---
title: "I Am Not Your Negro: the reviews"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/i-am-not-your-negro/reviews"
title_page: "https://film.one/film/i-am-not-your-negro"
critics_score: 87
critics_reviews: 23
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."
---

# I Am Not Your Negro (2017): what the critics said

Critics' score 87 from 23 reviews: 23 positive, 0 mixed, 0 negative.

Every one of the 23 reviews is positive, and the praise gathers in the same places. Critics agree that Raoul Peck’s decision to draw the narration entirely from James Baldwin’s own writing is what gives the film its force, and Samuel L. Jackson’s reading is singled out again and again, with several calling it among his best work. The editing draws almost as much admiration: archive footage of the civil rights era cut against recent protests, and a passage picking apart Hollywood’s racial stereotypes, are the sequences most often named.

The reservations are few and small. The Hollywood Reporter finds the loose structure occasionally confusing, and The Guardian notes one flourish that imitates Baldwin’s anger without his elegance. A handful of reviews, Screen Daily and Film Comment among them, find the film despairing and wearying rather than rousing, though they admire it all the same. The spread is narrow: nobody dissents from the view that this is a serious, urgent piece of work.

## Time Out — Joshua Rothkopf

Rating 5/5. 3 April 2017. 

The critic hails the documentary as masterful in addressing the American racial divide past and present. It singles out Samuel L. Jackson's narration as his finest performance, deepening the emotional frustration with its resigned delivery.

[Read the review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/i-am-not-your-negro)

## IndieWire — Eric Kohn

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 2 February 2017. 

The review calls the film a brilliant essay that imagines Baldwin's unfinished book and weaves his words with images to examine race in America. It highlights the film's kaleidoscopic style and contemporary resonance as one of the year's most important works.

[Read the review](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin-raoul-peck-oscar-1201777014/)

## Los Angeles Times — Kenneth Turan

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 8 December 2016. 

The film is a mesmerizing cinematic experience that uses every element of film language to create a powerful, painful essay on America’s racial crisis that remains urgently relevant. Turan singles out the opening montage linking Baldwin’s era to contemporary events like Ferguson as revealing the film’s essence.

[Read the review](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-not-your-negro-review-20161205-story.html)

## Sight and Sound — Violet Lucca

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 4 December 2017. 

The critic praises Raoul Peck's fluid documentary for using James Baldwin's timeless anger to animate a history of the black experience in America. It singles out the montage that deconstructs Hollywood stereotypes, racial forgiveness tropes and the function of the N-word.

[Read the review](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/i-am-not-your-negro-review-race-rage-american-dream)

## The AV Club — Noel Murray

Rating A-. 6 December 2016. 

The critic praises the documentary for using Baldwin's eloquent words to compelling effect, creating a world-weary tone that underscores ongoing racial issues. It notes the film's strengths in narration and relevance to current events while acknowledging some challenging visuals.

[Read the review](https://www.avclub.com/i-am-not-your-negro-turns-an-abandoned-james-baldwin-bo-1798189838)

## The New York Times — A.O. Scott

Rating NYT Critic’s Pick. 2 February 2017. 

The film is a thrilling posthumous collaboration between Peck and Baldwin that functions as both an introduction to the writer’s work and an advanced seminar in racial politics. It draws entirely on Baldwin’s words (voiced by Samuel L. Jackson) to connect the assassinations of Evers, Malcolm X and King to contemporary American life.

[Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/02/movies/review-i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin.html)

## The Times — Ed Potton

Rating ★★★★☆. 7 April 2017. 

The critic describes Raoul Peck’s lyrical documentary as one that should have won its Oscar nomination, praising how it joins the dots in US racism and civil rights history through Baldwin’s own wise and witty words read by Samuel L. Jackson. It highlights the film’s use of archive clips and its timely feel.

[Read the review](https://www.thetimes.com/world/us-world/article/i-am-not-your-negro-h9vdk50wr)

## Variety — Owen Gleiberman

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 4 October 2016. Festival review. 

Peck’s transcendent documentary is a hypnotic collage that lets viewers live inside Baldwin’s mind through his words and a kaleidoscope of archival and film clips. Gleiberman praises the way it conveys Baldwin’s rejection of liberal platitudes and his vision of racism as a crisis of the American spirit.

[Read the review](https://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/i-am-not-your-negro-review-new-york-film-festival-james-baldwin-1201876756/)

## Empire — Jimi Famurewa

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 3 April 2017. 

The critic praises the film as an unflinching and vital documentary that powerfully connects Baldwin’s words on race to contemporary events. Peck’s use of archive material, modern footage and Jackson’s narration is singled out for holding the film together despite its unrelenting anger.

[Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/negro-review/)

## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 7 April 2017. 

The critic calls the film an outstanding, vivid and vital documentary that dramatises Baldwin’s unfinished memoir through Samuel L. Jackson’s narration and a punchy montage of historical footage. It singles out Baldwin’s eloquent analysis of race and culture for praise while noting a minor flourish that approximates his anger but lacks elegance.

[Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/apr/07/i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin-raoul-peck-documentary)

## The New Yorker — Richard Brody

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 8 December 2016. 

