[3] Geyrhalter assembled a rough edit of the film using half-minute durations for each shot and placeholder audio.

[3] Once that process was complete, the film was rearranged and shot lengths were adjusted based on the story arc and the impact of the audio track.

[6] Peter Bradshaw called it "the most extraordinary documentary I have seen in years", describing its images as "as gripping as any of the sci-fi thrillers or post-apocalyptic dramas that would normally use scenes like these as establishing shots.

"[7] In his review for The Village Voice, Michael Sicinski likened the film's compositions to the work of Anselm Kiefer, Andreas Gursky, and Christian Boltanski.

"[8] Glenn Kenny of The New York Times wrote that "Each individual shot creates a frisson of desolation that resonates far beyond the facile irony suggested by the movie’s title.