"War photographer" Movie Review

I bought this film one year ago, and I finally watched last week. I own several books on photo journalism and photographers, so I was looking forward to it. I must confess that I knew already a few of the photos shown in the film, but I did not know James Nachtwey was the author.

The documentary, follows silently the career of the photographer James Nachtwey, and I say silently as there is no voice over to comment anything, which is brilliant. The film takes us from somewhere in the Balkans, to New York, Hamburg, Indonesia and Palestine.

The piece on Indonesia was for me of special interest (I am not Indonesian if you wonder). He tried to represent how hard and harsh life is for some people in the planet. You can tell he is very human. On the other hand, you get to know how the life of this sort of photographer is. What his colleagues think of him and he tells himself how the work of a war photographer is.

The photos of Nachtwey are of great quality, which complement the persona of the photographer. He is not arrogant, he is not interested in fame and he is not intrusive in the lives of the people he takes photos of.

If you are interested in photojournalism, this film is a must. If you are not, but you like documentaries, the film is still very interesting to watch. On the other hand, if you are looking for two hours of relax or fun, this not your movie.

As I mentioned earlier, I found the scene of the Indonesian family particularly moving.