Adapted from the autobiographical book The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War co-written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva, writer-director Steven Silver’s dramatization charts the experiences of four photojournalists in the days prior to the downfall of Apartheid in South Africa.
Initially working freelance, Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe) soon finds himself under the tutelage of Kevin “forget the long lens, bro” Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach) and Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld), having won their respect with a series of provocative pictures taken inside one of the warring townships. Working for photo-editor Robin Comley (Malin Åkerman), the quartet are eventually dubbed “The Bang Bang Club” as they put their lives on the line to capture the brutality and desperation of a country nearing the end of Apartheid.
It would be easy to criticize The Bang Bang Club for glossing over certain hard truths and questionable morals to focus...
Initially working freelance, Marinovich (Ryan Phillippe) soon finds himself under the tutelage of Kevin “forget the long lens, bro” Carter (Taylor Kitsch), Ken Oosterbroek (Frank Rautenbach) and Silva (Neels Van Jaarsveld), having won their respect with a series of provocative pictures taken inside one of the warring townships. Working for photo-editor Robin Comley (Malin Åkerman), the quartet are eventually dubbed “The Bang Bang Club” as they put their lives on the line to capture the brutality and desperation of a country nearing the end of Apartheid.
It would be easy to criticize The Bang Bang Club for glossing over certain hard truths and questionable morals to focus...
- 6/27/2011
- by Steven Neish
- HeyUGuys.co.uk
There's a truly amazing, insightful, and thoughtful story surrounding the lives of the Bang Bang Club -- four photographers working in South Africa during the Apartheid period between 1990 and 1994 -- one that is anguishing, fascinating, and ultimately, a real goddamn bummer. It's a story that soars with thematic conflict, about the violence between the Nelson Mandela's African National Congress and President F.W. de Klerk's supporters, the struggles between documenting and exploitation, and between art and atrocity. Unfortunately, that story is nowhere to be found in Steven Silver's crushingly awful Bang Bang Club, an inert, atrociously acted, pitifully directed film based on Greg Marinovich and João Silva's book, The Bang-Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War.
Bang Bang Club is the worst kind of film, one that takes all the drama out of a naturally gripping story, reducing it to a disorganized mess of lifeless snapshots weaved...
Bang Bang Club is the worst kind of film, one that takes all the drama out of a naturally gripping story, reducing it to a disorganized mess of lifeless snapshots weaved...
- 4/28/2011
- by Dustin Rowles
Based on real-life events in South Africa, the action-adventure slant masks the true bravery and accomplishments of combat photojournalists
The screening of The Bang Bang Club at the Tribeca film festival gave additional pause for thought, coming as it did in the same week as the deaths of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros in Libya.
Based on the real-life experiences of four photojournalists covering the tribal violence between Inkatha and Anc supporters in the early 90s, writer/director Steven Silver admitted the tragedy had "cast a long shadow over the film". Indeed, it's hard to watch the dramatic conclusion and not be chilled by the similarity in which Hetherington and Hondros lost their lives.
Silver uses the backdrop of the conflict in South Africa to explore the relationships between the four men and the subjects they shoot. Frustratingly, though, while the film poses pertinent questions about when to put the camera down,...
The screening of The Bang Bang Club at the Tribeca film festival gave additional pause for thought, coming as it did in the same week as the deaths of photojournalists Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros in Libya.
Based on the real-life experiences of four photojournalists covering the tribal violence between Inkatha and Anc supporters in the early 90s, writer/director Steven Silver admitted the tragedy had "cast a long shadow over the film". Indeed, it's hard to watch the dramatic conclusion and not be chilled by the similarity in which Hetherington and Hondros lost their lives.
Silver uses the backdrop of the conflict in South Africa to explore the relationships between the four men and the subjects they shoot. Frustratingly, though, while the film poses pertinent questions about when to put the camera down,...
- 4/25/2011
- The Guardian - Film News
"The Bang Bang Club" is the Canadian-South African feature written/directed by Steven Silver, starring Taylor Kitsch as 'Kevin Carter', Ryan Phillippe as 'Greg Marinovich', Frank Rautenbach as 'Ken Oosterbroek' and Neels Van Jaarsveld as 'João Silva', portraying the lives of four photo-journalists, active within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid period, 1990-1994.
Malin Akerman ("Watchmen") plays 'Robin Comley' who does everything she can to ensure that the photographers' pictures are published.
"The Bang Bang Club" adapts the auto-biographical book "The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War" co-written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Bang Bang Club"...
Malin Akerman ("Watchmen") plays 'Robin Comley' who does everything she can to ensure that the photographers' pictures are published.
"The Bang Bang Club" adapts the auto-biographical book "The Bang Bang Club: Snapshots from a Hidden War" co-written by Greg Marinovich and João Silva.
Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "The Bang Bang Club"...
- 4/12/2011
- by Michael Stevens
- SneakPeek
Year: 2010
Director: Steven Silver
Writer: Steven Silver
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 6 out of 10
Not everyone’s cut out to be a combat journalist. You have to be an adrenaline junkie, a little crazy and willing to put your life on the line to get that amazing photograph.
South Africa. Early 90s. Nelson Mandela is free and the end of Apartheid seems near. Violence is everywhere as are the reporters and photographers, all vying to capture the violence on film and share it with the rest of the world. A group of photographers, referred to as The Bang Bang Club, are particularly fearless, capturing the shots that often grace international papers as well as local publications. The group is fiercely competitive but also loyal and between the four of them, they provided some of the most striking images to come out of the country during that time.
Director: Steven Silver
Writer: Steven Silver
IMDb: link
Trailer: link
Review by: Marina Antunes
Rating: 6 out of 10
Not everyone’s cut out to be a combat journalist. You have to be an adrenaline junkie, a little crazy and willing to put your life on the line to get that amazing photograph.
South Africa. Early 90s. Nelson Mandela is free and the end of Apartheid seems near. Violence is everywhere as are the reporters and photographers, all vying to capture the violence on film and share it with the rest of the world. A group of photographers, referred to as The Bang Bang Club, are particularly fearless, capturing the shots that often grace international papers as well as local publications. The group is fiercely competitive but also loyal and between the four of them, they provided some of the most striking images to come out of the country during that time.
- 12/9/2010
- QuietEarth.us
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