[8] Kimber Myers of the Los Angeles Times called the film an "impressive directorial debut ... alternates between triumph and tragedy, but there's never a moment that doesn't feel intimate and authentic.

"[12] Miriam Di Nunzio of the Chicago Sun-Times said the film "powerfully drives home what is obvious and yet what most of us fail to see: Bertie County is America.

"[14] Sheri Linden of The Hollywood Reporter said "the experiences and challenges of the rural poor might make it into the national conversation as an abstraction, but rarely with the specificity of this intimate portrait of a black community.

"[15] Brian C. Bush of The Huffington Post called the film "starkly poetic" and said it "brilliantly weaves the young men's stories together, as they transition from their teens into manhood, engaged in a shared struggle for social and economic survival.

"[16] Executive Producer Gordon Quinn said of the film, "Raising Bertie challenges us to see the value in lives too often ignored, those of rural America and emerging adults.