63
Metascore
18 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 88Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertChicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertWhen the mistake is discovered, how do the families react? What disturbs them more: that their son has been raised as an enemy or that he has been raised in another religion? That's where The Other Son gets complicated.
- 80Time OutTime OutThe cast's performances are so gut-wrenching (particularly from Emmanuelle Devos and Areen Omari as the boys' equally empathic mothers) that the film's hopeful message and abundance of heart prove impossible to resist.
- 75Philadelphia InquirerSteven ReaPhiladelphia InquirerSteven ReaA parablelike melodrama with obvious symbolic meaning.
- 75Boston GlobeWesley MorrisBoston GlobeWesley MorrisIt's done persuasively enough that you wonder how you'd feel under similar circumstances.
- 75NPRElla TaylorNPRElla TaylorSentimental? Certainly, but in a part of the world where hope and optimism haven't shown their faces in a long time, it's hard not to feel carried along by the generously conciliatory spirit that warms The Other Son, as it did "The Band's Visit." Movies have rarely been known to change the world, but you never know.
- Making a feel-good movie about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could be a recipe for disaster, but French writer-director Lorraine Levy manages to avoid many, if not all, of the pitfalls in her touching family drama.
- 60Wall Street JournalJoe MorgensternWall Street JournalJoe MorgensternMs. Levy's film gets to say affecting things about the mysteries of identity, and the ironies of ancient enmity. If we can assume, from the nature of the premise, that Joseph and Yacine will soon accept their situation and become friends, we can also assume, from the course of history, that the Israelis and Palestinians will continue to resist doing the same.
- 58The A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe A.V. ClubNoel MurrayThe Other Son's setup is too contrived, carried along by conversations that are either confrontational or artificially elusive.
- 50Village VoiceVillage VoiceHam-fisted dialogue and clichéd characterizations trump genuine chemistry in The Other Son, a contrived Franco-Israeli drama about two 18-year-olds, an Israeli and a Palestinian, accidentally switched at birth.