“There’s a beating heart to the film, but it’s faint.”

“… a potboiler with spiritual principles, a crisis-of-faith drama full of courtroom intrigue.”

“… a stirring argument that the Black experience deserves a place in British history.”

“… never allows the cast to break out of the types established in the opening scene.”

“…a sad, if truthful, account of a quietly desperate existence.”

“…a story with a palpable familiarity among its characters, one that breeds both love and contempt.”