Human Flow (2017)
88%RT Audience Score: 81%
Awards & Nominations: 7 wins & 14 nominations
Epic in scope yet clear-eyed and intimate, Human Flow offers a singularly expansive — and sobering — perspective on the global refugee crisis
Human Flow is a documentary that will make you feel like you’ve been hit by a truck full of emotions. It’s a rollercoaster of beautiful drone shots and heart-wrenching stories that will leave you feeling both inspired and devastated. Ai Weiwei does an incredible job of bringing the refugee crisis to light and showing us the human faces behind the statistics. It’s a must-watch for anyone who wants to understand the world we live in and the struggles that millions of people face every day. Just make sure you have a box of tissues nearby.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Amazon Studios
Release Type
Theatrical, Theatrical (Limited)
Filming Location(s)
MPAA / Certificate
Rated PG-13 for thematic material including a disturbing image
Year of Release
2017
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Color:Color
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Sound mix:Dolby
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Aspect ratio:1.85 : 1
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Runtime:2h 20m
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Language(s):English
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Country of origin:United States
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Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Oct 13, 2017 Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 9, 2018
Genre(s)
Documentary
Keyword(s)
documentary, global refugee crisis, Ai Weiwei, directed by Ai Weiwei, produced by Ai Weiwei, Chin-Chin Yap, Heino Deckert, PG-13, box office gross $520.6K, reviewed by Bilge Ebiri, Sandra Hall, David Stratton, Wendy Ide, James Luxford, Cary Darling, Erin Blackwell, Steven Prokopy, Victor Stiff, Felicia Feaster, Neptune Frost, 18 1/2, H.P Lovecraft’s Witch House, Stay Prayed Up, The Sea Beast, Moon, 66 Questions, Dreaming Walls: Inside the Chelsea Hotel, The Road to Galena, Dangerous Liaisons, Jewel, Warriors on the Field, Fair Play, Peter Bouckaert, Orlando Avis, Israa Abboud, Hiba Abed, Maya Ameratunga
Worldwide gross: $1,824,537
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $2,200,822
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,390
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 240,002
US/Canada gross: $527,845
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $636,706
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,277
US/Canada opening weekend: $45,677
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $55,097
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 2,177
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): NA
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): NA
Production budget ranking: NA
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): NA
ROI to date (est.): NA
ROI ranking: NA
Peter Bouckaert – Self
Orlando Avis – Self
Israa Abboud – Self
Hiba Abed – Self
Maya Ameratunga – Self
Chin-Chin Yap – Producer
Heino Deckert – Producer
Director(s)
Ai Weiwei
Writer(s)
NA
Producer(s)
Ai Weiwei, Chin-Chin Yap, Heino Deckert
Film Festivals
Venice, Telluride
Awards & Nominations
7 wins & 14 nominations
Academy Awards
All Critics (118) | Top Critics (37) | Fresh (107) | Rotten (11)
By making it clear that those who find themselves in these situations are all ordinary people just like us, Ai Weiwei brings home the sheer, unthinkable monstrousness of their predicament.
March 23, 2020
Bilge Ebiri
Spirituality & Health
TOP CRITIC
Its dazzling drone photography sends you gliding over vast expanses of ocean and desert yet the film itself leads to the inescapable conclusion that the world is shrinking.
March 16, 2018 | Rating: 4/5
Sandra Hall
Sydney Morning Herald
TOP CRITIC
What he shows us is tragic and horrifying, but he offers no possible solutions and nothing much in the way of analysis.
March 16, 2018 | Rating: 2/5
David Stratton
The Australian
TOP CRITIC
Through brief but intimate exchanges, Ai brings the individuals behind the statistics into focus.
December 10, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
Wendy Ide
Observer (UK)
TOP CRITIC
Beautifully filmed testimonies that tear at your soul.
December 8, 2017 | Rating: 4/5
James Luxford
Little White Lies
TOP CRITIC
The scattershot and lengthy documentary doesn’t attempt to be a news report…but the cumulative impact of its often haunting images brings home the plight of millions of the world’s people.
December 8, 2017 | Rating: 3.5/5
Cary Darling
Houston Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
[The refugees’] situation is extreme, the risks dire, and they’re real people. Was it obscene to parade them for my consumption, or was my irritation at his constantly inserting himself into the frame like Hitchcock beside the point?
June 4, 2020
Erin Blackwell
Bay Area Reporter
[A] movie that is impossible to shake and will hopefully force you to see the world in a very different light. Well worth your time.
May 19, 2020
Steven Prokopy
Third Coast Review
Human Flow’s primary goals are to create awareness about the refugee crisis and instill empathy for those affected, and the documentary is successful on both fronts.
March 30, 2020
Victor Stiff
Goomba Stomp
Ai’s film, like his art, moves in contrapuntal stanzas between showing the scale of the immigration crisis and its individual victims.
January 16, 2020
Felicia Feaster
Burnaway.org
At once inspiring and heartbreaking.
October 18, 2019 | Rating: 5/5
Leslie Combemale
Cinema Siren
‘Human Flow’ is a piece as imperfect as indispensable.[Full Review in Spanish]
July 22, 2019
Víctor López G.
Espinof…
Plot
Over 65 million people around the world have been forced from their homes to escape famine, climate change and war in the greatest human displacement since World War II. Human Flow, an epic film journey led by the internationally renowned artist Ai Weiwei, gives a powerful visual expression to this massive human migration. The documentary elucidates both the staggering scale of the refugee crisis and its profoundly personal human impact. Captured over the course of an eventful year in 23 countries, the film follows a chain of urgent human stories that stretches across the globe in countries including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, France, Greece, Germany, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Kenya, Mexico, and Turkey. Human Flow is a witness to its subjects and their desperate search for safety, shelter and justice: from teeming refugee camps to perilous ocean crossings to barbed-wire borders; from dislocation and disillusionment to courage, endurance and adaptation; from the haunting lure of lives left behind to the unknown potential of the future. Human Flow comes at a crucial time when tolerance, compassion and trust are needed more than ever. This visceral work of cinema is a testament to the unassailable human spirit and poses one of the questions that will define this century: Will our global society emerge from fear, isolation, and self-interest and choose a path of openness, freedom, and respect for humanity?
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Nothing to add here about Human Flow.
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