The Bang Bang Club Reviews

Kevin Carter: They're right. All those people who say it's our job to just sit and watch people die. They're right.

Four war photographers capture the uprising in the final days of the Apartheid in South Africa. For photographers Greg Marinovich, Kevin Carter, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva it was about getting deep within the action and getting a photograph that captured the inner struggle and the ruthlessness of the rebellion. The story of The Bang Bang Club is not just about them going out to find these photos, but it is also about the emotional toll
their jobs took on them as human beings.

Director Steven Silver did such a masterful job of bringing these four people to life. For an hour and 40 minutes my eyes were glued to the screen, watching them get deep within the action, watching them as they narrowly escaped death numerous times and still had the will to carry on. They were fearless it seemed, and for the first bit of the film their uncanny ability to get the shot and move on was captured brilliantly. As the film got deeper and deeper it become evident that even those who have the strongest of wills can be broken, and this is where The Bang Bang Club really became such an emotional film to watch.

The Bang Bang Club is an emotional rollercoaster to say the least; these four men had you on the edge of your seat as you watched them tear through battlefields and willingly took the photos and got recognized for doing so. At times The Bang Bang Club plays at your emotions but they also show you that hard work in the end does pay off. The Bang Bang Club works because it captures their highlights and lowlights, without skipping a beat as a film.

Wonderfully written, crafted and shot the Bang Bang Club is a film any person associated with the media should take a look at. There are only a few films out there that master the art of storytelling more then the Bang Bang Club. Ryan Phillippe and Taylor Kitsch are perfect in their roles. Both bring realism and honesty to their characters, making them real people with real feelings. In a film like this it is easy to forget yourself and make the main characters seem indestructible, but never did Phillippe or Kitsch make their characters seem that way.

It was Kitsch that sold the movie for me. Kevin Carter was a phenomenal photographer who slowly lost himself to drugs. Kitsch played him with a soft subtlety that never slowed down all the other elements. When Kevin Carter delivered a powerful line as it seemed he was the one that did through out the film, it always seemed like there was much more to Kevin Carter on the inside that he was afraid to let be seen. Kitsch has proven that he is a talented actor on several occasions in the past, but when playing Kevin Carter you see a new side to Taylor Kitsch as an actor. You get the sense with The Bang Bang Club that there is not a character Taylor Kitsch cannot play because he shows that he is willing to bring out every emotion he has an actor and explore the vulnerability of his character, and go deep within in himself to show how the character his feeling.

The Bang Bang Club is certainly one of the better all around pictures to be released in a long time. Usually most movies lack either story or emotion or the actors cannot capture their emotions properly. The Bang Bang Club goes above and beyond what you expect from a modern day movie of its nature and it proves to be one of the better films one can watch. I recommend it to anyone who likes journalism, war films or movies to do with conflicts in Africa. It will not disappoint.