Review of War Photographer (2001) by Andrew T — 28 May 2007

After discovery that their was a documentary film about James Nagthwey, my favorite photographer of all time, I knew that I had to immidetly watch that film and expected that I would goble up the film quickly and be wanting more.

I mean wouldn't you expect that, considering that I know next to nothing about the photographer besides his pictures and am obsessed w/ him enough to buy his $100 book called Inferno. Sadly the film didn't meet my expectations, which I believe I set fairly low considering I was willing to kill for any info about him.

The focus of the documentary at times seemed very unclear, which again confused me since what else would the film be about then James Naghtwey. At times people were interviewed whose relation to James was unclear and spoke about topics which seemed unrelated to the movies focus.

Other shots ran on far too long, as if the director knew the movie was running short and decided to gain another 5 minutes by adding silence and shots of people "deep in thought". Nonetheless there were several moments that were very rewarding as the film had footage from a small camera that was attached to Nacthwey's own camera, this enabled the viewer to see what he was seeing and how quickly he had to take the pictures he was talking and change the shutter and focus.

Other powerful moments allowed you to see him taking and developing several of his most famous shots. Other moments in this film though held it back from being the insightful documentary I thought it would be.

Everything stayed too much on the surface, and rarely delved into the important issuues like how Nacthwey deals with the horrors he sees everyday and is what he doing really making a diffference. I give this film a 7/10 for people who are a fan of Nacthwey's work, but a 6/10 for those who aren't familiar with his work.