It Is No Dream: The Life of Theodor Herzl Reviews

Richard Trank's film is sober, detailed, and handsomely mounted. Ben Kingsley narrates, to excellent effect.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

A straight-forward documentary about the life and work of the visionary known as the father of the modern state of Israel.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5

The bottom line is that Herzl was an absolutely fascinating man, and he proves to be a most compelling character this excellent film.

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Well-crafted doc offers a scholarly account of the birth of Herzl's Zionist movement.

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Helmer Trank deserves kudos for trying to convey this complicated history with primary materials.

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The film doesn't exactly sizzle, but it does manage to provide a straightforward (if perspective-challenged) biographical sketch of a major historical figure.

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This documentary of the life of Theodore Herzl is full of information and at the same time is disappointingly dry and un-engaging.

Full Review | Original Score: 6/10

Anyone with a deep interest in Jewish history will appreciate this intelligent and well-produced endeavor.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5

A blow by blow, thoroughly researched rendering of the Hungarian secular journalist's instrumental part in taking Zionism from the theoretical to the actual.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4

An epic, even Biblical story, brought down to Ken Burns size in this lackluster telling.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4

Although director Trank is an Oscar winner for the documentary "The Long Way Home," some of the choices made here are awkward.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/5

"It Is No Dream" satisfies neither as a movie nor as a history lesson.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5

Offers at least one way to couch propaganda in a way that doesn't seem like the genuine article on the face of it.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4