Netflix is only showing a top-rated film with a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes in the coming days. It’s a film lauded by viewers as “both beautiful and heartbreaking” and one that “had me glued from beginning to end”. Fans have hailed it as “one of the finest movies I’ve seen in years”, with accolades pouring in for the “outstanding” lead performances.
Critics have joined the chorus of admiration, praising the movie’s “masterfully done” production and branding it “deeply intelligent”. One said: “It’s a movie that will live with me for a long time.”
Leave No Trace’s 100% rating outshines cinematic titans like The Godfather (97%), Schindler’s List (97%) and Casablanca (99%). It is also one of the newest films to achieve the rating, with most films at that level on Rotten Tomatoes being older classics such as Seven Samurai, Singin’ in the Rain, and 12 Angry Men. But it may have flown under your radar due to its low-key release, absence of star names, and a modest box office haul of just £5m.
The poignant narrative of Leave No Trace follows a war veteran and his young daughter who lead a secluded life in an Oregon nature reserve. Their tranquil existence, hidden away in a tent and punctuated by reading and campfire cooking, spirals into disarray after an unexpected encounter with a hiker.
The gripping tale is grounded in reality: a father and daughter who evaded detection while residing in a vast Oregon country park for an extended period. A 2004 article in The Oregonian disclosed that Portland police were tipped off by a jogger who reported “suspicious people” lurking in the park, described as “an older man with bushy white hair and a beard and a young girl in a remote part of the park” who appeared to have been living there for some time”, reports Surrey Live.
The piece went on to describe how, after a thorough search operation, authorities discovered them the following day, concealed just a short distance from their intricately constructed campsite carved into a steep hillside. Concealed beneath a tarpaulin and wooden frame, items such as sleeping bags, partially burned wood, a collection of aged World Book Encyclopedias, gardening implements, and other tools were unearthed.
Additionally, they stumbled upon a rope swing, a diligently cultivated vegetable plot, and a tranquil brook nearby.
To the astonishment of the police, the duo had maintained excellent hygiene and health despite four years in the wilderness, with officers noting the 12 year old’s articulate nature.
In the cinematic adaptation, Ben Foster and Thomasin McKenzie breathe life into the roles of the father and daughter under the direction of Debra Granik, a filmmaker who has garnered critical acclamation despite not being a household name — her work is praised as “exceptional” by The Guardian’s film critic Peter Bradshaw and she is credited with propelling Jennifer Lawrence to stardom in an earlier project.
The New York Times lauded the lead performances, saying: “Neither actor begs for your heart, but each – like this movie – takes it.”
It adds: “Debra Granik has a gift for cinematic spaces that are vibrantly, palpably alive, and for putting you in places, whether modest homes or the great outdoors, that make you feel as if you’re standing right alongside her characters.”
According to the Chicago Sun-Times: “Leave No Trace is further evidence Granik is one of the most talented directors around – and Ben Foster ranks among the finest and most intense actors working today.”
Meanwhile, The Dallas Morning News said: “Granik is one of the most distinctive filmmaking voices we have; I’d love to see her make more features but I’m also glad she takes the time to do them right.”