User Reviews

This is a movie that needs to be put into context, production wise.

Storytelling, filming, acting, editing, cinematography, soundtrack: all combined deserves a 6.5 (cinematography and color grading are my favorite parts here)

But: the efforts and dangers that comes into play when recreating 1999 Beijing... well that's a 10.

Just check the end credits, heaps of "anonymous" among the names. The danger of filming in Taiwan a movie (not a documentary hey) that exposes the nightmare that can be todays people republic of china... well congrats. Btw: kudos to the production design and location departments, great job.

The story is linear and fairly easy to follow, but yes there are moments when it moves on in an awkward/artificial/coincidence based way... prime example the reporter who seems to be at the right place in the right moment too many times.

Act one seems to be too short for us the audience to understand who the protagonists are, what they need to accomplish, and the obstacles.

The main theme though is worth celebrating: upholding truth.

I'd have liked to see more character development for the antagonist.

I mean, it's China. What else do you expect?

A Chinese movie exposing the Chinese government's attempt to accuse and execute the Falun Gong people. More importantly, it showed the effort of those that fought for what they believed in.

From the movie-making standpoint, it's pretty decent. It got a couple of intense scenes, showing how much the activists struggled against the openly-corrupt Chinese government.

Overall, it did its job to send the message. As a movie in the exposing institution's secret agenda genre, it's one of the weaker ones. 7/10.

I enjoyed this movie and the way it presented the true story. I appreciate how it taught me about issues I may not otherwise have found out about. I would watch this movie again.

A friend invited me to see this film at a private screening. I am very grateful.

While watching the movie, my body trembled violently for a few moments. I was really touched!

I think I was moved by this story for several reasons.

1. It is very powerful. If you liked how Truman overcame obstacles and found himself in The Truman Show, if you've ever been moved by Nero's strong willpower in The Matrix, or the prisoner Shawshank, you'll know what I'm talking about.

2, it is real, not science fiction. This movie is based on a true story.

3, It is relevant to our current daily life. While movies like Schindler's List and Hacksaw Ridge were also based on true stories, they were made decades later to remind people of these heroes and events. In contrast, the stories presented in "Unsilenced" are still happening. Audiences can choose to influence the outcome by participating in their real lives. That's pretty remarkable.

Amazing cast and production. Very strong storyline that keeps you engaged throughout the movie. The story is very touching. The audience can make a real connection with the story. This movie sheds light on the truth about persecution of Falun Gong and what people are going through under communism. It's a must watch.

"Unsilenced," gets a 10 out of 10 because of how important its message is to the world. To me, the core idea is that, at the end of the day, the will to seek the truth and spread the truth always outweighs the will to spread lies and silence the truth.

The main purpose of this movie is to show how great the Falun Gong is and how the CCP regime suppresses it with extreme prejudice. Falun Gong is nothing but another form of Tai Chi (a somehow being exaggerated as a Chinese Kong Fu), an exercise for your body and spiritual health, yet it boasts itself as a philosophy, a faith, even a belief, similar to Buddhism, Christianity, Catholicism and adding some more ingredients of the Chinese traditional Taoism and Confucianism, a some kind of ISM, asking the people who BELIEVE it to be TRUE, GOODWILL, and most of all, Tolerate/Endurance/Persistence/Patience. Since more and more Chinese people who accept it and get together to practice the movements and gestures as Tai Chi in large groups, a common daily assemblies everywhere in China, which cannot be accepted or tolerated by the Chinese Communist Party, it has been tagged as a potential threat to the regime. So it was harshly forbidden, prohibited and suppressed. The aftermath is many believers are killed, jailed even mentally destroyed by CCP.

This made-in-Taiwan Anti CCP movie is sponsored by Falun Gong members who escaped abroad to all the free countries and Taiwan. But the screenplay, the directing and the acting are just too awkward and too painful to watch, albeit pretentious and self-pity. I've tried my best to watch it since so many people gave high rating and praises, but sorry, NO CAN DO. It's just too shallow and primitive in all forms that I simply cannot swallow.

