Weekly Review -- The history of bullets

The Bang Bang Club (2010) -- The topic of apartheid has almost always been viewed through a political or socio-cultural cinematic lens. Arguably the most shameful period in South African history, it has been presented in the context of human interest stories, yet would somehow constitute the background and not the heart of the narrative itself. Never has it been viewed through the literal lens of the people who found themselves in the eye of the storm -- the photojournalists who risked life and limb to bring the truth of the brutalities to light.  

The film tells the story of photographers Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe), Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), João Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) and Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach), who toiled tirelessly to expose the despotic South African regime in the only way they knew how -- through raw, uncensored images that would go on to appear in newspapers around the world. Along the way, the job was taking its toll at the so-called Bang Bang Club, with the men's own identities slowly disappearing under the burden of perpetual violence and their sanity constantly being at stake...

What the film does right is set up the tense, hectic atmosphere that these people had lived and worked in, the milieu that informed their jobs day in and day out. Inhabiting political chaos is certainly no easy task and being required to record its timeline is doubtlessly just as difficult. Silver also takes a look at interesting and often unfair questions that many might say are posed by the nature of the work. Do reporters play the role of memory keepers or protectors or maybe both? Should a photographer aid their subject in a time of distress? On the minus side, I would have liked to see more of these fascinating people's inner lives and the impact that their profession has had on their relationships with "civilians". The film barely touches upon these aspects, when a detailed introspective glance would have probably made its themes even more intriguing.  

The acting is fantastic. Phillippe gives another understated performance as Marinovich, a workaholic constantly attempting to separate himself from the horrors around him and often failing miserably. Van Jaarsveld is very good as the occasionally hotheaded Silva, while Rautenbach is impressive as Oosterbroek, the cool head of the group. Still, the biggest revelation is Kitsch and the edge he brings to the role of Carter, whose life took a turn for the worse after one of his most famous photographs was published and debated. Carter's excitable, devil-may-care attitude is a facade for a vulnerable man who has witnessed too much of what no one should ever have to see, someone consequently unable to find a way out of shell shock. Kitsch underlines his portrayal with a melancholy humanity that makes him stand out in a film brimming with terrific performances, and I hope that more strong dramatic material comes his way very soon. 

Taking on a unique and never before seen perspective of apartheid, The Bang Bang Club reconstructs an era that history cannot afford to forget. It goes inside the psyche of human beings who fought tyranny with no need for weapons and who would not back down when confronting bigotry. The film is a testament to the courage of a very specific mindset, one that overlooks warnings in favor of the truth and one that disregards danger in favor of evidence.        

9/10