Review of The Bang Bang Club (2011) by Divyesh A — 02 Jan 2012

Based on actual events, this is the story of four photographers who, during the last years of Apartheid, put themselves in harm's way to capture the events of the tumultuous struggles going on across South Africa.

Overall, this is a decent film, but it doesn't quite live up to its potential to be great. The film is rather unbalanced in that it focuses far more on two of the guys instead of giving all four of them equal amounts of development, and also that it seems to run of out steam part way through, which is a shame because it starts off pretty decently. It doesn't totally fall apart by the end, but it definitely feels like thigns are running on fumes. Also, even though I don't always mind adding in material for dramatic purposes, it wasn't necessary here as there's already pelnty of drama in the real story.

A better job of establishing the context and background for the events would have been nice as well, but I had some idea of that sort of stuff, though I had no knowledge of these four men prior to seeing this film. Still though, the film is shot decently, and there's some godo performances here, especially from Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch.

All in all, a well meaning film about an important subject that is passabel enough, yet not quite worthy of getting a full on recommendation.