Words of War

The film’s a necessary downer that nonetheless inspires in a viewer an echo of its heroine’s compassion and resolve.

The viewer feels, at the end, that it can’t happen here -- until it does. A final image of numerous fellow journalists felled in the pursuit of truth, including The Washington Post’s Jamal Khashoggi, drills the point home.

Peake’s listening face is profoundly moving, and she makes us see how Politkovskaya’s empathy is as important in gaining their trust as her commitment to telling the world what she is seeing.

Even so, Politkovskaya’s bravery, and Peake’s commitment to honoring it, is enough.

A mildly engaging, but shallow, by-the-numbers, overlong and sugar-coated biopic with choppy editing and stilted, on-the-nose dialogue.

Peake captures Anna’s resilience and tenacity, although the well-intentioned film winds up more didactic than provocative

Words of War may not be a film that does anything stylistically or creatively to reinvent the wheel, but it has a message that transcends the bounds of art.

Though it follows familiar genre tropes and plays it safe, Maxine Peake’s performance elevates the film.

[T]he movie isn't as urgent as the situation then and now should merit.

…the malfeasance of those who run the system for their own cruel benefit is clinically caught by the raw, angry and passionate film about an admirable real-world character whose work may yet get more attention and reach more readers through this movie…