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Rafters
Directed by
Josep Maria Domènech
and
Carles Bosch
2002
2h
Not Rated
Documentary
7.2
88%
84%
Add to Watchlist
The story of Cuban refugees who risked their lives in homemade rafts to reach the United States, and what life is like for those who succeed.
More
Where to Watch Rafters
Kanopy
Free
Cast of Rafters
Maria Celeste Arraras
Herself (archive footage)
Fidel Castro
Himself (archive footage)
Bill Clinton
Himself (archive footage)
Guillermo Armas
Himself
Rafters Reviews
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
Well-done documentary.
New York Times
Dave Kehr
A coherent and emotionally satisfying tale.
Newsday
John Anderson
Technically astounding, the emotional equivalent of a raft on high seas, Balseros ultimately feels perfectly true, precisely because it ended up the opposite of what it started out to be.
San Francisco Chronicle
Jonathan Curiel
A seven-year time lapse that's full of drama, poignancy and some heartbreaking moments.
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
A heart-rending account of people trying to dodge the hurdles that politics puts in front of them.
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Despite its unique Cuban elements, Balseros gets much of its power from the way it turns out to be a classic story of immigrants coming to a golden land and finding the streets paved with baser materials.
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Illustrates the pain and anguish of the 1994 Cuban rafter exodus.
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Chris Hewitt
Hangs on to a sense of hope and promise, even in the face of disaster, that can only come from the people themselves.
Boston Herald
Paul Sherman
Relates such amazing journeys that it's hard not to get emotionally involved.
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
Poignant, spirited, revealing.
Salt Lake Tribune
Sean P. Means
A movie that shows normal life can be as tough, and as gripping, as rowing across a dangerous ocean.
EricDSnider.com
Eric D. Snider
Here are a handful of fairly ordinary people who happen to be from a crippled island with a deteriorating economy, who earn our sympathy just by being themselves.
Deseret News (Salt Lake City)
Jeff Vice
Focuses its attention on telling a series of individual, human stories, refreshingly leaving the history lessons for the classroom.
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
The documentary is remarkable in how it personalized this human tragedy.
eye WEEKLY
Adam Nayman
Unravels in too many different directions.
Slant Magazine
Ed Gonzalez
The filmmakers truly understand the symbolic struggle of Cubans trying to escape their island home's political and economic suppression.
Chicago Reader
Bill Stamets
Despite the heroic exertions of the rafters and filmmakers, this apolitical film is oddly lacking in drama.
Hollywood Reporter
Frank Scheck
While uneven, occasionally confusing and rough-edged, the documentary achieves a rare depth and intimacy in its portrait of dreams fulfilled and shattered.
Village Voice
J. Hoberman
Offers a fascinating perspective on the U.S. -- a paradise at once cold and abundant where, for all the emphasis on family values, the individual reigns supreme.
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Balseros
Balseros
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