DVD Reviews

The Bang Bang Club – DVD Review

By Jeff Swindoll Aug 16, 2011, 21:06 GMT

Based on the acclaimed memoir by Greg Marinovich and João Silva As apartheid comes to a violent end, four fearless photographers - Greg Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe), Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach) and João Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) - bonded by their friendship and a sense of purpose, risk their lives to capture the bloody struggle and expose the truth. ...more

So you want to be a photographer, bru? Bru being South African for “bro” it would appear. However, in those trenches there is some camaraderie as four photographers find themselves in a war zone as South African endures a civil war cumulating in the election of Nelson Mandela.

South African freelance photographer Greg Marionvich (Ryan Phillippe) comes across the aftermath of a killing by a rival group of black South Africans. He also comes across some other photographers shooting the same scenes, freelancers Kevin Carter (Taylor Kitsch) and Joao Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld) and newspaper photographer Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach).

The other photogs leave the scene thinking no more is to be seen, but Greg ventures, perhaps foolishly, into the township of the people that killed their subject to get the story from them.

For a few harrowing moments, it appears that Greg will be the next victim, but he runs into the place where the leader is and he allows Greg to take photos.

He takes those photos to newspaper photo editor Robin Comley (Malin Akerman) and she wants to publish some of them. He also discovers that the three guys he met at the melee are there too.

The four become fast friends and form a group that the press would dub “The Bang Bang Club” (Bang Bang Paparazzi was too derogatory) for their going into many volatile situations to get a photo.

As things are heating up out in the field they also begin to heat up with Greg and Robin, but war of all sorts has a tendency to touch all that experience it and not for the better.

War photographers and correspondents have to be a little bit crazy. They’re running into situations where the majority of individuals are running away from. Unlike firefighters or policemen, they’re not running into the melee to do a job but to get a picture or a story.

The backdrop for the stories of these four photographers, based on the memoirs of two of them, is the waning days of apartheid (legal racial segregation) that lead up to the election of Mandela.

However during these troubled times several tribes are expressing their hatred for one another by hacking each other up with machetes when the opportunity presents itself.

This is the warzone that our new friends find them in. They all have their own foibles and not all of them will get out unscathed no matter how many Pulitzers they may win. It also covers the dichotomy of a war photographer.

They may feel a certain invulnerability since they’re looking through a lens and put themselves into dangerous situations for a picture. Much like some of the tribesmen in the film splash themselves with magical liquid that supposedly protects them from bullets… it doesn’t work.

They also have to deal with the fact that some of their pictures put them into self-questioning situations where they can either help the afflicted or take the picture. Most likely they take the picture.

Director Steven Silver comes from a documentary (and South African) background so he treats his subject, though Hollywooded up, like such. It certainly has been a Hollywood gloss when you compare the real people’s pictures during the closing credits to their tinsel town counterparts.

Doing that may have been a mistake because I thought it might’ve been better to cast unknowns closer to the look of the real people. However, it is still a compelling look into this time period and profession.

The actors give it their all, even the smaller parts are standouts including the young actor who interviews people in the special features bit part at the beginning and another one who tells the horrific events that claimed his family.

The Bang Bang Club is presented in widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.

Special features include a commentary by writer/director Steven Silver, a 46 minute making of, 5 minutes of deleted scenes, 18 minutes of interviews of cast and crew by young actor Kgosi Mongake, and a series of trailers of titles also available.

As in war, not everyone makes it out alive, but Joao was still plying his trade until October 2010 when he lost both legs below the knee to a landmine in Afghanistan while on patrol with American soldiers.

So the danger still exists, even for the veteran. At least you get to see the film from the comfort of your living room, but prepare to be affected along the way.