Young Ahmed's reviews
Media reviews
El País
"The Dardenne brothers give me a sense of unease with this creature aiming to the worst in name of Faith, the blind service for his unique God."
El Mundo
"With the Dardenne it's easy to be predictable and his new work is not an exception. the main problem of the movie is the precision of gestures (...) that is bothered by a gross perspective, urgent and cold, (...) but neither achieves to attract a psychological and emotional implication from the public with the anxiety that the little protagonist suffer."
The Hollywood Reporter
"Makes a slight swerve away from the more obviously sympathetic protagonists of the Dardennes' last few films. (...) it's made with the signature clarity, elliptical economy and empathy that earned the Dardennes' work so much praise in the past."
Screen Daily
"Ahmed is a complicated individual, provoking both compassion and caution. There is a thriller element to the film, but the Dardenne brothers rigorously avoid melodrama or histrionics as they let the story unfold".
ABC
No doubt a film about this gigantic issue may be more sordid, more tragic, but the Dardenne's is like this, leisurely, no nerves, no clichés, but it explains so well the cause that it needs no effect.
El Periódico
The Dardennes stumble again on 'The Young Ahmed'. It is lashed by the awkwardness with which the religious element is treated.
Caimán Cuadernos de Cine
The film does not bring any substantial novelty to the directors´ filmography, not does it manage to lift the flight neither in its emotional dimension not in its clean formalization.
El Mundo
The film advances oppressively and precisely inside that teenager's head. La única recriminación posible corre a cuenta del desenlace. Obra tan pulcra como menor.
Variety
The Dardenne brothers' most controversial film to date. We're looking at two narrative masters who only offer a few clues for viewers to evaluate them as detectives.
Indiewire
Never delves into the issues that lead Ahmed to change his behavior even though he develops his argument appropriately, provocatively and quite concisely.
Roger Ebert
The Dardennes create a cycle of obsession that generates some sympathy for the young man. With this plot, the directors have got into a dead end.
Clarin
The social realism of the Dardennes remains, as does the gaze on the morality of acts.