some feel-good, easy watch. Genocide and mass murder are two very heavy subjects, but this film deals with them in a very mature way: laying all of the facts bare while not wallowing in misery. Ultimately, there is the hope that the global community will get this right eventually, and indeed progress has been made. If you care any small bit about humanity and how we treat one another, I highly recommend that you check this out. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member Excellent documentary weaving the history with the current. Only flaw: failure to ask Samantha Power why the Israelis are allowed to inflict their criminal abuses against Palestinian civilians with impunity. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/13/23 Full Review Read all reviews Post a rating

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      Watchers of the Sky

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      Movie Info

      Synopsis The life of Raphael Lemkin, the man who first used the term genocide.
      Director
      Edet Belzberg
      Producer
      Stanley F. Buchthal, Dan Cogan, Elizabeth Bohart, Lisa Kleiner-Chanoff, Taylor Krauss, Enrique Steiger
      Distributor
      Music Box Films
      Production Co
      Propeller Films, The Unofficial Man
      Genre
      Documentary
      Original Language
      English
      Release Date (Theaters)
      Oct 17, 2014, Limited
      Release Date (Streaming)
      Aug 24, 2015
      Box Office (Gross USA)
      $19.1K
      Runtime
      2h 0m
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