Bisbee '17

Exempt

2018

119 mins

Directed by Robert Greene
93%
61%
Documentary
Western

Hybrid documentary-western nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance that explores an American town’s shameful past.

"The town of Bisbee... More

Hybrid documentary-western nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance that explores an American town’s shameful past.

"The town of Bisbee is just seven miles from the Mexican border. Back in the summer of 1917, when WWI was raging in Europe, the mineworkers – predominantly migrants – went on strike for better working conditions. So the sheriff, with the backing of the mining company, rounded them up and dumped them in the New Mexico desert. It wasn’t just the miners; anyone who objected was also unceremoniously deported. A century later, Greene interviews the locals about their town’s shameful history, and also casts residents in scripted sequences that dramatise the momentous events of 1917. Greene’s innovative approach artfully exposes the layers of secrecy and deceit that continue to shroud this little Arizonan town." (Sydney Film Festival)

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Bisbee '17 | Ratings & Reviews

93_%61 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
61_%118 reviews
Audience score rating

"Bisbee '17 is a fierce, lyrical probe into the soul of a town haunted by a history it would rather forget. It's also an unsettling cipher for America, in a year when the ghosts of our past revealed themselves in frightening ways."

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Vox

"A bracing documentary that blends fiction and reality in ways that both complicate and enhance the material's core themes."

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Variety

"In "Bisbee '17," Greene peels the layers of oblivion off history like so many layers of paint."

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The New Yorker

"Even though "Bisbee '17" depicts a wholesome and harmonious community undertaking, it is a profoundly haunted and haunting film."

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The New York Times

"It's a shameful episode that Greene contends has never been properly acknowledged in the town... It's a good story, but despite his command of camera, music and mood, the film plays a little like a protracted rehearsal for a cosplay re-enactment."

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The Age

"Like many arty contemporary documentaries, Bisbee '17 is rather theatrical. But that's reasonable in this case..."

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NPR

"[Greene's] intense focus on individuals can feel limiting in terms of the overall truth-and-reconciliation dynamic, but it also leads to some powerful moments. And the story's contemporary resonance couldn't be clearer."

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