The defence The Auteur Devotee
“Ambition earns the room.”
The film reaches for consequence and scale, accepting the risk of seriousness instead of shrinking from it.
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The Dissident
Documentary · 2020
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.
Movie details
The Dissident
“The untold story of the murder that shook the world.”
2020 Documentary 1h 59m
Critical arithmetic
The consensus, allegedly.
Scores change. Arguments endure.
IMDb
7.8 / 10
30.9K votes
Rotten Tomatoes
96 %
Tomatometer
Metacritic
81 / 100
Metascore
TMDB
7.3 / 10
Community rating
External scores via OMDb · CC BY-NC 4.0. Values normalized for display; availability varies by title.
When Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappears after entering Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, his fiancée and dissidents around the world are left to piece together the clues to a brutal murder and expose a global cover up perpetrated by the very country he loved.
CriticWise case file
What this film says about your taste.
Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.
The archetype split
Who fights over The Dissident?
For the defence
The Auteur Devotee
“You watch the director, not the movie.”
Read their case For the prosecution
The Popcorn Loyalist
“Big screen, big feelings, no apologies.”
Read their objectionThe split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.
Taste neighbourhood
Nearby on the taste map.
TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.
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Where it lives
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Names above the title
The people responsible.
Cast & crew
Directed by
Bryan Fogel
Written by
Bryan Fogel · Mark Monroe
Jamal Khashoggi
Self (archive footage)
Omar Abdulaziz
Self - Interviewee
Prince Mohammed bin Salman al Saud
Self (Footage)
İrfan Fidan
Self - Public Prosecutor
Agnès Callamard
Self - Interviewee
Hatice Cengiz
Self - Interviewee
John O. Brennan
Self - Interviewee
Court is in session
Put The Dissident on trial.
Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.
The prosecution The Popcorn Loyalist
“Importance has entered the chat.”
The production keeps announcing its significance, as though awards-season posture were proof of insight.