I was pleased to be able to see The Bang Bang Club on opening night at the NW Film Forum in Seattle on Friday. This film tells the story of a close group of photojournalists during the height of Apartheid violence in South Africa. I enjoyed the film although it was quite depressing … and as a film/creative piece, it left much to be desired. The sound, for one, was mixed poorly and so I missed quite a bit of the dialogue. But it was very interesting to witness what are supposedly quite realistic re-enactments of combat photojournalism and scenes where outstanding photographs, including Pulitzer Prize winners, were made. I was also disappointed to see that the story pretty much avoided any mention of black, coloured, Indian, or any photojournalists of other ethnicities in the country who were working at the time. In a story that takes place in the extreme racism of Apartheid South Africa, it seems problematic to find that our heroes at the end of the day are a group of white men. There are no doubt many many unnamed heroes in the struggle that are left invisible. Of course, the film is based on the book by photojournalists and “members” of The Bang Bang Club, Joao Silva and Greg Marinovich, and that story simply didn’t include anyone but white photojournalists because that’s who happened to be in the “club.” And that is who won the Pulitzers, etc.

The film did do a great job, in my opinion, of offering the ups and downs of conflict work and the difficult emotional and ethical situations that photojournalists deal with. Specifically, we see Kevin Carter eventually commit suicide as well as try to explain whether he helped a starving little girl after photograph her being pursued by a vulture during a food crisis. Overall I give this film a B-. If I weren’t a photojournalist I would probably be less excited about the whole thing and give it a C-.