The endless vistas of sand that surround the forlorn settlement embody the void at the heart of its abandoned, terrified characters.
Comment
07/06/08
The King is Alive (2001)
60
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:65
Fresh:39
Rotten:26
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Though the plot feels rather contrived, the ensemble acting in this Dogme 95 film is good.
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: The fourth contribution to the grass roots Dogme 95 collective, THE KING IS ALIVE is a psychological horror film that uses a bleak yet beautiful African landscape to tell a haunting tale of human... [More]
Starring: Miles Anderson, Romane Bohringer, Bruce Davison, Brion James
Director: Kristian Levring
Reviews for The King is Alive
Top CriticIt's all very watchable, thanks to excellent performances all around...
06/24/06
Top CriticThe performances are admirable, the location evocatively exploited and the psychological intensity often unbearable. But the spark isn’t there.
05/11/01
Top CriticPretentious, overlong, and visually unappealing.
05/07/01
Top CriticDespite astonishing camera work and editing, it just gets duller and duller even as the story is supposedly heating up.
12/10/01
The unsparing, invasive naturalism of digital video, which seems specially calibrated to register the play of anxiety and distress on human faces, also records an inhuman landscape of undulating dunes and blinding sky.
05/10/01
Top CriticMay start out on a premise as seemingly misguided as the route taken by its hapless travelers, but it ends up, like Lear, as a fever dream of the destruction exposure to true nature, human and otherwise, can visit on the human soul.
05/10/01
Here is a small masterpiece about the erosion of civilized egos by the elements.
08/06/06
An imaginative film that feels ten times more genuine than any ten movies of the "Castaway" variety (or as I like to call it, "The 90 million dollar Fed-Ex Commercial")
03/18/03
All of the performances are painfully human.
05/10/01
Pick-me-up, this ain't. But fascinating, it is.
09/21/01
An extraordinary and imaginative examination of human nature.
04/27/01
Even for a Dogma 95 movie, this one is unusual because it features a remote, exotic setting and a Shakepearean subtext.
01/06/04
A haunting and powerful ensemble work.
03/29/01
A strange, fascinating little feel-bad movie. Hunt it down.
05/10/01
Not one of these people is anyone you would want to spend time with, let alone perform alongside.
01/01/00
Admittedly not for all tastes, but I liked what I bit into even if there was some sand in the offering.
11/25/02
Has its flaws, but remains a fascinating and strangely involving piece.
06/14/01
The inherent strength of the age-old story, and the approach The King is Alive takes, are enough to keep our interest.
06/15/01
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
Fresh Links
Featured
RT on YouTube 
Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.
RT on Twitter
Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.
IGN RSS Feeds