Except for the theme of Falun Gong, this movie is really useless, which made me deeply feel the bad movie from Taiwan. Although I support Falun Gong, I have to say that this movie is really bad, it cost me $20.

Get the real story of the current people who are China.

Touching the real sense of humanity, to see what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is doing to the lovely people in that country.

Making people to think about the decision to the direction underneath the extreme high pressure of the CCP.

Thanks so much for the freedom in the country outside of China.

I respected the director so much that he did a wonderful job, in telling the true story happening in China.

I was shocked to see so many high praises for this mediocre movie. Maybe its a political correct trendy thing to do as the evil Chinese Communist Party who reigns China and its 1.4 billion heavily brainwashed people with such an unforgivable iron clad domestic atrocity not just the Falun Gong believers but to its 99.999% citizens, treating them like sheep or even a lower species.

I've tried very hard to force me to watch this movie but finally had to give up due to its shallowness, its self-righteousness, and its hidden agenda, trying to earn more empathy from other free democratic countries. The thing that I'm not quite cool to those so-called Falun Gong believers or followers and at the same time so despise them is when I found out there are so many Chinese who illegally stay in the United States, Canada, Australia and some of the EU countries are using the excuse to seek political asylums in these countries. It seems suddenly all the illegal Chinese immigrants are Falun Gong believers, all of them were victimized by the evil CCP government, all of them more or less were being harassed, abused, condemned or imprisoned by their government, so they escaped from China, seeking political asylum. Those Chinese opportunist lawyers are getting so many business from these Chinese illegal immigrants by using the "Me Too" of The 3rd Kind to get Green Cards for them. These lawyers are making tons of money just doing this specialized Falun Gong Victims strategy to become rich, since all these people will pay them in cash, they don't even have to worry about filing the income tax.

Yes, Falun Gong is a humanitarian crisis, but on the other hand, it has also created a huge money-making opportunity for those lawyers (most are Chinese). Chinese who illegally stay in these countries and don't want to go back the China are using this opportunity to fool the immigration authorities to get permanent stay identities. Only those who might someday have to go back to China to see their families will not seek such unethical Political Refugee status, just in case the CCP government will arrest them when they go back.

This movie somehow is for the purpose of influencing these countries to allow more Chinese illegal immigrants to use this excuse to stay permanently, allowing them not only to stay but also can work, and furthermore, to allow them to get more of their relatives coming over to stay.

I've known and seen so many Chinese people to use such tricks to get Green Cards here in the U. S., and even more ridiculous, lot of them are CCP members!

This is a touching story about courage and persistence. It is based on real people and true stories in China 22 years ago that still have a large impact today.

Such stories should have been widely known by the whole world, but unfortunately that is not the case. I appreciate the efforts and courage from the filmmaker.

I especially like the title "Unsilenced". In the face of such crimes against humanity, silence is complicity. The characters in the movie chose not to remain silent at the risk of losing their lives. Their choice is inspiring to the audience.

I highly recommend this movie to everyone, especially those who want to learn more about the truth of communism.

I saw not only the cruelty and corruption of Chinese Communist Party, but also how courageous and determined those young Falun Gong practitioners were.

They are students, common people of faith just like you and me. In the face of lies and slander, they nevertheless dared to sacrifice their lives for truth and justice. As fearless as the heroes in the epic poems!

I watched the entire movie with tears and awe.

I watched this movie during a screening. It's an incredible testament to sacrifice, bravery, and truth. My eyes were glued to the screen. Best movie I saw this year.

Unless you're a Falun Gong believer/follower, don't watch this. It's pretty tedious viewing for people who aren't in the fold already. This is a movie for people of faith. Need I say more?

Falun Dafa Association and its affiliated media groups keeps telling people that truth matters and they respect the truth. But do they really mean it?

