The Bang Bang Club
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | The Bang Bang Club |
| Original title | The Bang Bang Club |
| Country of production |
Canada , South Africa |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2010 |
| length | 106 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Steven Silver |
| script | Steven Silver |
| production |
Adam Friedlander Daniel Iron Lance Samuels |
| music | Philip Miller |
| camera | Miroslaw Baszak |
| cut |
Ronald Sanders Tad Seaborn |
| occupation | |
The Bang Bang Club is a 2010 Canadian - South African feature film directed by Steven Silver . The film is based on the autobiography of Greg Marinovich and João Silva and tells the story of a group of photographers (called the Bang-Bang Club ) who worked as press photographers in South Africa during the late phase of apartheid from 1990 to 1994.
action
Greg, a young photographer in South Africa, experiences a bloody altercation between members of the Xhosa- dominated ANC and the Zulu- dominated Inkatha . There he meets the photographers Kevin Carter , João Silva and Ken Oosterbroek , who also photograph the victims of the dispute. While the other three drive home, Greg, despite warnings, goes to the Inkatha's residential area to document their version of the story. After he was almost killed himself, he managed to befriend the leaders of the group and took photos of their victory celebration. He later photographs the killing of an ANC member. Back at the other photographers, they are impressed by Greg's courage and include him in their midst. At a newspaper editorial office, Greg meets the picture editor Robin and the two become a couple. From then on, the four photographers move together to places of conflict. In one of these conflicts, Greg witnessed the murder of an alleged Inkatha spy by ANC members and took a photo of the burning victim being slain with a machete . At first he is very shocked by the crime, and for the first time half-heartedly tries to prevent the perpetrators from murdering. When his friends tell him about the sale of the photos in London, which means that Greg will finally join the highly paid ranks of top international photographers, he celebrates with them in a disco. However, the South African police are following Greg as a witness to the murder. Greg cannot testify, however, if he wants to continue taking photos as an impartial third party in the townships . Greg later wins the Pulitzer Prize for this photo , which protects him from prosecution for the time being. In the ensuing international recognition, the group was given the nickname Bang-Bang Club based on a report in a South African magazine . In the meantime, Carter has to leave the country due to his drug problems in particular and creates a photo documentation of the famine there in Sudan . There he takes a picture of a starving girl who is being watched by a vulture. For this picture he also wins the Pulitzer Prize, but has to listen to allegations that he would benefit from the suffering of the victims. These accusations gnaw hard on him. Robin also accuses his colleague Greg of profiting from the suffering of other people. The trigger is a joint visit by a father who has just lost his wife and son after a police action by the government. When Greg photographs the body of the toddler and asks Robin for help, he pushes her to the limit of what is possible. When the four photographers finally take photos of another armed conflict, Greg is wounded and Ken is fatally injured. The group then breaks up, João takes a permanent job and marries, and Greg wants to renew his relationship with Robin. Kevin finally breaks up with the self-reproach and the seen and commits suicide.
Reviews
Rotten Tomatoes rated the film 47%. Die Zeit writes: "Silver's film is valuable because it does not, to put it cautiously, describe war photographers as morally impeccable." Cinema writes: "Relentless, deliberately ambivalent action film about the role of the press in war". Focus, on the other hand, criticizes: "Silver did not really think through the praiseworthy approach of depicting wars not from the perspective of [...] [of] soldiers or agents, but from the perspective of photographers."
Production details
The drama was filmed in Johannesburg and premiered on April 21, 2011 at the Tribeca Film Festival .
Web links
- Official website of the film (English)
- The Bang Bang Club in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- The-Bang-Bang-Club in the online film database