The Bang Bang Club

Released in 2010, "The Bang Bang Club" is based on the real-life "Bang Bang Club" from South Africa, the bold photojournalists who covered the end of apartheid in 1994. The movie shows how the apartheid government essentially encouraged the active hostilities between the Zulus and Mandela's ANC "rebels" in an attempt to maintain power. Ryan Phillippe, Taylor Kitsch, Neels Van Jaarsveld and Frank Rautenbach star as the four main photojournalists while Malin Akerman, Nina Milner, Lika Berning and Jessica Haines are on hand as babes.

The word 'apartheid' literally means "apart-hood" and refers to the system of racial separation in South Africa legally enforced by the National Party that governed the nation from 1948-1994. Under apartheid, the rights of the majority black populace and other non-white groups were limited while the ruling of the white minority was perpetuated. Being shot in 2009, the movie enlisted South Africans to reenact events from a mere fifteen years earlier; surely, the wound was still too fresh. In any event, the mob/fighting scenes in the black districts are thoroughly convincing, like you're watching news footage.

The first 25 minutes establish the four main protagonists and their mission to document the last days of apartheid (not that they knew it was the last days), as well as some intense scenes in the black districts. With a set-up like this and a full hour and fifteen minutes to go, I was curious where the movie would go and how it could maintain the viewer's interest. Thankfully, the rest of the picture fleshes out the protagonists & their various babes and adds interesting peripheral material, like the famous shot of the starving Sudanese child with a vulture waiting to feed. In addition, the film throws in some interesting commentary on the nature of photojournalism, exploring the morality of the gig. For instance, is it moral or justifiable to stand back and take pictures of people getting killed or intensely suffering without doing anything to assist?

It may not be great, but if you're into realistic historical dramas/thrillers "The Bang Bang Club" is well worth checking out. It's similar in tone to 2003's "Stander," another South African film, and 2004's "Hotel Rwanda."

The film runs 108 minutes and was shot in South Africa.

GRADE: B

Kevin Carter's Pulitzer prize winning photograph is one of those images that gets burned into the back of your mind. It haunts you long after you see it. I saw this photo of the young Sudanese girl, about 10 years after it was taken, and it still fills me with sorrow. It makes you wonder what happened to the poor girl. It makes you question how the world can have both a massive obesity epidemic, and massive global starvation at the same time. It isn't something you can easily forget, and it's the type of image photo journalists spend an entire career searching for.

In this multi-biography, director Steven Silver tells the story of four friends, all combat photographers in the mid 1990's before the fall of the Apartheid. They tell the story of the Zulu and their tribal warfare all the while photographing the constant death, starvation, and violence that surrounds them, all the while building their camaraderie and forming the Bang Bang Club.

It's a very well written film and it brings up many issues. Most notably the hypocrisy of the situation, is that these journalists are living a life of comparative wealth and debauchery in this time of strife, and at the same time trying to make a name for themselves by taking photos focused on the very visceral suffering of others. Where the film really shines is in the background and the violence therein. I was quite impressed with the sheer number of extras for most of the fighting scenes. There are a lot of graphic sequences of course, but it's not the violence that makes the film. It's the exploitation of that violence that makes the film so interesting.

There were a couple of issues I had with the movie. For example, 4 white guys with cameras strapped to their bodies standing in the middle of battles while dodging bullets is certainly unbelievable at times. Yelling "PRESS! PRESS!" doesn't keep you safe in a war-zone. The dialogue is believable for the most part, except when they are joking around in the middle of the battle scenes. I did enjoy Taylor Kitsch's torn and dark portrayal of his character Kevin Carter. Ryan Phillippe does well as prize winning photographer Greg Marinovich, but I thought he was perhaps too good looking to be believable. Compare him to the real Greg Marionovich during the end credits and you'll see what I mean.

That being said, it's an excellent film and Steven Silver certainly has an eye for very personal story telling.

7/10

This was a pretty good movie that should have been great. Somehow though it just missed capturing the real spirit of the combat photographers, so that I was left feeling kind of meh about the whole experience. Its been based on the true story of four photojournalists who put their lives on the line to capture the fall of apartheid in the late 1990's.

I think the true character of the men just got overshadowed here by the horrors they were shooting and some random, thrown in love scenes. Ryan Phillippe's accent left something to be desired too.

The cinematography is amazing though, violent and vibrant and really made me wonder how they got some of the shots they did. Carter's (Taylor Kitsch) photo of the vulture and the starving child ...Wow! That's not something I'm going to forget anytime soon. 07.13

I am many things; a critic is not one of them. Nevertheless, I just wanted to say how moved I was by this story. I had seen all the pictures through the 1980's and early 1990's, but knowing the hell these photographers went through for a photo, was tremendously emotional. Taylor Kitsch as Kevin Carter was the heart of this movie. I was not sure how "Tim Riggins" would pull this off, but he did it beautifully. If you are looking for an emotional movie that shows what war, friendships, and the sacrifice of loss can change the world, then I believe this is the movie. I would definitely recommend it, but watch it with an open heart.

The war rages on in the final days of apartheid in South Africa. "The Bang Bang Club" is a group of four, young, fearless photographers who drove in head first into the racial fighting. Why they did such a thing is certainly in question. At first, I would chalk it up to the male-driven need for action. Other reasons will be there, but even they question it after awhile.

Writer and director Steven Silver is an established documentarian and this marks his transition into something a little more accessible. This certainly is. It's the type of recent historical story that I want to know more about. We only see the conflicts that are going on in South Africa through the lenses of these young men. The conflicts that take center stage are the internal ones between the good of documenting the violence versus doing something about it. Interestingly, it's when two of them win the Pulitzer Prize that their moral fibre is called into question.

As fearless as the protagonists are, the filmmakers seemed to be a bit more timid. Although the violence is there in full view, it lacked most of the emotional impact it should have had. Unfortunately, this is the reason for the low critics' rating. By the end you will be moved by the story, but you could have been moved all along.

I found that it was a great point of view to an interesting time. It was shot on location and achieved a great look for an independent film with the fraction of a Hollywood budget. "The Bang Bang Club" is a good movie, a great story, and it's worth experiencing.