Let's take this movie as an example. Yu Chao, a well-known Falun Gong practitioner from the Tsinghua University, claims on Twitter that "this movie is based on my experience, while the movie's director says the movie is based on that of another Falun Gong practitioner". If Yu lies, why haven't Falun Dafa Association and its affiliated media groups say a word?

The truth is clear---this movie lies.

(Actually, Falun Dafa Association and its affiliated media groups lie too much that not only Yu Chao can't bear it.

Even Li Hongzhi wants to have them all disbanded. See: judgment dot judicial dot gov dot tw/LAW_MOBILE_FJUD/FJUD/data.aspx?ty=JD&id=TPDM%2c99%2c%e8%81%b2%e5%88%a4%2c235%2c20110323%2c1&ot=in )

I saw 'Letter From Masanjia" and i was really moved by the story telling in the documentary. I was really excited to see this film after seeing the trailer and learning that it won the Audience Award in the Austin Film Festival. I finally got to see a screening of it and was so impressed by how well the director did producing a drama. I was so moved by this film i shed tears multiple times while watching it.

What this film does, is bring to our attention of the real event that is actually happening on the other side of the world. The film itself has pretty clear storyline, however the intensities are just something else that the audiences have to live with. The brutalities, the unthinkable, the free wills that we take for granted, these are some of the issues that the film asks us to think about.

I see some non-US reviewers rate this movie 1/10. Hello? This movie is only playing in the US. I watched it last weekend, and I have to say it's been years since I saw a movie with such a powerful message, and we, Americans, need this so badly. I personally feel grateful about Cinemark that has the courage to show this movie. Of course, I salute the brave cast and crew team for such an amazing production.

I've been hearing too many bad things about Communist Party, but I had absolutely underestimated how evil they are until I watched this movie. I couldn't calm down after watching it because I could relate well even if I am in the US. I'll not repeat the plot here, but please do yourselves a favor - go see it.

I am a fan of their last film, Letter from Masanjia, which is a powerful documentary. Yet, this new film blew my mind, again.

The cinematography and the story telling is terrific. The film lets you fully experience the emotions and struggles in a horrifying inhuman system that is still present in the modern real world. I was not able to hold my tears back by the end of the film. Despite the darkness it depicts, the film is surprisingly uplifting, and the takeaway was stuck in my head for days.

I would highly recommend people to watch this film.

The world most Devil thing the communist party did and doing the the whole world. Shockingly truth! I can express how I feel when watching it I'm from China and I know it.

I watched the movie at a screening event, was really drawn into the drama, the inner struggles each character was experiencing, the choices they made.... Because it's based on true events, it's someone's real life experience you are watching, It makes you think: what would I do in similar situations? That feeling was incredible, felt like I actually lived through this movie, quite a soulful experience.

I gave this one a 9, because of the courage of the film crew and the suffering Falun Gong went through over the course of their persecution, which starter in 1999 and still continues to this day.

I admire film directors who are not afraid to speak the truth. Great cast and production! Definitely recommend watching this one.

This movie is incredibly powerful. The stories are well told. The pace is fast, and the oppression and torture of prisoners is shocking. Sadly it's still ongoing in China today.

There is power in truth telling and Chinese government was so afraid of truth. But a group of normal people are defending truth with their lives. I recommend this movie to everyone who wants to understand China.

This film is incredibly timely with everything that is going on in the world today. It is a powerful story and expresses universal truths about power, greed, misinformation, corruption and control. Excellent film, highly recommend.

Unsilenced is a movie that portrays the story of an uncomfortable topic that few people want to think about. The ongoing persecution of Falun Gong practitioners in mainland China is often a topic that is glazed over in the minds of people that learn of human right abuses in that country. The film tells the story of young people caught up in the early days of the persecution. It can be tough to view some of the horrific acts shown in the movie but the truth of the situation is accurate. This is the second movie I've seen of director Leon Lee's. He's proven to show his cinematic skills well in the film.