SummaryPray the Devil Back to Hell is the extraordinary story of a small band of Liberian women who came together in the midst of a bloody civil war, took on the violent warlords and corrupt Charles Taylor regime, and won a long-awaited peace for their shattered country in 2003. As the rebel noose tightened upon Monrovia, and peace talks faced collapse,... Read More
Directed By:Gini Reticker
Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Metascore
Generally Favorable
78
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
My Score
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Metascore
Generally Favorable
78
100% Positive
15 Reviews
15 Reviews
0% Mixed
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
100
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, especially because that moment led to Taylor's exile and to Liberia's election of Africa's first female head of state.
88
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is at once inspiring and horrific.
80
One of the truly heartening international political stories of recent years.
80
Without their guns, the men prove surprisingly helpless. And when a representative of a larger pan-African community tells them that if they want the women to stop treating them like children, they must behave responsibly, you sense a corner has been turned.
75
The longer the film goes on, the more you crave a vaster history of modern Liberia, originally a colony founded by former slaves from the United States.
70
"Peace is a process, not an event," one unnamed activist says toward the end. Amen, sister.
70
Reticker offers perhaps a too-narrow focus on this historical moment, but Pray the Devil remembers the golden rule of moviemaking--rather than tell, it shows, and what it shows is quietly affecting.
User score
Generally Favorable
7.8
60% Positive
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
40% Mixed
2 Ratings
2 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Feb 22, 2011
9
The subject matter is heavy and reminded me how innocent people are abused and in desperate need of empowerment. There is so much factual content that any sense of creativity is pushed aside and the pictures you see are not only harrowing but hugely depressing. The inspirational women's movement provides an upbeat counterbalance to the human destruction and gives the film a reason to exist. My concern is that there seems to be a lack of historical references which could have increased the effect. Nevertheless the story needs to be told and there is no one better to lead the narrative than the Women's Liberation Movement. We must continue to give money to charities across the world. 93/100
Production Company:
- Fork Films
Release Date:Nov 7, 2008
Duration:1 h 12 m
Awards
International Documentary Association
• 2 Nominations
Alliance of Women Film Journalists
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Tribeca Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