Peck’s incisive documentary derives its voice-over entirely from Baldwin’s writings and pairs them with archival footage to trace the gap between legal desegregation and ongoing white supremacy. The film highlights Baldwin’s prophetic analysis of American consciousness and its painful relevance to present-day events.

[Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/goings-on-about-town/movies/i-am-not-your-negro)

## Vulture

Fi1m's normalised score 85/100 (inferred from the text). 31 January 2017. 

The review finds the film timeless, with Baldwin's polemical yet unifying words on race feeling freshly resonant. It singles out the effective use of archival footage and the film's loose structure that connects past and present injustices.

[Read the review](https://www.vulture.com/2017/01/movie-review-i-am-not-your-negro-is-timeless.html)

## Little White Lies — Matthew Eng

Rating 4/4/4. 1 February 2017. 

The critic calls Peck's film essay magnificent and an exhilarating, impressionistic treatment of James Baldwin. It singles out the film's laser-like precision in reclaiming Baldwin's words and spotlight while seeing beyond its selected historical moment.

[Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/i-am-not-your-negro)

## Slant Magazine — Clayton Dillard

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 30 January 2017. 

The critic sees the film as a searing examination of America's racist history through Baldwin's notes and words, rejecting any concessions to Western democracy's flaws. It praises the montage linking past and present while noting Baldwin's personal insights into cultural propaganda.

[Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/i-am-not-your-negro/)

## The Hollywood Reporter — Deborah Young

Fi1m's normalised score 80/100 (inferred from the text). 20 September 2016. Festival review. 

The critic describes the film as a searing indictment of racial prejudice in America, using Baldwin's words to link three assassinated leaders to ongoing social issues. It notes the film's dynamic visuals and timely relevance but finds the loose structure occasionally confusing.

[Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/i-am-not-your-negro-931087/)

## Film Comment — Andrew Chan

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 

The critic finds the documentary pained and painful as it gives new voice to James Baldwin on race. Peck balances Baldwin’s impassioned words with archival footage and images to indict cinema and American racism, evoking spiritual weariness without easy resolution or nostalgia.

[Read the review](https://www.filmcomment.com/article/i-am-not-your-negro-raoul-peck/)

## Screen Daily

Fi1m's normalised score 70/100 (inferred from the text). 1 October 2016. Festival review. 

The critic finds the film despairing and angry in equal measure, forcefully arguing that America has not evolved in race relations. It singles out the deft pairing of historical police brutality footage with recent protests to illustrate Baldwin's still-valid fears.

[Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/i-am-not-your-negro-review/5109916.article)

## HeyUGuys — Stefan Pape

Rating 5/5. 17 February 2017. Festival review. 

The film is an accomplished and moving documentary that powerfully conveys James Baldwin's words on race in America, using narration and footage to highlight ongoing inequality and relevance to current events. The critic praises Baldwin's eloquent writing as the core strength while noting Peck's effective use of modern clips to underscore how little has changed.

[Read the review](https://www.heyuguys.com/i-am-not-your-negro-review/)

## Consequence

Rating A. 3 February 2017. 

Peck superbly reconstructs the nuance and passion of James Baldwin's work in this essay-like documentary. The film is praised for its precise editing, Samuel L. Jackson's narration, and its timeless relevance to race relations.

[Read the review](https://consequence.net/2017/02/film-review-i-am-not-your-negro/)

## Eye for Film — Anne-Katrin Titze

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 19 February 2017. 

Peck's documentary illuminates Baldwin's words through a rich tapestry of archival footage, film clips, and images that jolt awareness of America's racial history and its present. The critic highlights the film's exposure of simplistic national narratives and Baldwin's profound insights on identity, history, and moral apathy.

[Read the review](http://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/i-am-not-your-negro-2016-film-review-by-anne-katrin-titze)

## Paste — Shannon M. Houston

Rating 9.8. 10 March 2017. 

Peck creates an intimate experience with Baldwin by focusing on his unfinished book and resisting standard documentary formats. The film is celebrated for centering Baldwin's words and critiquing Hollywood's racial myths while connecting to contemporary issues.

[Read the review](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/james-baldwin/essential-movie-i-am-not-your-negro)

## The Ringer — K. Austin Collins

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 2 February 2017. 

Peck's documentary brilliantly channels Baldwin's righteous antagonism through montage and archival footage. It restores a sense of resistance and urgency to Baldwin's ideas, making them feel alive and essential.

[Read the review](https://www.theringer.com/2017/02/02/movies/i-am-not-your-negro-raoul-peck-oscar-nomination-james-baldwin-d53738d8e0ca)

## The Wrap

Fi1m's normalised score 90/100 (inferred from the text). 3 February 2017. 

The critic urges viewers to see this extraordinary documentary, calling it a great work of cinema that addresses America's past, present, and future on race in a vital way every citizen should experience. Peck's film is praised for delivering Baldwin's angry, horrific, yet poetic words in a captivating and gorgeous manner, with Samuel L. Jackson's narration singled out as one of the actor's greatest performances.

[Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/i-am-not-your-negro-review-james-baldwin-oscar-samuel-l-jackson/)

---
© 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/i-am-not-your-negro.md