Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 21, 2006

[It] is essentially a too-long overcoming-the-odds clip that helps fill up a hole or two in the Olympics TV schedule. Back to you, Bob Costas.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Apr 4, 2006

[E]xtra poignant not just because it's true but also because of the refusal of directors Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern to pander to easy sentiment or to place Yeboah on a pedestal of superhumanity...

Full Review | Jan 3, 2006

...a wonderfully inspiring film about overcoming disabilities and not forgetting others who also share your problems.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

An inspiring documentary about a charismatic and determined young man who almost single-handedly has changed the way the disabled are treated in Ghana, Africa.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 4, 2005

While Emmanuel's Gift has a moving story to tell, it does so in a less than compelling manner.

Full Review | Nov 29, 2005

Oprah Winfrey is almost too good at narration.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 24, 2005

Emmanuel's Gift is certainly not a bad movie. It's just a case of good intentions unintentionally interfering with a great story.

Full Review | Original Score: B- | Nov 3, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 29, 2005

A documentary about Emmanuel Ofosu Yeboah, a one-legged young man from Ghana, Africa, who overcame his handicap to ride a bicycle across his country, among other amazing achievements.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 28, 2005

Unfortunately, the sound-bite journalism of filmmakers Lisa Lax and Nancy Stern glosses over the larger unanswered questions in the documentary.

Full Review | Oct 22, 2005

Yeboah is so levelheaded about his own accomplishments that the swelling score and emotional narration from Oprah Winfrey feel embarrassingly sentimental.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 21, 2005

Directed in the breathless inspirational tones of an infomercial, the film's an acceptable document of a thoroughly remarkable individual.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 21, 2005

Oprah Winfrey narrates, so you know this is a tear-jerking story of triumph through and through. With a little more production, heck, it could've been a sweeps-week ratings bonanza.

Full Review | Original Score: B+ | Oct 21, 2005

Emmanuel's Gift is a powerful story of political change almost smothered by contrivance.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 20, 2005

Emmanuel's Gift isn't great, but the story is and so, unquestionably, is Emmanuel himself.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 20, 2005

This film becomes memorable through the sheer force of Emmanuel's personality: his ready smile, his intent gaze, his fierce resolution and the way he keeps moving forward, against all barriers.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 20, 2005

Of course, cameras weren't rolling for the trip -- which garnered Emmanuel a degree of international renown -- so this hagiographic, after-the-fact documentary flounders for other angles.

Full Review | Oct 18, 2005

Not only has Emmanuel persevered life's hard knocks but also the film's short-tempered look and sound.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | Oct 5, 2005