This Is Congo received positive reviews from film critics. Cath Clarke of The Guardian rated it 3 stars out of 5, saying it is "a long read about the humanitarian crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo".[4] Clarke also said its potted history will "frustrate experts as superficial".[4] In a review for The New York Times, Ben Kenigsberg said the film provides a lot to admire and that the "sheer scope of the subject matter might be even better served by the capaciousness of a mini-series".[5] Los Angeles Times writer Gary Goldstein described it as "vivid" and "immersive", noting its characters "provide a haunting window into a deeply anarchic world too-rarely glimpsed".[6] Guy Lodge of Variety magazine said the film "excels when trading in details that can't be more substantively gleaned from written history and journalism."[1]
Boyd Hoeij of The Hollywood Reporter applauded the film's combat scenes, but criticized McCabe for "omitting things that are equally important for an understanding of the Kivu Conflict".[2] Ed Potton of The Sunday Times awarded the film 3 stars out of 5, describing it as "hard-hitting and often harrowing".[7] The New Yorker's Peter Canby said the film "covers a specific episode of the country's more general violence".[8] In addition, Canby highlighted the character Colonel Ndala as the standout among the four characters.[8] In a review for Point of View magazine, Pat Mullen said the film "works viscerally and has a great impact at an emotional level" and that McCabe "implores audiences to bear witness to crimes to which previous generations turned a blind eye".[3] Alan Scherstuhl of The Village Voice described the film's footage as "harrowing, raw and intimate".[9]
The Financial Times writer Nigel Andrews granted the film 3 stars out of 5, saying McCabe's multiple portraiture "enthral".[10] L. Kent Wolgamott of Lincoln Journal Star said the film tells the war-torn story of the DRC through "the testimony of four people, vintage news clips and raw, riveting footage from the battlefields and displaced person camps".[11] In The London Economic, journalist Wyndham Hacket Pain opined that although the documentary "may tell a story that is familiar from new reports and articles, it has rarely been told in such a meditative and poetic manner."[12] David D'Arcy of Screen Daily commended McCabe for presenting the DRC story with a "grim element of surprise", but ended up saying the documentary's multiple perspectives "can feel lopsided".[13] Reviewing for International Policy Digest, David Ferguson said This Is Congo was "beautifully photographed, and perfectly captures the often stunning landscape between violent bursts of war and personal fright".[14]
