--- title: "Flesh and Sand: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/flesh-and-sand/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/flesh-and-sand" critics_score: 75 critics_reviews: 10 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Flesh and Sand (2017): what the critics said Critics' score 75 from 10 reviews: 8 positive, 0 mixed, 2 negative. Most critics respond warmly to Flesh and Sand, praising the VR installation’s technical accomplishment and its physical evocation of a migrant border crossing. The praise centres on emotional immersion: sand underfoot, disorientation and the threat of armed guards make the encounter feel immediate. For its admirers, Iñárritu’s humane staging gives the technology a purpose beyond novelty, bringing viewers closer to people whose experiences are often reduced to political rhetoric. The disagreement is sharp rather than evenly spread. The Guardian admires the immersion but questions how much it explains about refugees’ circumstances. Film Comment sees technically accomplished imagery serving blunt moralising and an exclusive experience. The Los Angeles Times goes further, arguing that the VR apparatus obstructs empathy, while finding the closing video testimonials moving. The central divide is over whether simulated danger encourages understanding or merely produces a powerful physical response. ## The Hollywood Reporter — Scott Roxborough Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2017. Festival review. The critic praises the emotional impact and technical achievement of the VR installation, noting it forces empathy with migrants' experiences through immersive storytelling. They highlight the common humanity revealed by seeing beating hearts inside characters. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/cannes-alejandro-g-inarritu-goes-heart-refugee-crisis-vr-installation-1004967/) ## The New York Times — Holland Cotter Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 17 May 2017. Festival review. The critic describes the VR installation as a groundbreaking hybrid of art exhibition, virtual reality simulation and historical re-enactment that is politically urgent and technically accomplished. They highlight how the experience, with sand underfoot and a harrowing border scenario, feels transporting and places the viewer directly in the migrants' desperate situation. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/17/arts/design/alejandro-gonzalez-inarritu-carne-y-arena-virtual-reality-cannes.html) ## The Telegraph — Tim Robey Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 May 2017. Festival review. The piece describes the VR installation as a harrowing, convincing experience set in the Sonoran Desert where viewers walk barefoot among refugees and border guards. It highlights the terrifying realism of being ordered to the ground at gunpoint and notes the work's basis in real immigrants' stories. [Read the review](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/alejandro-inarritus-carne-y-arena-harrowing-cannes-vr-installation/) ## Variety — Owen Gleiberman Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 20 May 2017. Festival review. The critic calls the VR installation extraordinary and the VR revolution we've been waiting for, praising how it plants viewers in the middle of an immigrant border odyssey with instinctive physical reactions and genuine fiction. They single out the humane, soulful staging by Iñárritu and the compassionate art that makes the new medium feel supernatural and emotionally moving. [Read the review](https://variety.com/2017/film/reviews/carne-y-arena-review-alejandro-g-inarritu-1202438293/) ## Vulture Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 19 May 2017. Festival review. The VR experience is visceral and effective in changing perceptions of immigration, though brief and with some technical limitations like uncanny valley; the coda with testimonials adds power. [Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2017/05/cannes-2017-irritus-vr-experience-will-break-your-heart.html) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 22 May 2017. Festival review. The critic finds the VR installation an innovative and immersive experience that plunges viewers into the disorienting situation of refugees at the US-Mexico border. It excels at conveying the feeling of having a gun pointed at you but questions whether it meaningfully addresses the refugee issue or will remain confined to art galleries. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/may/22/carne-y-arena-review-inarritu-virtual-reality-refugee-cannes-2017) ## Film Comment — Jordan Cronk Fi1m's normalised score 40/100 (inferred from the text). 1 January 2018. The critic views the VR installation as a commercially driven, self-important spectacle that reduces complex issues to blunt moralizing and turns empathy into a privileged gesture. He praises the technical aspects of the imagery but criticizes the lack of subtlety and the exclusivity. [Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/inarritu-carne-y-arena-at-lacma/) ## Los Angeles Times — Christopher Knight Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 16 August 2017. The critic finds the VR technology remarkable but problematic as it wedges between the viewer and empathy, with the detention chamber and VR portions feeling like superficial manipulation. They single out the final section of video testimonials from immigrants and a patrol agent as the potent, moving part that redeems the installation through imaginative leaps. [Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-et-cm-alejandro-inarritu-lacma-20170816-htmlstory.html) ## Deadline — Joe Utichi Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 18 May 2017. Festival review. The critic positions the VR installation as a landmark achievement in the medium, equivalent to early cinema milestones, for its visceral portrayal of the immigrant experience. It singles out the work's emotional confrontation of anti-immigrant rhetoric and its authentic, non-gimmicky impact. [Read the review](https://deadline.com/2017/05/alejandro-g-inarritu-emmanuel-lubezki-carne-y-arena-cannes-1202096855/) ## The Wrap Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 21 May 2017. Festival review. The review calls the experience disturbing and enlightening for its ability to personalize the immigrant journey in a way other festival works cannot. It highlights the focus on emotional immersion and human understanding rather than showcasing the VR technology itself. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/alejandro-inarritus-vr-experience-carne-y-arena-shakes-up-cannes-viewers-if-they-can-see-it/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/flesh-and-sand.md