Pray the Devil back to Hell

Reviews

For a complete list of links to articles, please visit our main site and go to the PRAISE, PRESS & AWARDS section in the right navigation and click on Press in the center.

Check out more reviews on RottenTomatoes.Com - we are proud to be 100% Fresh!

"Uplifting, disheartening, inspiring, enraging — the mind reels while watching the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell, even as the eyes water, the temples pound and the body trembles."

— Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

"The movie, for me, was about much more than the tragic, and then ultimately uplifting events in Liberia. It was about the power of ordinary people to intervene in their own fate...Leymah Gbowee...should be a lesson to all of us."

— Bob Herbert, NY Times Op Ed Columnist
Read the article >>
View the reader's comments >>

"It's a marvelous documentary detailing how the everyday became extraordinary, 'how ordinary women,' in the words of one of them, 'did the unimaginable'…Pray the Devil uses its brief 72 minutes to tell one of the truly heartening international political stories of recent years."

— Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

"A lucidly impassioned film, filled with strong, eloquent spokeswomen."

— Ronnie Scheib (Variety)

"I was very moved. I think Pray the Devil Back to Hell can educate and maybe prevent other countries from slipping into the kind of chaos that my country experienced. It's going to make a major contribution."

— President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf

"Eloquently captures the power each of us innately has within our souls to make this world a far better,safer, more peaceful place"

— Desmond Tutu, Winner 1984 Nobel Peace Prize Winner

"Unbelievably inspiring."

— Anna Quindlen, Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and best selling author

"Gini Reticker's simply made, affecting documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell reveals how these heroic ordinary women prodded the factions to peace and literally brought down Taylor, a leader of sociopathic cruelty."

— Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

"This illuminating film by director Gini Reticker and producer Abigail Disney is a much-needed attempt to put the spotlight on a moment of history that still inspires..."

— Jonathan Curiel, San Francisco Chronicle

"Passionate."

— Bob Mondello, NPR

"The story of the women's groups—Christian and Muslim, uniting for the first time in the nation's history—is unbelievably inspiring."

— Bob Strauss, L.A. Daily News

"Gini Reticker's rousing documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell is an uppercut to Lucifer's jaw, an object lesson in interfaith cooperation and an instructional manual for people committed to making systemic political change through nonviolent means."

— Colin Covert, The Star Tribune Minneapolis

"Relates a powerful story with intelligence, concision and a minimum of distracting stylistic flourishes."

— Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a remarkable documentary about a remarkable, and historic, movement."

— Stephen Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Gini Reticker's documentary is powerful enough to make even the most cynical believe in the ability of ordinary people to induce political change.”

— Frank Scheck, Reuters

"Pray the Devil remembers the golden rule of moviemaking - rather than tell, it shows, and what it shows is quietly affecting."

— Tim Grierson, Village Voice

"I'll start with a hot serving of social consciousness, thanks to Pray the Devil Back to Hell, the riveting documentary about the Liberian women's uprising against their tyrannical warmonger president. (God, this is so not like me.) At a special screening, the crowd was buzzed and host Gloria Steinem joined in the commotion, saying the film should be "shown on blimps above every conflict zone." I'll gladly volunteer my backside."

— Michael Musto, Village Voice

"...Run, don't walk, to whatever movie theater is lucky enough to screen Pray the Devil Back to Hell, a documentary about the truly remarkable Liberian women (both Christian and Muslim) who came together to help end a bloody, decades-old civil war."

— Julia Bainbridge, Conde Nast Traveler

"An amazing story."

— Gerald Peary, The Boston Phoenix

"The story of the women's groups — Christian and Muslim, uniting for the first time in the nation's history — is unbelievably inspiring." "Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a potent reminder of what power in numbers can accomplish."

— David Fear, Time Out NY

"I want to bring people's attention to it. It is Muslim women working with Christian women for a common goal to bring freedom to their country and they succeeded at the risk of their lives.... It is an inspiring story that brings to life a group courageous women on the streets of Monrovia demonstrating for a common goal and they won in the end. It is now a free country."

—Jeffrey Lyons, Lyons & Bailes ReelTalk

"The importance of this film cannot be overstated. It is a model of what is possible and what should be strived for in times of naked tyranny and oppression. It is the inspiring and empowering story of what can be overcome when women are gathered for common purpose and love."

— Lisa Factora-Borchers, Feminist Review

"Want something done? Call the women of Liberia."

— Jen Graves, The Stranger

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell is inspiring, it is exciting and it is riveting storytelling. And, I know from my own experiences in Liberia, that it is brilliantly real. The women in this story are a model for all of us and Abigail Disney and Gini Reticker's tour de force left me full of hope and optimism."

— Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan

"Outrageous, at times outraging, surprisingly warm and funny, and throughout deeply moving"

— Philip Gourevitch

"You won't be quite the same person after seeing this documentary. If a critical mass of all of us ordinary people could witness this, it just might be the turning point on this fragile Space Ship Earth."

— Gloria Steinem

"This film could change the world."

— Michael Moore

"Pray the Devil back to Hell is a real uplift. This piece of might-have-been forgotten history now will launch a ripple effect among women the world over. Thank heavens Gini Reticker and Abby Disney committed to making it."

–- Jane Fonda

"A chilling, heartbreaking and remarkable testament to the courage of these extraordinary women, Pray the Devil Back to Hell demonstrates the power of setting aside religious and ideological differences in order to create a peaceful nation."

–- Jeremiah Robert Wierenga, Boise Weekly

"The heroism on view in the documentary Pray the Devil Back to Hell is breathtaking."

— Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

“The best hour and fifteen minutes I've spent this year.”

— Jeff Dauler, Q-100, Atlanta

“...One of those films that stirs not only the soul but the hands and feet as well.”

— Mark Moring, Christianity Today

“An economically told, extremely powerful story.”

— Katey Rich, Cinema Blend

"Pray the Devil Back to Hell is a gripping, tear-jerking, yet empowering story of the resilience of the human spirit and the capacity of our survival instinct to triumph over the greatest challenges."

— Juli Oopti, Mshale, The African Community Newsletter

“Pray the Devil Back to Hell shines like a beacon of hope.”

— Jay Antani, Filmcritic.com

"Just when movie goers may be emotionally overwhelmed about brutal violence in Africa—genocide, child soldiers, blood diamonds, rape—comes the good news. Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the inspiring story of how one of the continent's worst and longest civil wars was ended by a disparate group of determined women working together."

— Nora Lee Mandel, Film-Forward.com

"I have probably never been prouder to be a member of the female persuasion than when I watched the women in Pray the Devil Back to Hell at a screening two summers ago. To see the power of ordinary women banding together to change their country forever is one of the most inspiring stories I have ever seen."

— Kris Rasmussen, BeliefNet.com

— Nekessa Opoti, KenyaImagine.com