74
Metascore
20 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanEntertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanStonewall Uprising does an evocative job of coloring in the oppression of gay life before Stonewall, so that when the eruption happens, we feel its necessity in our bones.
- 90The New York TimesStephen HoldenThe New York TimesStephen HoldenMethodically ticks off the forms of oppression visited on gays and lesbians in the days before the gay rights movement.
- 90Los Angeles TimesKevin ThomasLos Angeles TimesKevin ThomasA moment had come that had to be seized, which in turn gave birth to the gay rights movement. On June 28, 1970, New York held its first gay parade, and as one of its participants remarks, "Stonewall lives on" in all the gay parades ever since.
- 88Boston GlobeMark FeeneyBoston GlobeMark Feeney"This was the Rosa Parks moment,'' another participant says, "the time that gay people stood up and said, 'No.' ''
- 80VarietyRonnie ScheibVarietyRonnie ScheibIn astounding detail, Stonewall Uprising recalls the now-famous three-day riots in June 1969 after a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a popular Greenwich Village gay bar, as homosexuals finally, openly fought back.
- 75New York PostV.A. MusettoNew York PostV.A. MusettoThe film takes awhile to get going -- the depiction of homophobic 1950s suburbia has a familiar feel. The movie hits its stride only when eyewitnesses to the events at the Stonewall tell their stories.
- 75The A.V. ClubScott TobiasThe A.V. ClubScott TobiasDavis and Heilbroner lean a bit too hard on the most outrageous forms of abuse in the pre-Stonewall era, as opposed to the everyday traumas of living in the closet, but Stonewall Uprising picks up momentum once it starts detailing the event itself, drawing on the vivid memories of the people who lived it.
- 60Time OutKeith UhlichTime OutKeith UhlichThe filmmakers do a good job of laying out the whos, whys and wheres through diagrams, reenactments and testimonials from veterans on both sides of the skirmish.
- 60New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanNew York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanMany witnesses offer emotional recollections of the ensuing riots, but equally powerful moments come courtesy of old footage, in which anti-gay "experts" expound with a confident ignorance that sounds chillingly familiar even today.
- 50Village VoiceMelissa AndersonVillage VoiceMelissa AndersonTellingly, it's not the queers, but a cop--Seymour Pine, the 90-year-old retired NYPD morals inspector who led the raid on the Stonewall Inn--who gets the last word.