"The Ditch makes only glancing reference to the political events that precipitated the anti-rightist movement, and the film's minimal context and thinly sketched characters could be read as a broad condemnation of atrocities and abuses perpetrated in any country, even if Wang's grueling depiction of this sun-bleached no-man's land could hardly be more specific or exacting in its re-creation of physical details.

(…) Drawn from a novel by Yang Xianhui

and interviews Wang conducted

with survivors, the film has an

overpowering feel of unfiltered reality

that persists even as tightly framed

dramatic moments begin to emerge.

Admirers of Wang's documentaries

know his ability to capture real moments

of extraordinary intimacy, and the sense

of verisimilitude here is so strong

that those walking in unawares may

at first think they're watching another

piece of highly observant reportage -

never mind that no filmmaker would

ever have been granted access, just as no humane documentarian could have kept the camera rolling without offering his subjects a scrap of food at the very least.

Dramatically, The Ditch is as arid and unrelenting as the setting it depicts, and its commingling of anguish and anger is far from subtle. But this may be the only way to properly dramatize and empathize with these men's experience; if barely two hours seem unendurable, three months defeat the imagination."

(Justin Chang, Variety)